Bisi stood still, still shaking in fear. Somehow the silence unnerved her more than when she heard voices.
"Hello?", came her shaky voice.
"Bisi", a familiar voice instantly replied. "Open your eyes. You're safe now"
Bisi stubbornly kept her eyes shut. She recognized the calm, sweet, peaceful voice. It was the entity that had told her to sing.
"Where am I?", Bisi asked.
"Why don't you open your eyes and see? I promise I won't hurt you", the entity calmly coaxed.
Something about the entity's voice calmed Bisi enough to coax her to slowly open her eyes.
Bisi took a step back in surprise when she saw what was in front of her.
Or rather, who.
It was a woman. A beautiful woman. She had a beautiful flower crown braided into her beautiful, golden brown, thick, curly, long hair. A pair of kind, gentle brown eyes that matched the colour of her hair rested in her eye sockets. Her skin was dark and shiny, like ebony. She wore a long, white robe that flowed all the way down to cover her feet.
She carried herself with an air of confidence and dignity.
There was a gentle, serene smile on her face as she looked at Bisi. "You did well"
Bisi stared at her with wide eyes, speechlessly. The entity laughed gently and with good humour.
"What are you staring at?", she asked. "I'm not here to hurt you. I promise, Bisi"
Bisi's eyes shone with distrust. Her eyes looked around for a possible escape route and in the process, abruptly noticed she was a pristine area. It was almost like she was somewhere between the land of the living and the dead.
"Oh my goodness, did i die?", Bisi asked the entity, panicked.
"You're alive", the entity replied. "If you weren't, i wouldn't be here"
Bisi's brows furrowed in a frown. "Who are you? And what is going on with me? Why did that spirit want to kill me? And why did my singing stop it?"
The entity stepped forward, gracefully. "My name is Omolewa. That demon wants to kill you because you have something special that is a threat to its existence"
"And that is?", Bisi asked.
"The Voice", Omolewa replied. "That voice that stopped your attack just a minute ago is what threatens the demons' existence"
"That doesn't make any sense. My voice is perfectly normal...nothing special", Bisi instantly argued. "I mean I know it's pretty good but it can't hold any threat to a demon!"
"Listen to me, Bisi", Omolewa spoke, her voice taking on an edge of seriousness. "There's a darkness coming. A darkness that threatens the fate of the world. This darkness is led by a corrupted creation...only you have the ability to stop it. This makes you a threat to them...and a target. If you don't hone your gift, you'll put not just your life, but the lives of the people in this world at the mercy of that darkness"
Bisi suddenly began to tear up. "I don't like this! Give the voice to someone else then!"
"The Creator chose you for a reason...nobody else can fill your role. I'm sorry, Bisi. It has to be you", Omolewa explained.
"Stop! Leave me alone! I don't want this!", Bisi yelled. She closed her eyes and began sobbing.
She thought of the fear she felt when the demon had been trying to get to her. She didn't want that.
She didn't want any of it.
"Just leave me alone!", she yelled.
"Will you stop yelling?", Bisi yelped when she heard a familiar, masculine and annoyed voice. Much different from the one she had been listening to, seconds ago.
She opened her eyes to find her brother glaring down at her. "Tobi?"
Tobi pursed his lips and flared his nose with a sarcastic eyeroll. "No, Jack Robinson"
Bisi heaved a sigh of relief, looking around her to find that she was in her dining room. It had all been a nightmare.
"The egusi almost burnt", Tobi scolded her. "I helped you with that and you have the audacity to be yelling like the house is on fire"
"I didn't yell on purpose! I was having a nightmare!", Bisi frowned at him. "A normal brother would've been worried"
Tobi hissed, turning to walk away. "Don't make me laugh"
Bisi sighed, rubbing her temples as she stared into space. Her mind returned to her dream. "What kind of dream is that? It seemed too real"
☆
Bisi groggily carried herself to school. She had had a restless night. She wasn't able to sleep because she was afraid she would have another nightmare again.
She just knew she was going to be failing today's papers as well.
