EFE (Book 1 in The N. A Series)

Chapter Nineteen

Nineteen

"Stay away from me." He panicked, pulling down a wall to make his escape.

"What the hell happened out there? Why didn't you bring her in?" Agu followed behind him, stomping her short black heels. Her unnatural curls bounced around the collar of the long white shirt she wore.

"She got away, I'll get her next time" David frowned and slammed his door in the woman's face. What that girl said still replayed in his head. He felt a connection to her, he didn't know what it was, still, he knew deep down there was something wrong. Why did his powers stop working? Well, he'd know after a full body check up. They told him she was strong, but they didn't tell him she was strong enough to resist his magic to an extent.

David hopped in the shower, his hair was full of dust and as much as his sweat complimented his looks, it still stank. An image zoomed into his head but it was gone as quickly as it came. The water from the shower hung in the air for nearly a minute before gravity took place again.

'What was that image?' He wondered. 'Who were they?'

***

"We're done with your body scan and there seems to be no physical or mental damage. You're good" The pipe-like woman in a lab coat repeated.

"Are you absolutely sure? Maybe we should check again..." David sat up on the examining chair.

"This is the fifth time we've done this in the past hour David. Now get out of my office before I inject you and drag your ass out." His nurse joked.

"But I saw something when I was in the field today. The girl I was up against." 

"Oh! A girl!" The pipe exclaimed. "Was she fine? She get nyash?" The pipe teased.

"Eww.. No! I mean she was fine and packaged but I didn't see her that way. Anyway, Sh..she said something and moments. I mean thoughts or something went through my mind. I.. I mean I could remember details from a life I never lived." Uneasiness was eating him up from the inside. His nurse frowned at his words.

"When last did you take your drugs? Have you even been taking your medication?" The nurse asked jotting this down.

"Ugh.. Yes Lillian. I take my medicine everyday." he threw his hands in the air. 'Didn't that girl also say something about the medicine?' He thought.

"I'll just add an extra dose as a precaution. We won't want anything to happen to you while you're in the field without backup" she pulled open her drawer and threw familiar medicine at him. "Take two of each now" Lillian prescribed, the umpteenth time. As she watched, David popped two different 4GFN medications from each container into his mouth then downed them with a glass of water.

"Do you feel better now?" She studied him. He took a while.

"Yes... I guess I was just tired. I need to sleep" he yawned. "Are these sleeping pills because I feel sleepy already."

"No they're not but they do have most ingredients found in sleeping drugs" Lillian straightened her glasses.

"I'll be going now. See you around Lili" he yawned again as he shut the door behind him. Once in his room, David pulled out the drugs from his mouth and spat out its semi dissolved contents. He rinsed his mouth then went to bed. Something was definitely wrong. 

He punched his pillow repeatedly.

*****************

Efe stalked back to the college hospital, hours later, he had been trying to figure out the best way to face Ayo. Efe stared at the silent broken screen of her new Infinix hot 8, Ayo had been calling none stop for the past two hours and finally her feet found their way to room 228, his room in the east wing. She knocked, unable to stay away any longer.

"Come in" his low voice called, he half expected it to be her. "Hey how are you?" His voice became soft, he took in her messy appearance.

She huffed out air in a laugh "I should be asking you" Efe hesitantly drew closer.

"Well, I have a concussion and a couple of stitches but I'm great" Ayo's lips curled up, weakly. He frowned at her bloody big blue t-shirt. Efe noticed.

"I heal fast so any injury I had is already healed" she was at the brink of tears as she stood there. She kept seeing Mide's face as she stared at Ayo, so she looked down instead.

"I forgot, where's Mide? Nobody seems to have any idea where he is" That was it for Efe. She burst into tears sobbing furiously. This is what she'd been trying to avoid: she didn't want to have to tell him that her brother killed his. She hoped that he'd remember and save her the pain. 

"Efe, are you alright? What's going on? Are you hurt? Where's Mide?" Ayo tried to get out of bed but his head throbbed in pain. He laid back. "Efe please..." She would not meet his eyes as her lips betrayed her head and formed words.

"M..mi..mide i..is Dead" she fell on her knees miserably. It came as a shock to him. Those were probably the words he needed to hear to remember the events of the morning. The car, Efe screaming, Mide at the door, then the explosion that knocked him out. He shut his eyes for a minute as Efe started biting her nails.

"It was him, wasn't it?" Ayo finally spoke up referring to her brother. Pain wrung his heart harshly.

"Yes" A little part of her suddenly hated her brother. "It was"

"Come here" he scooted over to make room for her on the large Hospital bed. She glanced at his hand patting the space beside him. She'd stopped crying earlier but still snivelled from time to time. "Come here... I'm not going to yell at you. Come on up"

Upon the fact that she felt selfish for allowing Ayo to console her instead of the opposite, she crawled into his bed. "It is okay" he cooed, gently patting her shoulder. She inhaled thick scents from his hospital gown and the bandages around his right arm and face.

"I should be the one comforting you" Efe whispered to him. After much silence.

"Well, I don't need much comfort because I'm not as sad as you are" Ayo replied in a whisper.

She looked up at him as if searching his eyes for hints of a lie. "Why is that?" Her eyes flickered from one of his to the other.

"Mide was sick, if you didn't already notice" Ayo began. "He got sicker by the day and he.." Ayo cleared his throat. "He umm.. Didn't want to take any drugs. He coughed up blood a lot and was in so much pain some days. He said he'd rather spend his last days with me while training you. He said it was going to be his last masterpiece" Mide chuckled in Ayo's memory.

Tears streamed down the side of her face to his chest. She moved up and kissed him lightly. "I'm sorry" she whispered again then moved to get out of the bed but he held her. Ayo drew Efe to himself. The pain in his head, long forgotten. His hand snaked the back of her head holding it in place. Their eyes met for a brief moment before he pressed his lips to hers passionately. She was shocked but quickly recovered and returned it.

They stayed kissing, what seemed like hours was a couple of minutes before she broke the kiss and apologized again.

"Don't apologize... I kissed you" he felt awkward because she kept saying sorry. 

Efe drew away "Not that" she oddly wasn't meeting his eyes. He paused.

"No! Efe…" He frowned "You're going after them, aren't you?" He held up his torso with his elbows on the bed.

"I need to put an end to this. Nobody else should die because of me" she convinced herself.

"It is not just about you anymore Efe! This is bigger than the both of you now! My brother just died because of your situation so you can't go and kill yourself. I'm not blaming you I'm just saying you should think everything through. I don't want to lose you too" Ayo's voice cracked at the end of the sentence.

"I like you" Efe observed him while He sat upright "I was looking forward to our date" her shoulders raised in a slight shrug.

"I love...".  He didn't notice her hand on his leg.

"Sleep" she couldn't let him complete it. She wouldn't be able to do what she had to if he did.

Efe tucked Ayo in.

Then left...

That was the last time he saw her.