by Peter Okafor
“Can you slow down?” I asked with slightly labored breath. The heat was like a smack in my face, like a living breathing thing that was suffocating me. Gavin wouldn’t listen though, so I had to run slightly ahead and stand in front of him. “Can you stop?” I asked exasperatedly.
“What?” He huffed. “Can’t I be a little peeved that my roommate whom I’ve only met once is in another fight? Why did I have to get stuck with the campus bad guy?” I had to bite my lip to stop the threatening smile coming over my face.
“Peeved?” I clarified with a slight snicker. I saw a faint blush take over his cheeks, but he shook it away.
“Well, I am! What if this guy decides to kill me in my sleep? Then what?”
I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head. “I’d miss you terribly,” I spoke with a mock pout. He pushed my shoulder some before he started walking again, this time at a more reasonable pace.
“I’m serious though! You know me. I’m not one to just back down, but it doesn’t mean I go looking for trouble.”
I got where he was coming from, but I think he’ll be fine. “You shouldn’t worry too much. You’ll be okay if you just stay out of each other’s way. I know it will be hard since you’re basically living with one another, but it will work out. You’ll see.”
He sighed and reluctantly nodded. I heard a rumbling, sound making me look down at Gavin’s stomach. I laughed and poked him before stepping away. “I think we should feed the beast before it consumes everyone in its path.” I joked.
“Hardy har har.” The sarcasm in his voice was thick and made me laugh. After a few more minutes, we were able to find the cafeteria and grab something to eat. I got a fruit salad and a bottle of tea while Gavin opted out for a huge burger.
“So what’s your schedule?” I asked with my mouth full of grapes. Gavin shot me a disgusted look playfully before throwing a napkin my way.
“First off…close your mouth, and secondly, I have Math and Science on Wednesdays and Thursdays in the morning while English and Photography are on Mondays and Fridays in the evening. What about you?” he asked, still inhaling his burger.
“And you think I’m disgusting?” I asked, eying the large amount of mustard on his chin before throwing the napkin his way. “I have English and Art Mondays and Tuesdays in the afternoon, while I have Literature 101 and Math 102 Thursdays and Saturdays in the morning. Man, we’ll have, like, no classes together! How am I supposed to survive?” I asked, sulking into my fruit. I felt Gavin pat my back awkwardly before clearing his throat.
“You could always make new friends? Besides, we’ll see each other on the weekends.” I rolled my eyes at the idea. He knew I wasn’t great at making friends but stayed silent anyways. I didn’t feel like arguing over something as small as that. Sitting back against my seat, my eyes drifted around the large and loud room. Mindless chatter provided a void to fill the silence in my mind, but as I sat there letting my gaze drift from one student to the other, I began to feel the small tug on my heart missing my parents. I tried to shake it off, but it persisted. After all, this was the first time I would be away from them. My eyes shot to Gavin as he placed his hand over mine in comfort.
“I’m fine.” I lied, wanting to be stronger than I felt. What kind of an eighteen-year-old can’t make it a day without missing her parents? I felt like a little girl again, and I didn’t like it. Pulling my hand back from under his, I looked elsewhere knowing if he really pushed, I would spill everything. I heard him sigh, but he didn’t say anything else. Instead, we both sat quietly observing our fellow peers thinking to ourselves.
***
“Thanks for helping me out today,” I said with a grin, looking up at Gavin. He shrugged carelessly and pushed up his glasses since they were perched on the tip of his nose. We were standing outside my door room as fatigue and tiredness washed over me. I could hear the call my bed was singing to me, making my hand twitch to fling open the door and answer.
“No problem. Oh, I almost forgot! I got you something.” Gavin dug into the pocket of his jeans before pulling out a whistle on a rope. I quirked an eyebrow in question.
“A whistle?” I asked, a little perplexed. It was a little strange. It’s not everyday someone gives you a whistle. Gavin shook his head and sighed.
