Saved by my nightmare (A Nigerian Story)

CHAPTER 9

بسم لله الرحمن الرحيم

Verily God is with the patient
*********

*********

Confused, Rayyan looked on impassively even as he heard his name being called repeatedly.

A nostalgic feeling shot up his spine as he realized that he had with him the people who had once meant the whole world and more to him.

He looked directly into Zahar's eyes, his expression not giving away any of the emotions that were tearing at him.

He watched the smile that had been forming on Zaharadeen's face suddenly thin out until a confused one replaced it.

He steadily fixed his gaze on Zaharadeen no matter how hard it was for him, he would rather look at him than the hateful girl beside him.

Being near her alone had sent him reminiscing about the last time he had seen her.

When the Commandant had called out all acting prefects that morning, Rayyan had no idea that he would end up in a less than favourable position before the day was over.

The badging ceremony had started a little earlier than it usually did that year. A few minutes into the badging ceremony, while badging the Assembly Prefect, majority of the ss1 body had burst out laughing abruptly.

The deputy Commandant had instructed a personnel to kneel them down till the badging ceremony was over.

After every name was called, either a series of hoots of boos followed,  judging by how wicked or nice the person was to their juniors.

A deafening silence fell heavily on the parade ground however, and it took the second time before Rayyan finally acknowledged the Commandant.

Climbing up the podium was something he had done countless times, either to pass an information across or whenever he was obligated to take the role of the parade commander.

That day however was different, whether it was the almost ominous silence or the way the Commandant fixated her beady eyes on him, his skin prickled with a strange feeling.

He swallowed the feeling down however, and proceeded to stand in front of the Commandant who succeeded in pinning the badge without impaling him like she had done to a few people beforehand.

Subconsciously, his eyes scanned across the crowd of students who looked at him, mostly petrified.

It wasn't until he found what he was looking for that he actually knew what he was looking for.

He could--even from the distance between them-- see the expression on Maliya's face.

While the other students still managed to kneel properly, Maliya was hunched over with her hands in front of her to steady her.

With conflicting emotions, he looked on as her eyes met his for the briefest of seconds.

In that second, he felt bitterness, sadness, anger and contentment watching her kneel down in pain.

The Commandant had removed the badge, realising that she had given him the wrong one.

She collected the appropriate badge from the teacher who stood next to her.

It was in that moment everything changed. A piercing scream tore through the air silencing everything else.

It was an all too familiar scream.