Ibinu

Indabosky.

SS3.

Lola.

I woke up with a start, my chest heaving and my breath coming out in pants as if I had just finished a sprint, my entire body was covered in a cold sweat and it kept trembling uncontrollably.

My head swam, and I was disoriented for a moment. I found it difficult to extricate myself from my dream and I had to forcibly dismiss the lingering images before I could get my bearing.

I had a nightmare again but that was a common phenomenon by now, its appearance and frequency could no longer affect me or my day. But this morning, I was visibly shaken and it was the subject of the dream that was to blame.

I had to consciously slow my breath and think. I looked up at the ceiling and reminded myself that I was in the hostel now, it was physically impossible for it to be real, I WAS SAFE.

It was Sunday morning meaning I would have chapel soon. As I looked around my room, I discovered it was empty. I reached for my wristwatch and saw that it was half-past eight.

Just great, I barely had any time left. That would teach me to sleep by five am next time. Who am I kidding? I'll probably still do the same tonight.

I pushed back my damp duvet and jumped out of my bed, almost falling from the top bunk to the floor in the process, barely managing to correct my landing at the last moment.

I didn't have time to care about any damage because I had less than thirty minutes to get to the chapel hall and I really couldn't afford to be late as I had a lot of duties to perform in chapel today. It would have been offensive to walk in late when I was ministering.

I tugged my towel from its hanger(I'm pretty sure I broke it in the process) and raced out of the room like I was being chased by a bull; If I had never been glad that I slept in the nude, then I was today.

I ran to the bathroom stalls at top speed and saw that it was a mess as it had not been cleaned. I quickly checked the toilets and saw that they were the same.

ɪ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴋɪʟʟ ᴛʜᴏꜱᴇ ꜰ*ᴄᴋɪɴɢ ᴊᴜɴɪᴏʀꜱ.

I did a U-turn and ran outside to bathe on the concrete in front of the hostel. The stragglers remaining in the hostel looked at me as I ran around, they were probably Catholics waiting for their priests or atheists trying to skip the religious gatherings. 

When I got outside, I realised that I had only brought my towel along with me, so I had to go back to my room to get my bucket of water and my bath bag.

I bathed in record time, I don't think I spent up to five minutes. Those days of training for the junior bathing Olympics really came in handy now.

I sped inside and dressed up with fifteen minutes to spare. I looked down at my Sunday wear in the mirror and noticed how tight it was across my chest plus the little bulge in the lower abdominal area and decided to change and wear Chioma's spare Sunday wear that she kept with me. ɪᴛ ᴡᴀꜱ ʙᴀꜱɪᴄᴀʟʟʏ ᴍɪɴᴇ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴘᴏɪɴᴛ.

Chioma, my staunch supporter, was Amandi's sister and my school daughter along with Tami. She was only in Jss3 but was wise beyond her years and one of my closest friends.

By the time I was done with dressing and had grabbed my scarf and bible, I had only ten minutes left. There was barely enough time for me to catwalk to the chapel hall.

I had to skip breakfast to make sure I reached there on the dot, my ex-timekeeper tendencies wouldn't allow for anything else and it would be unsightly for me to run there.