"Bisi, you look terrible", Bisi frowned when she heard Aisha's voice.
"Good morning", she replied with a deadpan.
"What happened? Didn't you sleep well?", Aisha asked, worriedly.
"I don't see how that's your business", Bisi replied, snarkily.
Aisha sighed. "Annoyed today again"
Bisi watched Aisha leave to her seat. She had nothing against Aisha. To be honest, she was the nicest girl Bisi knew.
Despite being snapped at constantly by Bisi, she always still came back to talk to her like they were friends.
She was friendly and everybody liked her. Maybe that was why Bisi was so sour.
The girl had a scar-less, porcelain face that everybody loved. No eye bags, no dark under eye marks. Nothing.
She was almost sure Aisha didn't have nightmares. Or sleepless nights.
☆
The day went by fast and nothing out of the ordinary seemed to happen. Until lesson period....
Bisi was especially interested in the day's lesson because the subject they were being taught was literature, her favourite class. The topic for the afternoon was music.
Now this was her strong forte.
"How many of you play instruments?", the teacher asked nonchalantly, and instantly, about a dozen hands, along with Bisi's shot up. "Alot of you, I see"
One of the students snickered and pointed at Michael. "Michael, stop lying"
Michael instantly retorted with a laugh. "How do you know I'm lying? Let me tell you, I play an instrument"
The teacher shot him a joking sneer. "You Michael? I'll be surprised. What instrument do you play?"
"Sir, I play the drums", Michael replied.
The student jumped in immediately. "Lie lie. Because you touched the drums in church once doesn't mean you play the drums, Michael"
The class burst out laughing and Michael scratched his neck guiltily. He briefly glanced at Bisi before turning away.
Michael glared at the boy. "Don't let me knack you slap. I said I know how to play the drums"
"Don't be angry", the student laughed.
"Okay, okay, quiet down class", the teacher chuckled softly. His eyes suddenly landed on Bisi's hand which still remained raised. "Ah, so the quiet girl can play an instrument"
The class instantly turned to look at Bisi and Bisi fought the urge to roll her eyes at the teacher.
Even the staff had taken to calling her 'Quiet girl'. She didn't even know when the name got so popular around the school.
"Yes sir, I play the piano", Bisi replied, putting her hand down.
"So you're not just a pretty face after all", came a comment from the same loud student.
The class laughed and Bisi glared at the boy.
But before she could retort, Michael beat her to it. He glared at the student and unlike before, his gaze wasn't playful or joking.
"Sometimes, think before you speak, Matthew, that wasn't funny", he said, earning surprised looks from the class. Even from Bisi.
This was because people knew Michael as someone who joked about anything and everything. Despite being a top scorer, he still managed to be a class clown as well.
Aisha spoke up with an easy going laugh. "See Michael standing up for his babe"
The class laughed again and this time, Michael followed.
He glanced at Bisi again to see that she had hidden her face in her arms, her head on the desk.
She only did that when she was upset.
He looked away, seemingly dejected.
"Okay everybody, enough jokes", the teacher said. "Today we'll be seeing some examples of music sheets. Reading music notes may seem hard but once you get the basics, it's quite simple"
Meanwhile, Bisi was in her own world. Why had the students not taken the only class she enjoyed seriously? Why had they made fun of her like that? And why had Michael spoken up for her like that?
She frowned. It couldn't be that he had a crush on her, could it? That would be impossible.
The same Michael who had nicknamed her Fatima when they were younger because of how chubby she had been? Crush on her? No. She had to be reading too much into it.
"Now music notes are..."
Bisi rolled her eyes. Now the class was serious.
"And even if you can't play an instrument, you can use it for singing. Unless...your voice is taken away. Then you won't have any need for music sheets"
Bisi frowned. What had she just heard?
"You heard me right, Bisi", that wasn't the voice of her teacher. Bisi broke out in cold sweat. "You won't have any need for music sheets any longer"
The whispering, raspy voice was painfully familiar.
"I'll be taking the voice away soon"