~Kamsi~
*
The enemy isn't as far away as you think. Simply take a blink, and in that millisecond; you'd realise that the enemy is hidden in that brief moment of darkness. Now the real question remains:
Who is the enemy?
*
"Hey, Kamsi! Kamsi!" I knew that voice. And no, it wasn't Kambili's. It was Angel's. And that was why I pretended to act like I hadn't heard her when she called.
"Kamsi!" I quickened my steps, hoping to lose her in a few minutes. Still, the girl carried on with chasing after me, and yelling my name.
"Kamsi!" I still ignored her.
"Kamsi!" More ignorance, and more approaching footsteps. I chose to break into a run instead.
"Kamsiyochukwu!" Seriously?! That did it. I soon came to a halt, and with a very exasperated sigh, I turned to look at her.
I watched as a smile drew across her face, and a certain eagerness settled in her eyes, as she began to race towards me. However, I didn't flinch. I didn't even want to seem opprobrious or anything—at that time—and that was why I simply waited for her to get a little closer. But if I was being honest, I was starting to get pissed by this girl. What was her deal, anyway? Why was she always on my case? We weren't even friends.
"Hey." She smiled, as though we were the bestest of friends on the planet. "Haven't seen you in a while." She continued, and I shrugged in response.
Here's the thing: in school, everyone feared me, and they all hated me. No one, besides Kambili and Tyrone, could be seen talking to me. In fact, I snubbed nearly half the population of those who'd tried in the past. And here was this girl, trying to contradict that. I figured I'd have to put things straight with her. She needed to know that we were not friends, and could never be.
Sure, at the beginning, I sort of found her bearable. But not anymore. I knew there were a lot of people that were out to get me, and silently watching from the shadows; just so they could see my downfall. And for all I knew, Angel could have been one of those people. And besides, I already had way too many trust issues. Something about her goody-two-shoes behaviour, didn't sit right with me. There was something off about it, and I could feel it.
"What do you want, Angel?" My expression was stoic, and I could tell she knew I didn't want to keep this conversation, rolling. Nonetheless, she tried her best to act like she didn't notice my indifferent stance.
"Gee, something crawled up your arse and died?" She eyed me over, gripping onto the straps of her blue backpack, which was strapped to her shoulders. "What's up with you?" She quickly added.
"If you have nothing important to say, then I guess I shouldn't be wasting my time here." I said, nailing the icy stance that I wanted to.
From the looks of it, she froze. In fact, she stared at me—whilst tilting her head to the side—as though she were trying to see into my head, just by staring into my eyes. "Did I do something wrong? Why're you so cold towards me all of a sudden?" She asked, with a hint of innocent, exuding that one, particular question.
And when I thought about it, I realised that she didn't exactly offend me. I just... Didn't want to get attached or something. I didn't trust her, not even a little bit.
"You did nothing." I turned my back on her, ready to leave. But, she ran right in front of me, and stared at me, with a frown marring her beautiful features.
"What has gotten into you?" She asked, almost like she hoped I'd get deep with her, with the reasons.
"Nothing. Now, move." I was harsh, rude, and insensitive even, and I knew that. But that was how I always was. That was who I was. And Angel was simply trying too hard, to pry into my life, almost like she wanted to own it. I didn't like that, never did. And I also never wanted to get attached to someone who'd only end up hurting me in the end.
"You and I were cool, like, yesterday or something. What happened? Was it something I said? Or was it something I did?" Angel didn't seem to take the unlettered hint: ‘I don't want to be friends with you', instead, she was trying to loosen the ends of my conscience. Trying to make me seem like a bad person, for trying to shove her out of my life, and for trying to make her nonexistent.
"We're not friends." I bluntly replied, without caring to know if she got hurt by my inconsiderate words.
She let out a small sigh. "To think you'd be less of an arse by now, huh?" Her eyes studied me, and I could see that my words did hurt her. "Nice way to break in the facts, Kamsi. 'Cause I thought we were."
I snapped my head towards her, making sure to look her straight in the eye. I even made sure to scowl, for more precision. "We were never friends. And I thought I made it clear to you in the beginning. We are not friends, Angel. Get that?" Granted, I was a lot harsher than I had intended to be. But, in my defence, I really wanted her to hate me and quit trying to get close to me all the time. And so, all I'd said; needed to have been said.
"Well," I watched as pools and pools of hurt, swam in her eyes. I watched as she took three steps backwards, and held onto her backpack strap, tightly than she had before. Indeed, she'd finally taken the hint. "You really are a confusing person, Kamsi." She nodded her head, as though she were trying to register all I'd said into her head, all at a go.
