SDMN| Stories

• RUN | TOBI

"You better get up right now! No child of mine is going to be late, omugo." The woman called from the kitchen of her family home where she was holding a red tea towel, having finished drying a third plate.

Down the hallway, Tobi Brown was still - much to his mothers annoyance - under the warmth of his bed covers. The boy had been in a half-dreamlike state since his alarm had gone off, despite his mothers yelling, which was a dangerous thing to do in any Nigerian household.

Sleep crusted his eye, just adding to the tired state he was in. Slowly, Tobi began to drift off again, giving in to the heaviness of his eyelids.

"Bro you better get up now, mums getting the sandal out."

Tobi's younger brother Manny smiled as he ran past their shared rooms doorway, giggling to himself. Manny was already fully dressed, apart from his tie which, in all honesty, he couldn't figure out.

Still half asleep, Tobi dragged himself from bed, quickly and blindly rushing over to his closet and throwing on what he was about ninety-percent sure was his uniform. He rushed to pull on his trainers and watch, slapping on a hat and almost tripping through the doorframe as he ran to the lounge room.

"Ah, there you are. About time. Why can't you be more like your siblings eh?"

Tobi muttered a quick apology, picking up his school bag from the front door before stuffing in some juice and a few granola bars, then kissing his mother on the cheek.

"Bye mum, love you, see you when I get home." He was quick to spit out, dashing out the door despite protests from his mother.

A smile formed on his face when he looked at his watch; 08:17 - only five minutes after he got out of bed, which was now his new record.

If he ran, he could make it to school before the bell. Glancing back to his wrist, he waited three minutes for 08:20. As soon as the time changed, he began to run.

To say Tobi was fast would be an understatement, everything about the boy shouted speed and agility. From his lean athletic frame to the way his feet fell flawlessly into place on the pavement, one after the other, arms relaxed and mind focused.

And there wasn't a better feeling than the wind blowing past his face as if there was a large fan in front of him, being able to match the speed of a car, watching as the drivers would glance and raise their eyebrows.

But if he was asked, he would say the best part had to be the sound. Tobi was never one to care too much about his reputation, or praise from others, instead he fell in love with the sound of the consistent footsteps that matched his heartbeat.

He loved how the sound changed, from grass to pavement to that spongy material that was on some playgrounds.

Footsteps are the unintentional music of the world.

Slowly, the wind began to stop as he slowed down, the fan being turned off. His school was only a few feet away and god knows the teachers wouldn't allow his fast pace.

'Unless your skills can benefit our school, Tobi, you aren't allowed to display them.' Was the main, unspoken message that they conveyed. Because that's how schools were; a place for memorising textbooks, not enjoying yourself and following your dreams. School was not a place for doing things you enjoy. It wasn't a place for running.

Maybe it was this mindset that caused Tobi to rebel.

He entered the gates of the school and felt compelled to speed up, to run through the corridors and the fields, to outrun any authority that tried to stop him.

So he did.

When his first step was taken, he was off, racing into the school building past his classmates, countless colours and words a blur as he flew.

Tobi liked the sound of his footsteps against the linoleum and he loved the rush of doing something wrong.

As he outran teachers and dodged past students, he decided to lap back around the front of the school, a big 'fuck you' to any out of breath teachers.

Tobi came to the staircase, the only one in the school with no railing. He saw it up ahead before he got to it, allowing him time to think. Adrenaline ignited the fire in his mind that threw smoke into his vision, and he wasn't thinking straight.

A leap down the stairs.

He was flying.

He was falling.