'… before the arrival of the apocalypse the whole world moved with a coordinated and calculated pace no one questioned, it was welcomed and embraced… until it wasn't… '
T minus till apocalypse: 21: 21: 21.
Current time: 5:04 pm.
On the busy major road of Asokoro, a major city in Abuja, a major state in Nigeria, a long bus rode, weaving itself expertly in and out of the traffic and effortlessly coordinating with the flow of the other vehicles. On its side a string of words was printed boldly across horizontally, 'THE NEXT STEP SECONDARY SCHOOL'.
Within, various boys and girls sat in rows of twos ranging orderly from the front to the back, most of them were gazing at their smartphones with an unnatural amount of concentration unusual within their age groups, and those without phones coupled with those who had beside them.
The silence was unnerving, to say the least, as everyone's interest was solely given to their phones, even the Driver- the only adult aboard – would sometimes glance back inquisitively only to turn his attention back to the road hurriedly.
In the silent setting, only one sound flowed. From every phone, the voice of an adult male sounded uniformly across the bus, the voice laced with professionalism as it delivered every piece of information fluently.
The silence dragged on unnervingly until it was broken by a boy sitting somewhere among the front rows.
"Um… have they – "
"Shhhhh!"
No sooner had he spoken was he shushed by the girl sitting next to him.
"Whatever," he grumbled.
With nothing to do, he folded his arms in annoyance and settled into his seat.
The disciplined voice of the anchor man rang out clearly in conjunction across every phone on the vehicle, to them it was a source of hope, but it could very likely also be despair.
"… Primary School, Maitama Greats Nursery and Primary School, Karu Community Nursery and Primary School and Asokoro Community Nursery and Primary School… "
The voice paused.
"That's it for the list of Primary Schools still opened and unaffected by the latest Federal Government issue". There was another pause, and from the background one could hear the rustling of paper as the newscaster turned a new leaf. "We will now read out the list of Secondary Schools still opened and unaffected as well by the latest issue".
It could be noticed that everyone – save one – straightened and paid even closer attention to the next set of words.
"First, we have the world renowned school, The Next Step Secondary School – "
Despair it was.
"Mtcheew," someone kissed their teeth loudly.
The sudden uncoordinated sound cut across the silent bus stretching for like a second before several similar sounds echoed out and the silence was suddenly lost.
"Which kind of nonsense is this one, eh?"
"I wonder oh"
"Other people will be at home relaxing, while me I'll be busy coming to school".
"Useless people".
The previously silent bus instantly turned rowdy, students engaged in loud conversations while some left their seats to go and find better listening ears, words were thrown rapidly across the bus and sometimes folded paper followed right behind.
The Next Step Secondary School was a great school, it was world renowned and probably one of the best in the nation, as such the school had produced various great men and women ranging from a President to several dozen Governors and Senators, thus the standard of their regular students was a bar higher than most, but every teenager would attest to the irritation one felt when going to school and knowing that your peers weren't.
Somewhere in the middle row, a slim boy who wore glasses and had the general short black hair of most Nigerian males sighed.
'Thought so'.
He leaned outside the window and breathed in fresh air while enjoying watching the rapidly disappearing scenery speeding by.
"Mtcheeew," the boy beside him kissed his teeth in annoyance, looked around in frustration and then turned towards his friend and spat. "How can you be so calm, Dio".
Dion rolled his eyes, then turned towards him.
"Don't be over dramatic, Emeka," he shrugged. "I already told you this would happen".
"Doesn't mean I can't hope," Emeka murmured.
Dion shook his head and then turned towards the window again, but it was obvious his friend wasn't satisfied.
"That your Father is unbelievable," he complained. "Apparently, there are only four schools open in the entire state, and ours just happens to be one of them".
Dion shrugged, "You were always gonna finish the entire term anyway, just take it like nothing happened and get your head back in the game".
Emeka sprang up, "But something did happen".
He continued to grumble, but Dion ignored him.
"Come to think of it," Emeka paused. "Do they think we are immune or something? Thousands of people are probably already dead – "
"No one is – "
"The border is closed already – "
"Only the Nigeria-Cameroon route was shut down".
"Even most major markets are about to close down".
Dion opened his mouth to speak again but was shut up by a glare.
"You are his son aren't you," he thundered. "Doesn't he care about your safety?"
Dion sighed exasperatedly, the conversation was already making him vexed.
"I told you, my Dad doesn't make the rules, he just… just… just makes some suggestions".
"A lot that does us now," Emeka murmured.
Emeka opened his mouth to speak again but Dion glared at him, "You have a problem with my Dad, go take it up with him, Cocksucker".
Emeka opened his mouth to retort, but Dion looked ready to punch him if he did so he wisely kept shut.
"Hmph!"
'Thought so'.
Dion glanced outward again, but this time perhaps because of his bad mood the air felt hot and it made him uncomfortable. So he retreated inward with a frown and suddenly froze.
As Dion watched, the world slowed down. The noisy and rowdy atmosphere suddenly faded into the background and as if covered by a bubble, an unnatural silence descended. Everyone aboard the bus suddenly seemed to be wading through a forcefield of some sort, as they were all frozen mid action, all of them hanging in all sorts of weird poses.
'What the hell'.
He noticed Emeka's tongue flying wildly out of his tongue and previously released spittle still float mid-descent, not just him, within his field of vision he noticed a lot, flying paper balls, floating snacks all completing their oscillations at a snail's pace.
It was then that he noticed it wasn't just the world that slowed, even he did, he had been trying to raise his right arm and in what felt like minutes, he had only made little progress.
'What's this?'
Suddenly a vast sense of danger gripped him and he felt his heart constrict and skip a beat in terror, the danger felt so real and close that he suddenly couldn't breathe. He didn't know what it was but he could already feel his eyes forming teardrops, he had never felt so afraid in his entire life and he couldn't even say why.
It felt primal, ancient, Omni-present, like it could devour him in his entirety this very moment if it so willed, but it didn't, instead…
BOOM
Like a bubble it burst, and suddenly he was back in the present, like he was brutally thrown out from that quiet place of solitude and into this harsh noisy environment of reality. In that one moment he regained it all at once, his body suddenly became capable of locomotor movements once again and the isolated noise being made in the bus suddenly came rushing in like a tide, and when it reached his shore he wasn't ready to deal with it.
He felt dizzy and nauseous, and the flurry of activity before him made him go blind momentarily, and he could feel bile rising up his throat, so he shut his eyes and covered his ears while bending down and hid his head in between his knees.
After a while, he felt the bus slow down.
"That's my stop," he barely heard a familiar voice say. "See you, Dion".
"See you, Emeka," he muttered weakly.
A few seconds passed, and then he felt movement from the bus once again, a few more passed by before he felt okay enough to raise his head. His eyes blinked a few times before it adjusted to the 'unfamiliar environment'.
He ran his hand over his still wet lips still in shock.
"Damn, I might have a tumor".