"I am." I interjected, not even giving as much as a slight flinch.
"Okay, then. I'm sorry for misinterpreting things. I wasted your precious time for no apparent reason. I was such a fool for doing that. Sorry." And without giving me a chance to even react to her words—which I wasn't going to—she walked away, quickly. I watched as she walked so fast, and soon broke into a run.
I didn't care, in fact, I shouldn't have cared. But Heaven knows I felt a pang of guilt and untrimmed remorse. Yet, I shoved those all aside, choosing to believe that I'd done the right thing. With that, I continued to walk towards my classroom, with some students nearby; fleeing at the mere sight of me.
This was how it had always been. And nothing could change that.
* * *
I felt guilty. Yes, guilty. But that didn't mean I felt sorry, either. I just wished I hadn't been so harsh, that was all. Either way, I was glad Angel wasn't in the same class as me. She was an Art student, while I was a Science student. However sad, Krysta happened to be in the exact same class as me. And get this, her f*cking brother was, too. If that wasn't savage enough, then I didn't even know what that was.
I felt it was sort of a setup, just to make me mad, much earlier than I'd presumed. I didn't know why, but they ended up in the same class as me. Worst of all, everyone present, wouldn't stop kissing up to Krysta's and Tryst's arses, respectively. Like, talk about obnoxiously gross! I hated the way some students wouldn't just shut their crap up, for goodness sakes!
Everyone kept talking about how much they missed the evil twins, and wouldn't stop throwing sugary, buttery compliments, at the two. It was utterly disgusting. In fact, it was plain rivolting! It sucked on so many levels, and worse part was: the fact that most of the Krysta X Tryst worshippers, were plain fakes and outright wannabes. If there was something I hated more than school itself, then it was definitely the kind of people in it.
F*ck!
I was so mad at everything, and everyone, for being so sickly sweet with the twins. Even more frustratingly, Kambili even happened to prance over their worrisome return. It felt like the return of the demons from the flaming abyss — to me, at least. It seemed like I was the only sane being left in this class, anyway.
Those two goofhead and arseclown, respectively, were high-definition of the word: 'fools'. Only difference between Kambili and the rest of those other butt-kissing geezers, was the fact that she was actually genuine about her excitement. Granted, she and Krysta used to be best friends—before the obnoxious animal left our school—but it still made me so pissed, at the fact that she wouldn't stop being all sweet with Krysta. And in my opinion, stupid Krysta didn't seem to want to acknowledge her.
In fact, she ignored her, and that made me really angrier. I knew Bili could be many things, and could be overly friendly for her own good, but getting ignored by Krysta was simply very bad of the she-demon. But what else could I expect from someone like Krysta? She was all selfish and insensitive. Thought about herself first before someone else, and didn't care if her words could kill a person or not. She was just like that, and Heaven knows I really wished I hadn't dated that inconsiderate chihuahua. She wasn't worth it, not at all. In fact, dating her was a mistake. She was a mistake. She was my hell, and became the reason why many things turned bad in my life.
Would I ever forgive her? The answer was: never.
Fortunately, Mr. Smart walked into the class. He was our Math teacher, and was an absolute no-nonsense person. And so, the minute he stepped into the class, all the Krysta-and-Tryst worshipping; came to an end, instantly.
"Settle down, class." He began, and that was enough to get the class in order.
After we had greeted him, he was quick to begin writing down problems on the whiteboard. And from my peripheral vision, I could see that Krysta looked like her brain got fried in an instant. No, scratch that. I meant, roasted.
Is it just me? Or does something smell kind of burnt?
"Kamsi, please help us with the equation." I hadn't noticed that Mr. Smart was referring to me, not until Tyrone smacked my arm. Instantly, I understood that he was talking to me, after all.
"Oh." I muttered under my breath, and got up from my seat.
With an air of confidence, I walked towards Mr. Smart. Already, a lot of people were passing side-comments about how much they thought I was proud, or how much they really couldn't stand me. That was their problem, anyway, and not mine. 'Cause one thing I came to understand about life was: haters would always have to hate. It was simply inevitable, and if you had no enemies and no one to even hate you — then it meant you weren't doing anything important. That was fact, splattered on a plate of gold.
Effortlessly, I solved the math problem on the large, whiteboard.
"Correct!" Mr. Smart exclaimed, and with a nod of his head, I was off to my designated seat. Right at the back.
The rest of the class kicked off from there.
"Psst! Dude..." Tyrone slowly slipped something into my hand. Curious, I gave him a look before stealthily opening it.
'How you coping with your ex in the same class witcha? And her effing bro in it too. The universe ain't really a fan of yours, huh?'
