I have been running for eight minutes straight. My breathing has become irregular. There is a pain in my side I cannot shake. I cannot begin to imagine how these athletes do it. How the hell do they maintain their speed? They are monsters!

Nine minutes now, I cannot stop now.

I have come so far, I cannot stop now but I know well enough that I am slowing down.

 My heart is near exploding out of my chest. The distance between myself and him is growing. I cannot mistake it. And as much as I hate myself for this, tears are welling up in my eyes.

Hard girl! Look at me now.

But on the real though, WHO DOES THIS?!?

How low has his profession gotten to. What do I do now?,  because I am running out of time, literally. It will hurt to let him go. He obviously has my heart. 

Out of options and out of panic and frustration, I yell,

Thief! Thief!! Thief!!!! I am hysterical. I do not recognize my voice but one thing is for sure, I am not going to regret this move.

And like magic, human beings out of nowhere tackled him like a pack of angry, starving wolves. With everything left in me, I close in on the small crowd forming.

And to my ecstatic satisfaction, there he was and in all his magnificent self my wrapped Waakye was in his hands unharmed. 

***

.

.

.

.

PS. To all who do not know what Waakye is, it is a Ghanaian dish loved by most. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waakye

It has been two whole days since I slept. Forty eight hours of absolutely no shut eye. I have deadlines to meet. In less than forty eight hours I have to submit twelve drawing sheets and a final copy of a the report I have been working on for months. I have completed seven sheets in the space of seven weeks, four partially done and yet to start the last one. I can barely keep my eyelids open because woe on to me if I should shut them. I fear it will be the end for me because I literally do not have much time to spare. I really thought I had this time management thing by the balls but here I am.

I have lost track of time. I have stopped picking my phone calls and answering my messages. It is dark outside. I do not even recall taking my bath. I am zoned out, cut off from the world, with one, two, three, four,…. nine cups of coffee and still counting. I am not even a coffee person! I loath that stuff. This should tell you the kind of situation I am in.

A loud SCREECH!!

Right outside my window, I hear a crash! I jump up, and rush out. Calling out my sister’s name, who was in her room, as I dash towards the sound ( I know, I know, a black person runs away from the source of the sound). This was more out of concern than of curiosity.

At the scene, there is blood everywhere. What was worse, the driver had totaled my sister’s parked car. Nobody was dead, but people were hurt. As people came out to help, some trying to get in touch with the police, others trying to get first aid administered, the driver just looked confused and was mumbling incoherent words. I do not know how I maneuvered my way to his side but he wasn’t making sense.

“Structure?”, “Tapture?”, factor?, rapture?, rapture… RAPTURE??

WHAT?! No! Not now! Not now when I have busted my ass to almost finish this project! I rush back to the room in denial. Calling out to my sister.

“Your car, your car has been smashed like Hulk’s chew toy”. No answer. I enter her room. No sister. I start looking for my phone and I find hers. No network. SHIT! RAPTURE!

Again, I rush out. All these people can’t be sinners, I think in disbelief. Then I noticed it. As bright as day, the sky in a not so far off distance. There is chaos everywhere. Screams, loud music, bottles breaking, traffic everywhere. I start running towards the light. It seems everyone was heading there. Tears in my eyes, my life flashing before my eyes, quoting scriptures I didn’t even know I knew. I just run.

Is this the end? Is this the light they always talk about? Is this Death? I think about my project that I may have not been able to complete even if I was given an extra week. I smile. I chuckle. I burst out laughing as I slow down. My feet are hurting but I do not care. I am embracing this because nothing else matters. The twelve sheets, the report, the whole project! It all matters not!

The light is close now. I suddenly find peace in this chaos. I am close to the end. I think I should call my mum. No, she has probably been raptured too and I do not have a phone anyways. My head is clear now and I look up, with my hands open wide. “I am here.” “Take me.”

I see huge floodlights. Four of them. I am standing in front of a stadium! Someone shouts from behind me, “My network is down. The service providers notified us this morning about the problem, let me use your phone instead”. The people around me are not scared, they are happy. It is a street carnival and a concert!! In my exhaustion and panic I did not take in my surrounding.

I am standing here, approximately four kilometers away from home, in my nightwear tucked into sweatpants with no money and no phone. I have been sleep walking again and I’m not even a project manager. Damn! (Now how to get back home)

 

“Oh my, oh my, oh my!”

“What have I done?”

“I’m possibly the meanest person”

Emotions flaring, coughing really hard from the choky scent that has filled my nostrils. I become super defensive of what I have done.

“This is not my fault”

“If only she had stayed out of my way”

“We had an agreement”

“She had it coming.”

Desperate to convince myself that I am not guilty.

So many things may be running through your mind right now;

“What are you talking about?”, “What am I reading?, “Is this a confession of a murder?”, “Should I call the police?”

CHILL!!!!

Read to the end, and just maybe you will be on my side. Maybe you would have done the same thing I did. Maybe…

I realized she moved next door about a few days after she actually did. She was wild! barely saw her during the day but at night… whew! She would have these wild parties. Impressively they were controlled. Making sure that she did not get her neighbours crashing the party. A paradox, I know, but somehow it worked. A few times I would just steal glances inside her room and I would see the colour of blood. She would say “Oh it’s punch, the colour is endearing, makes my guest more indulging” sheesh! I should have minded my business.

A few days later a knock on my door startled me. Tears, mumbling, suitcase half-opened, clothes trailing a path behind her. I bring her in, trying to make meaning out of what she is saying. It is all a buzz. Bottom line she needs a place to crash. My lips said yes before my brain could process all that was happening. I suddenly realized what had actually happened; she was here to stay and the only permission I had given her was an open door. She settled in, all of a sudden so comfortable. As if what had happened a moment ago never did.

***

I like silence. There is a deeper sensation that a quiet place offers that takes you on a journey where everything is possible. It makes your perception of things so tangible so much so that the tiniest shift in the atmosphere can be caused by a drop of a pin (breaking a spell that allows you to own the universe in your own little space). That is me.

I like silence.

I told her, “I like silence”.

For a while she went about her business. Parties, bowls and bowls of blood-coloured punch, yet no noise. Silence. Unbelievable huh? YES! Somehow she made it work. Her guests were happy, she was happy, I was happy. Suddenly I did not mind having her around till she had exhausted her lifespan.

Or so I thought.

***

Concentration is like sweet wine. Draws you in slowly with every sip; every line, every click, that you become oblivious to your surrounding. There were more guests today, it was going out of control. Maybe she did not get time to brief all of her guests, maybe there were uninvited ones, maybe there was a mischievous party crusher or maybe, just maybe she wanted to test me.

My space, my universe, my SILENCE!  She shook it with a buzz! A long, whiny, spell breaking, buzz! Then it all became clear! I never said yes to her! It was all in my mind. She and her guests were feeding off my energy this whole time and I have evidence to prove it.

With an unnatural calmness, I left the room, went for the murder weapon, and massacred everyone left in My Space, My Universe, My Silence. This was self-defense, I know now. I did what I had to do and I have no shame or guilt.

That mosquito had it coming, and she knew it.

 

Thanks for joining me!

This is cliche. Am I supposed to write a mind blowing, captivating, prologue-like piece to prepare you for what I have to offer? Ain’t nobody got time for that. HAHA!

Anyways, my mind is usually in a mess so I have decided to “file” my imaginations up one piece at a time.

And then they insert a nice quote down there with a nice picture.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

It’s a Wrap guys! or should I say Unwrap!

See what I did there?.. since it’s  the beginning of a journey so I unwrap… never mind… you get it… right?