After eating, it seemed like they were all poised to head home.
No way.
We were definitely going to talk about the dream.
I cleared my throat, attracting everyone's attention.
They stared at me.
I paused.
"Uh...Kazim, you got something you want to say?"
"Of course." I smiled.
He then gave me the go ahead look.
"Why are you guys avoiding talking about my dream?"
They all looked guilty.
Which in a big way, meant I was right.
"I had described the dream in details to you guys and now you want to act like nothing ever happened. The weird looking Azim? The fact that he had an aura of black and white? What he told me? Why are you guys silent?!"
I was slowly losing my mind.
"Well" Sally began,
"Dreams are often meaningless fits of..."
I wasn't angry but I shot her a death stare.
She shut her mouth immediately.
I turned again to Adewale.
"And one of the seven guys was looking like the one in the dream. No wonder when he placed a hand on my shoulder, it felt familiar."
The rest sighed.
The fear on their faces was quite obvious.
"What are y'all scared of, anyways?"
Jumai looked at me like I was an idiot.
"Can't you see that this has gone beyond ordinary? Someone that looks like Azim is roaming about while Azim's head is still in our custody, don't you find it concerning?"
She was right.
It was extremely concerning!
"It has been a while since Azim's death but the head is still fresh."
Everyone gave me that 'bombastic side eye' look.
"What do you mean by the head is still fresh?"
"We are in full public view right now so I can't show y'all anything." I said glancing around the restaurant.
"But as it has been a while since Azim died, his head is supposed to rot or at least smell. But no, it looks as realistic as ever."
This news was so disturbing that we unanimously decided to ignore it.
Well, except Tochukwu.
"Let's just tell our parents about it." He said, resting his face on his palms.
I could sense the disturbance in his head.
He was supposed to be a normal human being who believed that magic was a myth but now was entangled in some seemingly supernatural type shi.
Sally turned to Tochukwu sharply and asked,
"How?"
"Well, we will just tell them."
He looked confused.
"They can't believe or understand us." Sally chipped in.
"This is something we don't fully understand ourselves." I said.
We spoke at length about the entire issue and ended up spending over two hours at Rathore's Foods.
In order not to seem sus or inappropriate, we ordered a second round of food.
Something I and my pocket hadn't prepared for.
So we reached the final conclusion.
Adewale was going to meet his GMX buddy on Saturday.
Jumai and Sally would try to decode the words I had scribbled on the piece of paper to see if they had any other meaning.
I handed the head over to Tochukwu, telling him not to fumble.
He initially rejected it but soon, he realized he had no choice.
I was sure he wasn't getting any sleep that night.
He looked like he had binge watched five horror movies.
Yep, that's how terrified he looked.
He had collected a copy of the note in case of the guys reappearing.
Jumai said a closing prayer then we all disbanded.
So I found myself riding high on my bike, a tad lighter but a bit shaken.
I resolved to engage in a prayer session with Allah for two hours to help us clear the case.
I'm sure the rest had also thought about that because they were wearing the same facial expression as me.
But what we hadn't noticed was the red blinking light on the ceiling of the restaurant.