The Evening Of The Morning

005

Early that morning, when Tani and I arrived, I saw the eagerness in her eyes and told her to go ahead. I got it. She hugged me, kissed my forehead and stormed off to meet her lover. It was still dark. I broke some branches and covered our motorcycle and the long sack filled with different soft drinks. We stuffed cartons by the sides of the sack, capped it with more cartons before tying it. That way the block won't easily melt.

Tani thought I was doing it for her, that I was there at that time to escort her to see her lover. But, I wanted to be there, more accurately, something was drawing me towards that area; Something inside that stream was drawing me. And without hesitation, when I arrived at the bank of the stream, the being who has been calling me surfaced. Homosapien enough but it had a tail and as though its skin was peeled off, it rippled with red muscle. Its presence paralysed me, but I wasn't scared. It was as if I knew it, even more than I knew myself.

It had claws and with its index, it gently trailed down my cheeks, then raised my head from my jaw. He called my name, and waves passed my body, I immediately felt aroused. Its visage wasn't something my gaze could hold, so my eyes fell downward. He swept me off my feet and held me as a baby. Slowly, as it emerged, it began to submerge.

I was below the water and was still holding my breath. I was uncomfortable but I couldn't move. After a while of sinking, I let go and took a deep breath, expecting my lungs to suffocate with water, but a gill-like cut on my neck performed the action. This unusual being locked me to its bosom as we sank deeper. When we reached the bottom, he leaned in and kissed me. Immediately he drew out, I drifted back to consciousness, I was still standing at the bank of the stream, staring, as if I wasn't just carried beneath the water, where I breathed perfectly and was kissed. I touched my lips where I had just felt a kiss. I still felt it.

With little dread coursing through me, I removed my clothes and entered the water. My original intention was to bathe, so I bathed in the little puddle, and while soaking in the water, I wished the being or whatever that was to happen again. I wanted to hear it call my name. I wanted to feel the way I had felt with it. Like drugs the feeling wore off, and motivated by fear, I climbed up.

I didn't soak in the puddle for as long as I used to and let the little fishes feed on my injured leg. It had been that way until three days ago, then I wasn't feeling the urge to go to the stream, but it was a place I found and expressed serene.

My sister woke me up that morning. After grumbling, I asked her, why? I knew, but I just asked.

"I want to see Boga." She said.

"Now?" I complained, pressing my face on the mat.

"I have to meet him by 4, that is his last shift in the hut."

It wasn't the first time. I was getting used to it. I compensated myself with the thoughts of soaking in the puddle Sobere showed me. I soggily stood up, poured little of papa's ogogoro in my mouth and brushed my teeth. I pinched the soap that was as slim as sim card and met Tani, already clambered on the motorcycle. When we reached the location we usually hid our motorcycle, (we didn't carry our sack of drinks. Tani said we would go back to get it.) I told Tani that I would be at the stream, in case she wanted to go and I wasn't there. She didn't give it much thought. She left and I made my way to the stream. The path I followed was wide enough for a car to pass. The ground was dry and dusty. Intricate lines ran through them, and I stepped, trailing the lines, saying if I stepped off I would die.

When I reached the stream, I removed my clothes and entered the stream. The deepest side was at waist level and I sank in, leaving only my nose above the surface. I stayed that way for a while, listening to the water, completed blocked from the noise of the world. My eyes too were shut so I saw nothing. And I was thinking about nothing. I enjoyed the serene until I felt something circle around me. I stuck my head above the surface, but I only heard the water flowing. Out of fear, I ran out of the water, and when I got to where we hid our motorcycle, Tani was there waiting for me. The next morning, I was up before Tani and when she woke up, I pretended to be sleeping. She tapped me and I woke immediately.