The thing I loved about Tyrone, was that he knew how to uplift my sour mood. And that was something I was grateful for. For starters, us passing notes in class was just another way of us communicating without having to get caught.
Grabbing a pen from my desk, I wrote back a sloppy reply.
'You don't see me dying, do you? A bit peachy about it, but I think I'm not interested in their case. I need my chill.'
I slipped Tyrone my note. He took it, quite stealthily, and read it through. Afterwards, he handed me his written reply.
'Wish I could laugh in your face rn. You gon' be dealing with two shitheads in yo class. Good luck on that one.'
I didn't even bother writing back. Tyrone could be an idiot sometimes, and by that, I meant now.
"Tyrone, what's so funny?" Mr. Smart glared at a chuckling Tyrone.
Tyrone immediately choked on his laughter, and gorged it back, down his throat. "Sorry, sir. It won't happen again." He said, and Mr. Smart offered a final glare, before returning his attention to the problem on the whiteboard.
"Goddamn ninja he is." I heard Tyrone mutter, and I slowly gave off a low chuckle.
However, the rest of the class was a drag. And I got bored sooner than I'd expected.
* * *
School was over, and I pretty much wanted to head over to some place I hadn't gone in a while. Simply 'cause I hadn't had the balls to do it.
Mom's favourite place.
It took a lot of thinking, but then I decided that I really wanted to see her again. Even though I wasn't actually going to see her in person. I wanted to go alone, and that was why I asked the driver that was supposed to pick Kambili and I, up from school, to go ahead without me.
As I walked further down the path that led to my mom's favourite place, which seemed as though it was isolated from the rest of the world, I began to have a strange feeling. I didn't know why, but I had a really bad feeling. Almost like I was being followed. Being watched.
However, I chose to ignore it. I walked towards the place where my mom seemed to be the happiest. It was a small lake, at the deep ends of the district which we lived it. It had trees all around it, and the air smelt clean, better, and was much more calming. All my woes let down, as the leaves crunched beneath me, with every step I took. It felt good to reflect on good, old times. Times which seemed to be perfect. I preferred living in my past instead, 'cause—ironically— my past was better than my present.
It'd been years since I last came here. After my mom's death, I just didn't have the will to come here. Couldn't handle the memories that came along with being here. The memories seemed so fresh, almost like the green leaves of the trees surrounding the area. But the place seemed a bit unkempt. Dried leaves littered the place, and I knew it was 'cause there was no one to keep this place clean. After all, no one really knew about its existence. But my mom, when she had been alive, would sweep the place whenever she could.
She loved the lake at the middle, and loved the scent of fresh leaves, cool lake-breeze and unpolluted air. The kind that didn't have hints of soot, harmful chemicals and foul-smelling garbage. Just being here, was relaxing. It felt like my mom was here, with me. I soon found myself wishing I'd brought Kambili along. But I couldn't. Maybe she wasn't ready yet. It did take me a whole lot, just to gather the courage to be here.
It wasn't easy.
Moments of silence, and me just sitting on dried leaves and throwing pebbles into the lake, went by and then; I heard something.
Footsteps.
Something wasn't right. No else came here. But someone was here.
Alarmed, I got up from where I'd been sitting. I listened for the footsteps, and there they were again! Someone definitely was here. But... Who?
More footsteps.
Dried leaves crunching.
Twigs snapping in half.
Halt.
Then, nothing else came after that. Almost like it were all in my head, and like there was no one actually approaching.
Seconds passed.
And still, no footsteps.
A prickling, creeping feeling crawled into me. I felt the need to leave. Danger lurked at the shadows, in corners I couldn't see nor did I know of.
But then, as I made to make a run for it, a hand grabbed me, fiercely. I kicked, clawed and tried fighting back. But then, a handkerchief came up my nose and it felt like my limbs began to weaken. Feet wouldn't even move. Hands wouldn't even comply.
Tried to kick, but could barely even lift as much as a finger. My eyelids felt like they weighed a ton, my head pounded with unknown sources of exuberant weakness.
The strong, muscular hand, held onto me like I were nothing but a branch from a tree. And just like that, my world came fading in pitch black hues.
"Take him to the van." That was the last I heard, before unconscious crippled me in its deadly hands.
*
Ooooooh! Now the drama gets sweeter🤯
Prepare, guys! The next chapter has someone special in it. Trust me, you'd be thrilled.
Anyway, please vote, comment and please share.
*yawns* I'm so tired right now. Books. Need to study. No sleep for me. Ugh. Not easy being a student. HELP! 😣
Anyways, have a good day/night. Love you all❤
Bye!💫