"Hi Uncle, it's Daucus". My voice could barely conceal my fear.
"I don't know what's going on with my mum. She was bitten by some flies about an hour ago. Now, she is saying all sorts. I don't know what's wrong with her"
I was holding back the tears with all my strength.
"He's asleep". I looked in the direction of my sleeping brother.
"Alright, Sir. I'm calm. I'll be calm". I blew raspberries as if that would help.
I hung up.
Unlike what I knew about cases like this from movies I had seen, my mum wasn't violent. She seemed fine even after the bite. She spoke normally until she wasn't.
Uncle Coeus' arrival woke Malva.
"Hi, Uncle". Malva said cheerfully, oblivious of what was happening.
"Malva, how're you doing, man?"
"I'm very well". He replied and then saw me in a corner, reserved as usual but fearful as a bonus this time. I was staring at the door of our mum's room. He followed my eyes and went to her room.
When he saw her, he looked at me and asked. "What's she saying?"
The question hung in the air between us, heavy and unanswerable.
I was going to say, "I don't know" when Uncle Coeus replied, "fever dreams". He spoke with a serious face that it was difficult not to believe him.
"She'll be fine". He added.
I was shocked. I wanted to protest but he glanced at me and then at Malva. I got the message.
Uncle Coeus made arrangements to take her to the city over the weekend for better treatment. That was still four days away.
I refused to go to school the following day. Malva did. I tried feeding her but she wasn't eating. I was getting scared because she was growing weaker.
The day after that, Malva had left for school. Something abnormal occurred. I was using a damp cloth to wipe her forehead because she had a fever.
Suddenly, I saw my mum's shadow on the wall moving while she wasn't. It was so vivid that my head became eerily heavy.
My eyes followed the shadow till it suddenly vanished. As soon as it did, my mum started snoring.
I was relieved that she could rest a bit, at last. I tried to shrug what I had seen off as mere imagination.
I went to my room to bathe and get some neat clothes on. I went back to her room and she was gone! Just gone!
I called Uncle Coeus immediately. As always, he felt I was overreacting.
"She could have just gone into the neighborhood".
"No, she couldn't have moved by herself. She was weak!" I protested.
"Don't worry, she will be back soon".
Well, that was five months ago.
When Malva returned from school, uncle Coeus told him that she had been taken to a very private place in the city for treatment.
How Malva bought that story still baffles me.
Five months after and we are yet to speak to her directly except by messages you claim you receive from her carers for the rare condition. How does that even make sense?
Talk about "you can't easily play with my mind". Funny!
Maybe he fears it could be related to the happenings but he is just walking in denial.
*******
Aunt Leah, in her Sunday-best piety even on a Monday, had driven us to Norksville High. The drive was well punctuated with enough warnings to train a small army.
"Now, boys," she chirped, adjusting her floral scarf.
"Remember your manners." She continued.
"Malva, darling, try not to get into too much trouble".
She gave a face that elicited a smile from him.
"Yes, ma'am". He replied.
"And Daucus, try to… loosen up a little". She glanced at me through the rear mirror.
I grunted a reply. Nothing was supposed to be funny.
Barely a week before, I saw first-hand the rumoured supernatural. Then, I had to move on like it was merely a bad dream?
The thought that my mum could really be gone left a bad taste in my mouth.
Norksville High was the most popular school in the town. It was bubbling with hundreds of teenagers. My brother and I used to attend Stalwart because it was closer to our side of town.
Within days, Malva, as expected, got on with his new classmates like a house on fire. Did I say days? I meant, hours.
I was struggling with the lock to my assigned locker that morning when I saw him walk past the hallway. He was cackling with a few other guys. No surprises there.
His smile at me could read, "you can do the same". He then melted into the crowd.
I continued the struggle. Unexpectedly, a tall, muscular guy moved close to me.
"Of course a big school like this should have bullies."
"New student, depressed-looking"; some of the major specs for bullied students.
"May I help you". His voice betrayed his physique. I nodded lightly and stepped aside.
He spoke again with that calm, seemingly harmless voice. "You need to press this side and then pull it. That's it". He demonstrated.
My thank-you was drowned by the shriek of the bell which announced the start of classes.
That was how I met Chris. He was a very observant guy like me. He gave me all the tea I needed to get started as we walked to class.
Funnily enough, we were classmates. As I entered the class, Chloe was there at a corner, sitting close to that guy. She waved briefly with a somewhat forced smile.
I returned the wave, tightened the straps of my backpack and made for the vacant seat beside Chris.