“It’s for your safety. I kind of figured we wouldn’t get to see a whole lot of each other like normal, so I got you this. If you get into trouble, blow it so it will scare off anyone who’s trying to hurt you,” he explained, making that imaginary light bulb go off above my head.
“Ah, okay. Thanks, Gavin!” I took the whistle and wrapped the rope around my wrist a few times to keep it there. I saw his ears turn red from my gratitude, making me chuckle. I patted his arm and said, “Good night. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
He nodded, giving me the ‘go ahead and head off to bed’ signal. I turned and opened my door before shutting it behind me. It was eerily quiet in my room, causing the slight loneliness to seep back in. I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach that something was off, but doing a quick survey of my room, nothing seemed different. Shrugging it off, I got out my cell phone to check the time. I saw a text from my mom.
Love you, sweetie. Be safe and call us tomorrow after you’re settled in.
Part of me wanted to call now just to talk, but I bit back the pressure building behind my eyes and got undressed instead. I had to start acting like an adult, and calling my parents within hours of seeing them because I was homesick didn’t exactly scream ‘adult.’ Pulling on an oversized sweatshirt, I untucked my blonde hair and settled in bed before drifting quickly to sleep.
***
“Run…faster!” A voice echoed like the wind that whipped around me. I knew I was scared, but not why. In fact, I was downright terrified as I gasped for air. My eyes squinted, trying to find where the voice was coming from, but all I saw was an empty street.
“Run!” it yelled again, making me whimper. I felt helpless tears threaten to spill as I choke.
“Where?” I screamed, knowing this voice was trying to help me, but I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight. They were coming for me. Who? I didn’t know, but I knew they were bad…very bad. Suddenly, I saw a movement on the far street corner. A man with black hair stood under a desolate street lamp. The shadow marred his face so I couldn’t see who it was, but I knew he was the source of the voice. My feet felt like lead, but I pushed harder to run toward him. I was struggling while he stood there waiting. Why wouldn’t he help me?
I screamed when cold, claw-like hands wrapped around my torso as I was halfway there. It was pulling me away from the stranger. They were too strong! I couldn’t break away! “Help!” I screamed so loud my throat felt raw. I was getting farther and farther away from the man on the corner. I could feel through the hands that grabbed me that with them came certain death.
“Not fast enough…” I heard him just over the howling wind while I was being dragged back into the shadows.
***
“No!” I sprung up in a cold sweat. I could feel my head throbbing fiercely in time with my heartbeat. Stunned, my eyes saw it was just getting light outside. With my hands shaking, I wiped away the remaining sweat from my forehead and got up, knowing I couldn’t fall back asleep after that. I was in shock. That was the first dream I had in years. I always thought it was odd I really never had dreams, and I’m not talking about the ones you can’t remember, but I literally wouldn’t dream of anything. It was always black, and tonight, I had one, and not just a dream but a nightmare. Something didn’t settle right in my gut, but all I wanted right now was to shower off the grime I felt on my skin, and possibly wash away the images assaulting my mind.
Grabbing a random white t-shirt and a pair of blue yoga pants, I also got the necessary bathroom needs such as towel and shampoo. When I quietly padded down the hallway barefoot, I noted it seemed ghostly. Not a soul in sight and the only sound that could be heard was the slight hum of the lights
and the AC combined. My heart was still beating slightly above normal from the nightmare that I experienced while my palms were still clammy. Trying to shake it off, I sped up my walk at a brisk pace. My eyes jumped from wall to wall, thinking the creatures in my dream might possibly pop out suddenly. I felt relief wash over me when I made it to the public shower but had to laugh at myself for acting so paranoid. If anyone were awake now and saw my state, they’d think I was mad.
I sighed deeply when the warm water cascaded onto my skin. My eyes closed as I could almost feel my tension melt away. I grabbed my coconut-scented shampoo and began the process of cleaning not only my body but my mind as well.
