Amobi and the Door Beyond Time (PREVIEW)

1. I Explode a Church

I know, I know. That sounds really bad. Who blows up a church for crying out loud? But I assure you, I am neither a spy nor am I an ISIS terrorist. Like most horrible things that has ever happened to me, it was a complete accident. Still, considering everything that happened after though, blowing up a church was just the tip of the iceberg.

It all started the day I was attacked by a crazed rhinoceros.

The day began as usual, with me waking up in a straitjacket. I suppose this is a good time to say that I live in a mental facility in the outskirts of Onitsha. Of course, the caretakers don't call it a mental facility. That would be bad for business. Instead, it goes by the name of St. Gregory's Home for Troubled Youngsters - troubled here meaning crazy.

I opened my eyes to find the ugly face of Matron Ada scowling down at me. She was in charge of the whole thing, but that didn't stop her from taking a personal approach with her 'wards'. She was as thin as a broomstick, with a pair of bejewelled Harry Potter glasses on her drawn, unattractive face. Today, she was dressed in a short, clinical gown that exposed more of her legs than I cared to see.

"You overslept," she croaked. "Get up. Breakfast is almost over."

I said nothing and simply wriggled my restrained body.

"Oh," she said, noticing the problem. Muttering a curse about people who refused to do the jobs they were being paid for, she went to work. Getting out of the straitjacket, taking a bath and putting on the generic white clothes everyone was given here took the better part of an hour. By then Matron Ada was long gone, probably off to look for another inmate to torture with her presence. I emerged from my room and nodded to the security guard standing beside it. As usual, the man ignored me.

My room was at the end of a long hall. Like the rest of the building, the hall was as white as snow and the fluorescent bulbs glaring down from the ceiling only helped to make the hall seem longer than it was. I passed the closed rooms of my fellow dorm mates, the security guards beside them glaring at me as I passed. The hall opened out to the courtyard, which was a large field of grass that existed solely to hold a couple of ixora and hibiscus plants. Directly opposite the dorms, the library, the refectory and the medical centre spread out in a gentle arc. The tall spire of our church poked out from behind the medical centre, like some strange tumour.

My attention though, was on the refectory, where the rest of the inmates were spilling out. My heart sinking, I walked towards them anyway. Looks like it was a no-breakfast day.

"Amobi, hey Amobi," someone yelled. I looked at the culprit and despite my hunger, I felt my face break into a relieved smile.

"Here, I saved you some bread," Kosi said, thrusting a chunk of the facility's flaky bread into my hands.

"Thanks," I cried gratefully and ate it all in three bites. "You're a lifesaver."

"I try," she said smirking. I just shook my head and smiled at her. Kosi was quite tall. I had to look up a bit whenever I spoke to her. Her skin was the colour of dark chocolate and her eyes were a honey brown. Her hair was shaved at the sides, then the rest braided with crimson coloured braids. The combo made her look quite stunning. The effect though, was often ruined by the scowl on her face, like she was thinking of pulverizing a rock with her bare hands. Like me, she was dressed in an immaculate white jean, over which she wore an equally blinding t-shirt.

Now you might be wondering, "What's with all the white?" and you wouldn't be wrong for thinking that it's weird. They made us wear white all the time because it was supposed to be soothing and calming. Considering the actions of some of the inmates though, that idea didn't work.