I knew there was that underlying discomfort of having to share your house and privacy with two cousins you were not really friends with. In my opinion, she was holding up well and wasn't as malicious as I'd expect.
The first class was History. Mrs. Manoah had asked a question which was, to me, common knowledge. A few hands were up. I wasn't interested in proving a point. The less burdened minds could take the trophy for all I cared.
She pointed in my direction with beaming smiles. "You!"
I thought I had successfully blended with the wall's paint. I could almost audibly hear my mind scream, "why?"
"Daucus, was it?"
"Yes, ma'am".
"Go ahead". She motioned.
I wasn't particularly the shy type. At least, I'd like to think so. I was just mostly uninterested. I gave the response with a little show-off by adding extra information.
When I was done, I was expecting a rowdy round of applause or even a standing ovation. I got scattered claps instead.
As I resumed my seat, my eyes met Tola's. He had this condescending look. I soon realized he was their champion and I felt like a threat.
I knew that feeling. I was Stalwart's champion till I left. Topping the class? Been there, done that. Like I said, I wasn't interested.
"Excellent, Daucus! Welcome to Norksville High. I'm sure you'll find our discourse quite…stimulating". She was still smiling.
It wasn't hard to tell she was everyone's favourite. She had the most attentive audience for a potentially dry subject, if that counts for something.
As I was leaving the class with Chris at the end of the day's work, my eyes caught one of my classmates, Joey, talking to an unfamiliar lady. I began to see some things in flashes which I didn't understand.
It was brief and my eyes ached sharply after.
"What was that?" Chris asked when he saw me rubbing my eyes.
"Erm… I think I saw something".
"Deep enough to rub your eyes?" Chris tried to laugh.
I didn't know what to say so I smiled.
Malva and I reunited after school around the pavement close to the school's main gate.
I was about teasing him on how refreshing his day must have been in contrast to mine, when one of his new friends passed by and called him.
"I think I saw your dad at the gate". The guy said.
"My dad?" I heard Malva query.
"Yeah. In a cream-coloured car. You look so alike, man". The guy chuckled and walked on.
My dad had a cream-coloured car which he left in, that fateful day.
We both stood there. We had not rehearsed the emotions.
"What do we say to him? Where do we start from?" Different thoughts chased one another in my mind.
"Daucus, let's go". Malva was thrilled.
I knew he was pained but he always somehow felt that our dad had a good explanation. I also always disagreed that nothing could have been a good enough reason to leave us without a word. What made matters worse was the fact that he left with many valuables that we owned.
He was the breadwinner. Within that year that he left, we faced a financial crisis. Mum's part-time job could not totally pay the bills as well as afford the life we were living earlier on.
"All of a sudden, he returns with a cheap excuse?"
"I'm not going. I'd rather take a stroll to Uncle Coeus' house". I tutted with a plan to leave through the second gate to avoid him.
Malva went to see him. I was very close to that gate when I heard Malva from the distance, "Daucus!"
I stopped and turned. Uncle Coeus was standing beside him.
"What?" I whispered.
I walked towards them. For the first time, I noticed Malva and Uncle Coeus somehow looked alike. Interesting.
Hatred can be so blinding. It did not cross my mind that Uncle Coeus also had a cream-coloured car.
Chloe was already seated in the front passenger's seat.
"Boys, how was day one?"
"Cool". We chorused.
Malva and I couldn't wait to reach our room so we could recount how the day went in our respective classes.
"She's got these eyes and she's so smart. I like her already. I bet she is into me too".
"You? You'd flirt with an air conditioner if it blew too nicely". I joked.
"At least she laughs at my jokes unlike some people". He briefly jabbed a thumb at me.
"Maybe your jokes are only funny to you and one or two people flirting with you". I retorted.
He wanted to fire back when we heard Aunt Leah praying. He rolled his eyes and laid back on his bed.
"What? I thought you liked her". I chuckled. "It's obvious she likes you while tolerating me".
"That's the thing. We all know she is not learning anything from that church she attends". Malva grunted.
"Malva!" I snickered. I had not had a good laugh in a long while. It felt good forgetting the whole issue for a moment until…
"I got a letter from one of my admirers today". Malva spoke again. I wish he hadn't.
I was silent. In that instant, I saw that letter floating in the air towards me. It was so graphic that I raised my hand in the air. Then, it disappeared.
Malva, who had been talking not knowing I wasn't paying attention, caught me with the side of his eyes and queried. "What was that?"
Chris had asked the same thing earlier that day.
"Nothing really". I eventually replied.
A strong desire to lay hold on that letter rose in my mind again.