ETHAN GODSPOWER
I receive a text from Isah saying he is outside my house. I creep out of the room. I hear distinctive voices. I try to ignore it, but their ways drill it way into my head. Mum is on a video call with Gwan. They have a family meeting without me because it is about me.
"Mum, why do you worry about him? He is a big boy now. He can take care of himself" Yang splutters.
"I don't know why you are worrying over a murdere-"
"Gwan stop that nonesense," mum shuns Gwan.
"It is the truth. He remembers, but just like always, he is great at putting up a bloody show because he knows you will buy it. You are his puppet. He knows better than to act like that with the rest of us. He killed Yara, and that is the bloody truth" Gwan ends, and their silence echoes their agreement with his speculation.
I have heard enough. I run down the stairs, making sure my footsteps are heavy and can be heard. They stare at me as I walk downstairs.
"Gwan wants to tal-" I open the door, walk out, and slam the door hard.
Isah is outside his car. His lips widen into a smile but switches into a frown when he sees how pissed I am. I walk around him and enter the car through the other door. The driver greets me, but I ignore him.
"You good?" Isah asks with worries laced in his tone.
"Yeah. I just want to leave this house" I mutter and stare out the window, which is whined up because of the AC.
"I have a game that arrived yesterday. Let's try it out today" he offers me a way out, and I am silent.
I might take the offer.
~
We are on the assembly ground on a straight line in the order of the classes and based on the height. Eric, Isah, and I are on the back of our line.
You are his puppet. He killed Yara, and that is a bloody truth.
It keeps echoing in my head, and it is taking the grace of God not to walk out of this line. I don't have it in me to attend lecturers today.
It is how they keep accusing me for the death of someone I can't remember, and they don't want to enlighten me about how she really died. They think amnesia is a show and feign. Why am I getting demented over a girl who I can't remember
Distraction. I need a distraction. My eyes land on Keilani. Her legs are trembling and fighting the urge to collapse. She uses her hand to wrap around herself.
Is she okay?
I watch her sit at the second stairs beside the teachers and relief written all over her face. When it is our turn to walk to the classroom. I stand beside her, her head resting on her knee cap, and her breathing is slow.
After the teachers are done talking to us. We both walk into the school building. We are the sitting head boy and head girl until it is made official.
She uses the wall as a guide, and I involuntarily stand very close to her just in case she falls. I can easily catch her before she hits the ground.
I roll my eyes when I hear heavy footsteps. It belongs to Mr Bayo. He always walks like he is fighting with someone or something. Take a chill pill, bro. The school isn't going anywhere.
A hand pulls me into the janitors closet and shuts the door. I spun to see a frightened Keilani slowly sitting on the ground, her back against the wall. Her hands are on both sides of her ear. Eyes closed, teeth chattering violently, her chest palpitating.
What is wrong with her?
I take a step close, and my hands stretch out to her. She murmurs something under her breath that sounds like a spell, so I freeze
"Please. No. It is not him. It is not him. It is not him" she blurts out repeatedly, her voice shaky
Him?
When Mr Bayo is far away from us. I spun to leave, my hand on the knob conflicted on whether to stay or leave. I can't leave her here. She is traumatized over heavy footsteps. She is not in the saniest of mind to walk to the classroom. What if she dies and I am accused of her death? I groan.
I carry her in my arms before I have a change of mind. She doesn't protest. It's not like she has a choice. She wraps her hand around my neck, her head on my chest. Her heartbeat is slow and fragile.
I open the infirmary door. I stroll to one of the beds and lie Keilani down on it, and she slowly starts making choking sound as she grips unto the sheet.
"Bag" she whispers, and I bolt out of the room.
I come back into the room, and she points at it. Her face slowly turns pale. She hit her chest and panic flared inside me. I should have just left her in the janitors closet instead of bringing her here to die.
I open the bag and pour everything inside the bag to the bed so that she can point at the one she wants. She points at an injection. No bloody way am I injecting her.
I shake my head and stand to my feet. I ruffle my hair and try to take deep breaths to calm my raging heart. Fuck it. I open the inject and pierce it into her arm and slowly whatever clog her airflow vanishes and she breath slowly. She gives me a grateful smile before her weak body falls asleep.
What the hell, Keilani?
I sit on the bed and let out a breath of relief. My hands still trembling from earlier. Thank God she is alive. What is she using injection for anyways? Why was she so terrified? Reality slams hard on me. Keilani almost died on me. What is up with girls and dying when they are close to me?
~
I tilt my face to her and notice how curled up and scared she is. Her firely brown hair is made into rainfall; a little all back at the side and the raise is bob. Her pointed nose, small lips, scanty eyebrow, long lashes making her the most beautiful girl that has graced the school.
There is this helplessness, fear, and a huge amount of burden weighed on her. The Keilani I know is always fiesty and ready to attack when her family is disrespected, but today, she was broken and terrified. I wish she could fight for herself for a change. She will take anything you bring her way but insult the people she loves, and the fiesty side to her is unlocked. I don't know if it is insecurity, or maybe she doesn't think she is worth saving or she is beyond redemption.
Maybe it is in my head, and I am overthinking.
I bury my head on my tablet and try to distract myself before I get a migraine while trying to decipher Keilani Uche.
"You are still here" her tone is weak and rapsy.
"I couldn't leave you alone. What if you had another panic attack or something?" I shoot back at her as I try to hide the worry in my tone.
