Fib and the Axe of Fury

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER THREE

S

pirit of Marilyn calling me, audibly…

I groaned as “Girl on Fire” blared from my phone. With my eyes slightly open, I searched the bed until my hands found it.

“Babe, where are you?”

My eyes flew open as soon as I heard Mo’s voice. I sat up so my back could rest on the headboard and pulled my phone from my ear to check the time: 8:00 a.m. What! Why didn’t my mother wake me?

I shoved the phone back to my ear. “Errr… you have to come with me.”

“Why?”

“I’m down with malaria,” I lied. “Talk to you later.” Without waiting for a reply, I cut the call and jumped off the bed.

The entire night I was alert. The previous day, a creature had appeared to me twice. My mother wouldn’t tell me anything, even though it was obvious she knew more. As I descended the stairs, the aroma of Jollof rice wafted through my nostrils. When I reached the bottom I stood at the entrance of the kitchen and watched my mother sing.

“Good morning, Ma,” I said.

“Finally. Can you help me with the dodo?” She pointed to the frying plantain. “I’m late for work.”

My hands fluttered over my lips. “I can’t…”

Her face fell. “Fibikemi, I know how hard it is for you… the fire… but you need to outgrow this.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, goose bumps formed on my arms, reminding me of the blaze. You don’t just get over a fire accident that ruined your life, I wanted to scream, but decided against it.

“I can’t go to school… I'm feeling sick,” I said, as I stared through the window.

“All right.” She looked at me knowingly, then turned off the gas. In minutes, my mother would be done cooking and serving food. Around 9:00 a.m., she left for the library.

As soon as she was gone, I ate breakfast and wasted no time doing some research on what I had seen—which was nothing. I mean, I didn’t even have a name for the creature… nothing. When I typed what it meant to see things, seers kept popping up, and it made no sense. Seers aren’t real. I only got to see those in supernatural movies. And the only thing I was able to get from my mother was her usual instruction, ‘Don’t take off your eyeglasses outside the house.’

Wait! What if that was all I needed? What if I could take my glasses off to see more? Running back to my room, I put on a pair of slippers, took my glasses off the makeup table, and then stepped outside of the house.

Goodwill, in the morning, was always quiet. The area smelled of nothing, but I still liked the peace and quiet greenness of the many trees, the clean streets and beautiful houses, and the fact that most people minded their own business.

I exhaled loudly and counted from ten downwards. It was the only thing that mostly kept me calm whenever I was wary about something. Taking off my glasses could go wrong; I could see that creature again, or possibly go blind. What if that’s one of the reasons my mother worried? What if the creature could make me lose my sight? I might even go mad. Okay, stop, I told myself. No one is going mad or blind...

“I’ll be fine,” I muttered. Then I removed my eyeglasses.

For the longest second of my life, I stood at the front gate, but nothing seemed to be happening. There was no fog, no strange creature, just a lizard running along the road. I walked farther from the gate and stood in the middle of the road with the eyeglasses in my hand.

“A complete waste of time,” I said.

Before I could turn around, everything went blurry. I stifled my breath as my eyes darted everywhere. Just at the gate of the large, pink duplex opposite my house, a distorted, shadowy column appeared. In the middle of it, something dashed out. It wasn't until it landed on my left, close to the waste drum, that I knew it was a bird—and a very large one at that. It had long, broad wings and short fan-like tails. Its feathers were bluish grey, and the belly had grown pale with dense reddish barring. I’ve watched Nat Geo Wild dozens of times, and I’d know a hawk when I saw one. What’s strange is the fact that it wouldn’t move. Hawks were meant to hunt, but a lizard scurried past and it didn't seem to mind.

The air gradually became colder as it grazed my exposed arms. I pulled at my Hello Kitty sleeves to keep the cold away, but it didn’t seem to help. The air smelled crisp, like something was turning the world to frost. A sharp squawk pierced my ears, making me cover them as I tried to detect where the sound came from. Another creature flew out from the column. At first, I thought it would stand next to the hawk, but then it came towards me. I stood frozen to a spot, unable to scream until the bird landed upon my shoulder. This one was a small, grey bird with black markings on its head and wings. Its feet were webbed, and as yellow as its beak.

A loud scream escaped my lungs. I shut my eyes to keep from seeing anything else, and that’s when two hands grabbed me by the shoulders.

“I told you to always keep your glasses on...”