“She’s becoming immune…” A crackly almost nonexistent voice rung through the air. I gasped and turned around to face the curtain that blocked me from view. My heart was back up to full speed. With a shaky hand, I peeked from behind my barrier and let go of the breath I was holding.
Another girl around the same age was on her phone as she brushed her hair, still in her pajamas. She felt my eyes on her, making her look up in the mirror to meet my gaze.
“Oh! Sorry. Did I scare you? I thought you heard me come in…No, Jackie, not you; this girl who’s in the shower.” I realized she now was tuned back into her previous conversation on the phone.
“It’s okay. It just freaked me out for a second,” I replied quickly and turned off the water in my shower before grabbing my towel that was hanging on a hook just outside the stall. Once I had wrapped myself securely, I stepped out and gave her a small smile. She grinned back through the mirror, showing off a perfect set of white teeth. She then stopped brushing her red curls and promptly told Jackie that she had to go and finish getting ready.
“Hi, again sorry for the scare, but my name is Jojo, but most people call me Joe.” Her name fitted her as she seemed very chipper even this early in the morning. I took out my toothbrush with a friendly smile and looked at her through the mirror.
“Cali, and it’s fine. I was just being a scaredy cat.” Before I could stop myself and just brush my teeth, a question blurted past my lips. “What did you mean, ‘She’s becoming immune?’” I felt slightly mortified that I would ask a question that was clearly none of my business, but it was like my mouth filter went on the fritz. I quickly began to brush my teeth, hoping that would keep my mouth busy enough to not get me into any more trouble. I saw Joe cock her head in question.
“I never said anything like that,” she answered before grabbing her stuff and leaving. While she could move perfectly, I was, however, more or less frozen. If she never said that then…No, she could be lying. But why would someone lie about that? I spat the excess toothpaste into the sink and rinsed my mouth out, inwardly cursing myself.
“Get a hold of yourself,” I grumbled out and proceeded to get dressed. After I was done, I decided to go back to my dorm to really unpack my things. My fingers combed lazily through my hair since I left my hairbrush in my room. Unthinkingly, I paused outside my dorm room thinking something was lurking behind the door.
I nearly wanted to hit myself for being childish.
Groaning under my breath, I flung the door open after I unlocked it, but quickly flicked the light on. My eyes swept over everything. I was satisfied when nothing seemed out of place. Unconsciously, my hands were balled into fists, prepared to fight if the need showed itself. The glint that came off one of my bracelets caught my attention, making my eyes look for the source of light since I knew my ceiling light wouldn’t be bright enough to do that.
It was then I noticed that the sun had really started to rise above the large city. Bright colors were blended into a mixture of brilliant oranges, reds, and yellows. The sight stole my breath and reminded me of home. On the rare occasions I was up before the sun back home, I loved to sit outside and watch it come up from the valley hills. The painting nature was working before my eyes gave me the comfort I needed at the moment.
It must have been another five or so minutes before the colors dulled into a sky blue. I sighed before going back to unpacking. I was sure Gavin wouldn’t be up for another four to five hours since it was still extremely early. I bent over to retrieve my iPod dock and pushed play on a random song before getting to work.
This was going to be a long day.
If you enjoyed this sample then look for
Intertwined: A Sci-Fi Romance Novel
on Amazon!
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Author’s Note
Hey there!
Thank you so much for reading Liberation! I can’t express how grateful I am for reading something that was once just a thought inside my head.
I’d love to hear from you! Please feel free to email me at [email protected] and sign up at peter-okafor.awesomeauthors.org for freebies!
One last thing: I’d love to hear your thoughts on the book. Please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads because I just love reading your comments and getting to know YOU!
Whether that review is good or bad, I’d still love to hear it!
Can’t wait to hear from you!
Peter Okafor
About the Author
Okafor Ugo-Peter is an avid scribbler of speculative fiction with a passion to educate and entertain through his work. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Coventry University. Liberation, his debut offering, weaves his experiences of greedy leaders, lies and corruption, deplorable living conditions, and the low value placed on human life, during his stay in Asia and Africa.
