At that moment, I wished the ground could open and swallow me.
With twisted lips and a pretentious nonchalant attitude, I got up from the floor and used my hands to wipe off the invisible dust on my skirt. I proceeded to wipe my skirt for longer than necessary when I suddenly felt his strong hand grip my arm.
"Why are you doing this?" He asked, his eyes fixed on me and I could swear that he wasn't going to tear his gaze away any time soon.
"Doing what?" I gave him a questioning look.
Deep down in me I was scared of someone walking in on us.
"Listening in on my conversation and stalking me. You acted strangely the first day I started this school and even now, you act strange. What is it? I want to hear it from you," He tightened his grip around my arm and that caused me to flinch yet, he didn't release me.
"I-I...I don't know what you mean," My pupils danced from side to side in fear. Was this the part where he killed me? Why had I been so foolish to actually believe that my dreams were something to laugh at?
"You know everything, Tilda," He stressed every word. "I just want to hear it from you."
It felt as though he were speaking to me in riddles that I somehow understood.
"Let go of me!" I tried to pull myself back but his grip remained firm. "What if someone walks in on us? What do you think they'll say?"
"No one will come," He said with so much confidence and assurance.
"How are you so sure? Just let me go," My words softened into a plea.
"Why did you listen in?" He asked once more.
"I don't trust you!" I blurted out.
His brows furrowed and his grip loosened a bit. I could tell that he already knew what I had in mind as soon as he would let me go - run.
"You remember me, don't you?" He finally let me go and moved over to rest his head against a wall.
The urge to run away suddenly disappeared as soon as those words left his mouth. I stared at him almost speechless.
Chills ran down my spine and fear slowly crept up my skin.
"I remember you..." It sounded more like a question than the statement I wanted it to be. "What are you trying to say?"
He sighed. "You know what I am saying."
He lifted his head from the wall and returned to stand in front of me. The fear I had seen in his eyes the other day was back and his eyes gleamed with it.
"I..." My lashes subconsciously fluttered. "I remember you. My dream..."
My eyes widened.
"You know what it meant? How do you even know...I can't think straight."
I held my head and took a few steps backwards. My head was spinning and I couldn't place a finger to what was happening.
A moment ago, I was living life like every normal human and now, this boy in front of me was confirming the suspicions I had long been harbouring.
"It's all complicated," He sighed, staring at me in a way that made me feel like he was hoping I would understand. "It isn't the way you think it is. I ordained your dream."
Eee see me see wahala o! What is this boy on about?
A chuckle escaped my lips.
"I don't understand. Are you trying to tell me that you're some kind of babalawo or deity?"
"Listen to me Tilda, I am serious," He pressed on.
"So you're a mami water abi which one? Sughusughu? Because I don't understand again," I laughed nervously.
I still couldn't understand what he was trying to say and even if he were being serious as he said, had I really gotten myself mixed up with someone who was from the spirit world?
"I am none of those," His expression turned serious, showing that he was displeased to be compared with such spiritual things.
"Then explain better," I placed my hands on my waist and gave him a questioning look.
"I manipulated your dream. The one which happened during your coma. I did it because I felt pity towards you and no matter how hard I tried to turn away, I felt inclined to doing something. Everything that happened before your coma took place in that dream because I wanted it to take place that way. I had to fix myself in and make you have the reason to live again. Your coma was you in a world between life and death. You chose death from the start but I decided to sway you to choose life. That's where me pushing you onto the road comes in. If I didn't kill you in the dream after you had decided to live, you would never had woken up. I manipulated a repitition so I needed to put an end to it," He exclaimed.
Stunned? Surprised? Confused?
I didn't know what emotions were coursing through my veins at that moment.
"So what are you? How were you able to manipulate my dream and get me out of the coma?" I further inquired.
"I have the ability to manipulate and cast illusions," He simply said. "It's a special ability I was born with."
I immediately burst into laughter.
"Crazy ass story," I clapped.
The look on his face switched to one of disbelief.
"Seriously?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Manipulator. Illusion caster. Dream controller. Omo, sharp mami water," I laughed.
"I am serious, Tilda," He said.
I went silent again. A part of me had suddenly grown scared of him yet another part found his story too hilarious to believe it.
But if it were truly all lies, how would he know about my dream? How would he know that I remembered him?
"It was all real...but in another realm?" My pupils dilated and I could feel the fear fully taking over.
He nodded.
This was just the explanation as to why I always felt strange around him in real life and in the dream.
My knees weakened and just before I could drop to the ground, he rushed to hold me up.
"I...I...I don't know...what to say," I heaved.
"It'll be alright. You're safe and alive, that's all that matters," He assured me.
I had always thought such things were only possible in movies and books yet here I was watching something similar unfold in my life.
"Let's head out," Miles told me.
I simply nodded. As we stepped out of the restroom, we saw a boy heading in its direction.
Shame overwhelmed me in that instant.
"Ah ah I thought I had come to ease myself just now now. Why do I feel the pressure again as if I never came here just now?" The boy spoke to himself as he walked past us. He was too confused to even notice that a female had just come out of the male restroom.
My eyes widened and I turned my gaze to Miles.
"That's why no one ever walked in on us..." My voice trailed off.
"Illusions," He smirked.
God, what was going on in my life?