Like I was saying before the fly flew in,
that action of hers provoked a powerful
response from my body system, and I
proceeded to act on the thought which the strange voice had played in my mind. I knelt on the bed, looked her in the eyes and smiled, but she didn’t return my smile,
neither did she frown or make any
objections. Just then, the song that was
playing from the laptop ended, and another
one began. The new song that started
playing was actually one of mine, and the
lyrics to the song altered a lot. It lifted the
present at atmosphere and dropped another.
This is how the lyrics go;
The reason a thing is loved is the reason it
is HATED.
The reason a thing is praised is the reason
it is PERSECUTED.
There are doves and serpents
EVERYWHERE,
If I could fly, I’d be the one the sky would
call my DEAR,
I would be flying with the eagles in the AIR,
And I wouldn’t even shrink out of FEAR.
But I’m down HERE,
Sounding so loud, hope u can HEAR?
The gospel is what I SHEAR,
You know that the end of all things is
NEAR,
So tell it to the ones u hold DEAR,
That they may fear what you FEAR,
& wear righteousness as you WEAR.
Tell them that have ears to HEAR,
For no one knows the day, the month or the
YEAR,
When the saints of the Lord will
DISAPPEAR.
I pray I’ll be one of them, Oh! How hard it
seems to PERSEVERE,
How I wish the only thing I had to stay
away from was BEER,
But it isn’t, because I look around and see
temptations EVERYWHERE,
Too much pressure from a group called
PEER,
So much that even when I sleep, in my
dreams they APPEAR,
But nah, in all these things I’m still HERE,
& I am not going anywhere until I’m caught
up in the AIR,
Not just I, but all whom to God’s word have
not turned a deaf EAR
As soon as I heard just the first verse of
that song, I relented, lay on the bed beside
her and released the deep breathe I had
taken in. After about five to six minutes of
silence, Ogechi said; I’m proud of you. And
again she said; goodnight. I replied her
goodnight and we retired to bed, music still
playing. We didn’t pray that night.
By the time I woke up the next morning she
was already prepared to leave. You’re up
already? I asked shyly. Yes I am. I have to
hurry home and prepare for school. She
didn’t in any way seem disappointed at me
like I thought she would, so I bottled up the
apology I wanted to tender to her. Or could
she have been hiding her feelings? I
couldn’t help but feel guilty, even though I
hadn’t done anything wrong, so to speak.
Just that she didn’t even expect me to put
up such act. But then, she said she was
proud of me. Many thoughts just kept
running through my mind, and I didn’t know
which one to settle with. So I dismissed
them all and concluded that I would take
whatever comes as a result of what I had
done. After all, whatsoever a man sows, so
shall he reap. Alright then, I replied. Let me
escort you to a cab. Okay, she responded
sharply. As we worked down discussing, the
usual flow in our conversation was absent. I
would say a thing and she would respond,
and then they’ll be silence for about 30
seconds. She would also say something of
which I would respond to before the silence
continues.
That’s how it was until she boarded a cab
home. We said goodbye to each other, and
it sounded like goodbye forever. As I
walked back home I met two guys who
started hailing me unstoppable. I wondered
why they did so. I just moved in yesterday
and hadn’t made any acquaintances yet. As
we closed the gap between us, they started
raining praises on me and misinterpreting
their suspicions to suit their own purposes.
Well, that’s left for them anyway.
I got back home, freshened up, turned on
my laptop and started my normal FOREX
transaction. The figures in my bank account
were increasing little by little. But while
the figures were on the increase, my
communication with Ogechi was on the
decrease, as we didn’t call each other
often, and only met in church during church
services, since I had become a full blown
member of Christ’s Embassy. Even at that,
we barely had time enough to speak to each
other. I couldn’t visit her due to her
brother’s presence, and I couldn’t summon
the courage to ask her out or tell her to
pay me visit at my house because of our
last experience, which wasn’t terrible
according to my judgment. But for some
reason, I just couldn’t say a word in that
direction.
Out of sight became out of mind. I was
missing her company like hell. The money I
was making could not fill the vacuum her
absence left in me. Nothing was of interest
to me anymore and I began bearing the
burden of indescribable feelings. The more I
kept trying to shove away the memories
that triggered those feelings, the more I
kept reminiscing on the good times we
shared together. I couldn’t bear it anymore.
I had to bring back those days. Truly, you
don’t know what you have until you lose it.
I consulted the brightest of part of my mind
on how to resolve this issue and found that
the best way to get close enough to her
again was by joining the choir. I made my
intension to join the choir known to the
choir director and he brought me in and
introduced me the crew. Judging from the
look on her face, I could tell that Ogechi
was surprise at this development. From the
night at my house till this very moment,
she never acted as though she was pushing
me away; neither was she coming to me.
She was simply unpredictable. As soon as I
joined the choir, everything went back to
normal and soon enough, her brother was
done with his engagements in Enugu and
left. She and I were alone again.
To be continued.
