The Unseen

CHAPTER TWO

I jolted awake as a loud bang pierced through my ear drums, making my head pound violently. Through my still blurry vision, I saw two of my roommates; Shekina and Fatima in a competition of who could cut their vocal cords first. With the rate at which they were going, they would need to learn how to "Speak" sign language. Sighing, I massaged my temples, hoping it would lessen the headache which I was sure would land me in the school clinic.
"You're sick in the head!" Fatima boomed, clanging her pots together.. That was what woke me. Why she was clanging pots to go with her own side of the rift was beyond me.
"Your future in-laws are sick in the head!" Shekina returned hotly. I glanced at the direction of Mariam; the fourth room member. She had on her headset, it wasn't hard to see the reason why. She must have sensed me looking at her because she looked up and gave me a small smile. I spread my hands in a questioning manner, referring to the screaming banshees. She shrugged and I nodded, she had no idea why they wanted to claw out each other's hair which in a minute would happen. I decided to leave the room to go visit a course mate nextdoor. I grabbed the navy blue jean trouser I had flung earlier and a black short sleeved top. After putting them on, I bent to drag out a pair of black sandals from under the bunk. My head protested and at that moment, a crash was heard. I winced, I needed to get out of there fast. With my sandals in my hand, one moment, I was on my way out, then the next, I was staring at the ceiling fan.
   All I could hear was silence, then I felt as if I was thrown five floors down, headlong. I couldn't find it in myself to scream. With the way my head pounded, I could make a beat out of it and become world's best DJ. Hot tears sprang to my eyes and I gritted my teeth. I stood up slowly and limped to my bed, the fall took a toll on my balance. I saw the water on the floor then, The crash I heard earlier was a broken bucket. They took no notice of my fall and the broken bucket. By then, people were gathering at the room's entrance to "watch the wrestling" going on. This was a normal occurrence; fatima and Shekinah were known all around for their frequent fights. Discarding my wet clothes, I changed into a long black skirt and a long sleeved top of a similar colour. I found my way out of the room and found myself going downstairs, I didn't feel like staying in the hostel anymore.
Sighing, I walked down the long corridor and out of the hostel.
    Outside was a beehive of activities; people were sitting on the built benches and some were littered in fronts of various shops. The suya stands emitted smokes, which wove beautifully with the evening light. The shops all had colourful lights in and out of them. Couples were more prominent at the ice cream stand, I chuckled to myself then I froze.
   There he was, my crush of 9 months with his girlfriend. I couldn't let them see me even though that might be hard, considering the amount of hearts I could see blinking in their eyes.
   My stomach churned and I felt sick, the pounding in my head was still there, I left. I found myself going in front of my department, I wasn't in the mood to interact with anyone who might want to say hi.
  Following a road I've never passed before which apparently was a shortcut to another lecture hall. I walked with my head down and when I looked up, I realised I had veered from the path I was supposed to follow.
   Shrugging, I continued. The headache has reduced into a dull one. The spot where I had hit my head was throbbing though. I sighed and realised it was getting cold, and everywhere was extremely quiet. I smiled a little and decided to turn and head back to the school area when I stumbled on a large clearing. It was a field and it was very bare, except for a big tree which had a stone under it.
    Perfect, I thought to myself. I sat on the stone and took a deep breath, reminiscing my day. It was bad; after waking up late which resulted into forgetting my ID card. My day went from bad to worse after then. I rested my head on my knees, soaking in the silence I knew would last only for those blessed moments.