"It wasn't panic attack" her voice is so low it is almost impossible to hear her.
I don't want to know what it was. I am not mentally equipped to carry her baggage for her, I have enough baggage of my own to weigh me down for months.
"Take" I grab the snacks on the table and hand it to her.
She widens her eyes in shock as to why I am helping. I don't even know why I am still here. Okay, that is a lie. I am here because I don't want to go to class. I will be worried sick, and the last thing I want is guilt lingering around for a dead person.
She opens the drink and snacks and stretches it out to me. I furrow my eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.
"Come on. Let us share. Please" she pouts, and I roll my eyes and cut the cookies into half, and throw it into my mouth.
A little grin appears on my lips. It is thoughtful of her to share her snacks with me.
"Thank you for not buying soda because of my medication" she shows her gratitude.
"Thank you for this" she points at herself, and I nod.
She seems to be better now, and I don't know if it is appropriate to ask what is wrong with her or something. I don't know if I will hit a nerve.
She points at the tablet in my hands, "What is that?"
"A tablet" I answer like that is the most obvious answer, and she rolls her eyes and grin.
"I mean, you are drawing something on it. What is it?" She asks, curious to know me beyond my façade and I ignore her and just continue to draw on it.
She can't get close. She shouldn't get close.
"If we are locked in here. We can at least try to converse" she drops the drink on the table.
"It is a building plan. I have a client I need to sell it to. So what do you do in your free time?" I divert the question to her because I hate when the limelight is on me.
"Honestly sing, I guess. I don't have a nice voice though" she answers me, and I pause.
Yeah, that is a blatant lie. Your voice is heavenly and something I look forward to hearing for the rest of my life. It is something that can make the heaviest of heart or the most troubled of heart feel at home and at ease. And I am not even hyping her up.
Being humble. I get it.
"Can I see?" I turn the tablet her way, and she nods like she understands anything on it.
"You don't understand, do you?" I arch an eyebrow, and she shakes her head and smiles, and I notice she has dimples on both cheeks.
Dimples. I love dimples.
I sigh and explain everything to her step at a time, and she nods, and I can promise I felt her stare at me most of the time instead of the tablet.
"So you are not only smart, you are talented too. I am proud of you" she utters those words as her face brightens up.
"You are not bad yourself" I tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear, and it is not until she lets out a deep breath that I know I am too close for comfort.
"I am supposed to be perfect" she pulls away and plays with her hand.
"No one is perfect" I remind her, but I think that came out wrong because of how her sad face hardens.
"I know I am not. I just said I was supposed to. I think I need to go to class" she hurriedly stands up but sits back down because of how dizzy she is.
"Wait…..how long have I been gone for?" She searches her bag for her phone and grunts when she doesn't see it.
"Cyril" she hit the bed.
"10:43am" I inform her as I sit up and drop the tablet on the table next to the bed.
"I need to go to class. I need to get good grades for him. I need to make him proud of me" she attempts to stand up but falls on me.
I carry her bridal style again and sit her on the bed. I take one of the pillows from the other bed, and I place it behind her. I hand her her drugs, and she drinks it and rests her head on the pillow.
"Been absent for a day doesn't guarantee a better grade. Someone would fail with or without missing a day of school" I try to convince her, but she shakes her head vigorously.
"You don't understand" she whispers as she shuts her eyes.
"Why is going to class so important?" I shift my chair closer to her, and she inhales and exhales like her next words are hard for her to spit out.
"So they won't fight" she grits and shut her eyes really tight as she tightens her fist.
I pause, and I honestly didn't know what to tell her to make her feel any better. I don't really understand much of what she is saying, but I know better than to interfere.
"I am sorry" she apologizes.
"It is fine" I hold her hand, and her light hazel eyes filled with tears cause my heart to falter.
"I shouldn't be pouring out my baggage on you. I promise I am not the type to be vulnerable, especially with an outsider" she ends, and I can feel how hard her palms are. It feels like she has a series of injury on them.
I turn her hand, and she pulls away and hides her palm under her thighs, and the awkwardness in the room grows.
"I am sorry for getting too close" I go back to my building plan, but my eyes meet hers every now and then.
Just when I was starting to enjoy our conversation, I had to mess it up.
I sigh, and I just realized that through my stay in the infirmary with her. My mind never diverted to my family or Yara, and I avert my gaze to a tired Keilani.
Thank you for the distraction. I needed it.
~
"Your mum is outside like you wanted" I prop my head into the infirmary, and she nods and hangs her back on her shoulder and grips unto it tight. She halts in front of me, her eyes are glued to the tiles.
"Thank you for today. Today has got to be my favorite day yet. Sorry for the words I said that must have hurt. See you in school tomorrow" she ends and still stands like she expects me to give a speech.
Today was fun too, K. It was fun having to talk to you without bickering. You are the right dose of distraction.
When I don't say anything, she takes that as a queue to leave. I walk closely behind her. When she is outside the school building, she stares at me like I betrayed her after staring forward.
I look forward, and I notice it is her dad who is here instead of her mum. His face is squeezed into a frown as he glares at her with so much contempt and scorn that when I stares at Keilani, she shudders and walk to her dad and she didn't bother to give a good bye stare.
I sigh and stare at my palm, and I see a dried up blood on my palm. Was she bleeding on her palm earlier?
I shake the thought off my head before I go demented over K.
I drawl and stroll into the school and try to preoccupy my mind with something other than her.