CWRC Anthology

KNOW THAT MOMENT.

© 2022 by Toinpre A. Donald.

Brought to you by Christian writers and Readers Club.

For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Romans 17:15-17. (KJV)

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The hostel was unusually still that day. No one had run past the window screaming profanities at someone else. No one had walked around with a loudspeaker playing the latest Naija hits. Dara found the night too still like it knew something they didn't and decided to hold its peace. Sandra had dismissed the notion, saying it was just her flank that was quiet. She pointed out that the middle flank on both buildings was this way and the night was young, come late at night and you'll find the wolves out to play.
She hoped they hadn't come out to play when she offered to go get Sandra's Bible and journal from her room. She told her not to wait but continued the teaching with Joy as she stood by the door. Sandra didn't give her any attention, she was focused on explaining to Joy why having the Holy Spirit reside in you was the most important part of being a believer.

Dara walked into the hallway, and made for the main street, separating the buildings from each other. Doors and windows popped up at regular intervals and although curtains covered windows, sound revealed snippets of the lives of other students; two friends making dinner, a lone person reading by their table, a group of friends having a music fest and two lovers wrapped in each other's embrace.

She wrapped her robe tighter when she got to the reading room, hoping to sneak past familiar faces she hastened her steps. A glance at the room bathed in bright lights drew her attention to some of her colleagues studying. They are always studying, she mocked, making me look like an unserious med student.

Not that she wasn't studious, it wasn't her everyday waking and breathing. Glad to be out of sight, she hurried to her room, receiving occasional greetings and calls from people she knew. This wasn't the night to linger for a conversation, Joy needed her expertise.

Without knocking, she opened the door of A-32, her room. It was a considerably utilized space, with two medium-sized metal bunk beds, two pairs of wardrobes–painted pink and purple– and cabinets below them and space in the middle that held two shelves, for each level of beds. This space divided the room into equal halves, with a bathroom and toilet on opposite sides of the end.

Another clear demarcation was that her side of the room was relatively neater than her roommate's. While her bed held some books, her pillow, blanket and Sandra's things. Omi's side showed a bed recently laid upon, clothes, bags and everything in between pushed to a corner of it. Curtains almost dropped from the hallway window and Naomi, herself, was absent.

”Omi!” Dara cried, heading straight for Sandra's things. Naomi popped her head out from the shower, soap at hand.

“What?! Why the screaming? I heard you when you walked in.” She said retreating behind the curtains again. The sound of running water filled the room.

“Since morning, this is when you shower? After nine at night " Dara teased, tidying up the lower shelf a bit. She dropped a dirty dish with the others underneath her bed and placed a leaky half drank sachet of water into a cup.

Not that her case was any different. 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM weren't so far apart. She pulled out her hair bonnet from her wardrobe, ”Aren't you coming?”

“Coming for what?” Naomi asked. She arranged her long braids into the bonnet before answering.

“To Sandra's room. Joy has asked for us to pray for her to receive the Holy Spirit.” Dara said, closing her wardrobe and adjusting her bonnet by the mirror.