Today is Tuesday, it's actually my favourite day of the week because PE takes up half the day of school. Nooo, your thoughts are wrong. I do not love sports. In fact, I have a slip that allows me to skip out on PE when I do not feel up to it. You should know I use that slip every Tuesday.
While everyone else is either on the school field or in the gym participating in indoor or outdoor sporting activities,I am in the library. I am not hiding or anything, I just find reading books a more satisfying thing to do. Honestly, I think it should count as a sport. I mean, the number of twists, turns and second hand embarrassments I've gone through today man, I'm exhausted. The good kind of exhausted anyway.
I can't wait to get home for lunch and then watch one episode (I promise it will be just one) of my favorite anime, do my homework and continue with my book... oh and complete my chores of course.
"Ruby, wait for me. Why are you in such a hurry?". Oh my goodness! I forgot. That voice interrupting my thoughts came from my friend Sandra. We don't have last period together on Tuesdays and I almost always forget to wait for her so we can go home together.
Like she said, my name is Ruby. I'm 16 years old and I am in the final class of secondary school. I am Nigerian and I am from Lagos state. I'm light skinned, plump and people always tell me I'm cute or adorable. God, I am 16; my baby sister is adorable, my cat is adorable; at least call me pretty. I never say this out loud though, I just smile and say thank you. I don't want to seem rude.
Sandra is also 16, we attend the same church and we are really close friends. Today is also a great day for her, she dominated the badminton court during PE like always and people are still hailing her. I'm waiting for her at the gate so we can begin our brief but wonderful journey home.
She's approaching me and pouting so I try some damage control. I smile at her and say, "Sandra, I was not going to leave you, I was planning to wait for you at the gate". That was a lie, I was so lost in my daydreaming about lunch that I forgot I was even on the road. Sandra knows this, it happens almost every Tuesday but she smiles,grabs my hands and says, "that's better, let's go".
We had not taken 3 steps when I felt a strong force tear my hands away from her grip. I'm blasted into the air, I keep going higher as if gravity has no hold on me. I try to look down and I see a large cloud of dust. I hear a sound but I can't tell what it is.
Suddenly, I am approaching the ground very fast. "This is how I die", I whisper and close my eyes. Seconds pass and everywhere is deathly silent. "Is this heaven?", I open my eyes and find that I am not dead at all but my school looks like a battle ground.
As far as I can see in all directions, everywhere is blasted ground.Something red catches my eye. I walk towards it and it's Sandra's bag. My heart begins to race and my body begins to shake. "Sandra!, Sandra!", I scream and pick up the bag. I am unraveling, I keep screaming her name. There seems to be no one alive. I seem to be all alone in this world.
I run home as fast as my legs can carry me, still clutching Sandra's bag. I run but I cannot seem to find home. Everywhere looks the same. Blasted earth, like .... like the apocalypse has occurred.
I fling myself to the ground and begin to mutter "no, no, no, no". I begin to pull at my braids and cry. I lie there for hours and hours. I am so hungry and mentally exhausted but I don't move.
I feel a tug on my navel. I ignore it, death is welcome. The tug becomes more insistent. There is a bright light and suddenly I feel like I'm folding into myself. I blink and everywhere becomes normal. My house is back, the roads are back. I look really weird lying on the ground like that so I quickly stand up.
I'm about to go into the house when I see Sandra coming up to my house, her braids swinging back and forth. I am so happy and about to go hug her when I notice that I am still holding her bag, how is that possible? I decide to talk to her anyway when I see she is holding somebody's hand. Wait, that is .... me.
Oh no, what is happening. I am so confused,but if I have learnt anything from books, it is not to interact with a copy of yourself. I hide behind a tree and listen to their discussion. They are having the conversation we had on Monday.
I think I have traveled back in time to Monday.No, listen to me, I am not crazy. I think I'm somehow back in my past.
A past where the apocalypse has not occurred. A past with a copy of myself.A past where Sandra is alive. And a past where the apocalypse will happen tomorrow.