Chapter Three

The night had gone surprisingly well.

Nicholas and Jane walked a few steps ahead, occasionally stopping to kiss whenever they thought Olu and Nicole weren’t paying attention.

Olu pretended not to notice.

Nicole, however, noticed everything.

She walked beside Olu, her hands tucked inside the pockets of her fur jacket.

“So,” she said.

“So?”

“You like me.”

Olu nearly tripped.

“What?”

Nicole laughed.

“Don’t act stupid.”

“I’m not acting stupid.”

“You’ve been staring at me all night.”

“I wasn’t staring.”

“You were.”

Olu looked away.

Nicole smiled.

“Just admit it.”

There was a brief silence.

Olu sighed.

“Okay. Fine.”

He looked at her.

“I like you.”

Nicole’s expression softened slightly.

“Since when?”

“I don’t know. Maybe before you came back tonight.”

“That’s cute.”

Olu scratched the back of his head.

“So…?”

Nicole looked ahead.

“I’ll consider it.”

Olu smiled.

“Seriously?”

“Don’t get too excited.”

She smiled before walking faster.

Nicholas looked back and winked at Olu.

Olu shook his head.

For the first time in weeks, he felt genuinely happy.

But happiness didn’t last long.

After saying goodbye to everyone, Olu began walking home alone.

The streets were quieter now.

His phone was in his pocket, his headphones playing softly.

He crossed the road.

Then he heard a horn.

A deafening horn.

Olu turned.

Headlights filled his vision.

A truck slammed into him.

CRASH!

His body was thrown several meters across the road.

The truck screeched to a stop.

Olu didn’t move.

His eyes were open.

But there was nothing behind them.

He was dead.

Completely dead.

Several minutes passed.

Then;

Olu’s fingers twitched.

His chest moved.

He suddenly inhaled.

His eyes opened.

They looked different.

He slowly pushed himself upright.

His body moved awkwardly, almost mechanically.

He looked down at his blood-covered clothes.

There was no pain.

No fear.

Nothing.

He stood.

His neck tilted slightly to one side.

Then he began walking home.

Something had come back.

But it wasn’t entirely Olu anymore.

The Next Morning

Maria arrived at the university with Henry.

She smiled and waved goodbye as they separated.

“See you later,” Henry said.

“Later.”

Henry headed toward the Civil Engineering department.

Maria entered her lecture hall.

She sat down, opened her notebook and tried to concentrate.

But she couldn’t.

Her mind kept returning to the park.

The snake.

The invisible force.

The whisper.

Sarah.

She stared at her hand.

Nothing happened.

She moved her fingers.

Still nothing.

“Maybe I imagined it.”

She whispered it to herself.

But deep down, she knew she hadn’t.

Across the room, Olu sat quietly.

He was staring at her.

Maria didn’t notice.

There was something strange about him.

His skin looked pale.

His movements were stiff.

And his eyes were unnervingly empty.

The lecturer continued speaking.

Maria tried to listen.

But exhaustion caught up with her.

Her eyes slowly closed.

Then darkness.

She was standing somewhere unfamiliar.

Blackness surrounded her.

“Maria…”

She turned.

Sarah was there.

Her great-grandmother looked terrified.

“Sarah?”

Sarah stepped toward her.

“Maria!”

Her voice grew louder.

“Maria!”

Maria tried to move.

She couldn’t.

Sarah reached toward her.

“Wake up!”

“Maria!”

Maria suddenly opened her eyes.

She gasped.

The entire lecture hall was staring at her.

The lecturer had stopped talking.

“Are you okay?”

Maria blinked.

“Yes.”

The lecturer studied her.

“Are you sure?”

Maria forced a smile.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

The woman smiled politely.

“Okay.”

She turned back toward the board and continued the lecture.

Maria lowered her head.

Her heart was racing.

She looked toward the doorway.

For a brief moment, she thought she saw Sarah standing there.

Then the figure disappeared.

Classes finally ended.

Maria packed her things quickly.

She wanted to get home.

She left campus without looking back.

Behind her, Olu followed.

His footsteps were quiet.

Too quiet.

He watched her from a distance.

Maria turned onto another street.

When Olu reached the same spot, someone suddenly stepped directly in front of him.

Nicole.

Olu stopped.

She stared at him.

“We need to meet tonight.”

Olu said nothing.

“The abandoned park.”

His eyes remained fixed on her.

“Tonight,” Nicole repeated. “Don’t be late.”

Then she walked away.

Olu looked around.

Maria was gone.

He stared down the road for several seconds.

Then he turned and walked away.

Maria entered her apartment and locked the door.

She dropped her phone on the desk.

“Finally.”

She changed out of her clothes and pulled on a loose polo shirt.

Her mind was still racing.

She walked toward the desk.

Her phone suddenly began ringing.

Maria turned.

As she hurried toward it, her foot struck a book lying on the floor.

“Ow!”

She looked down.

“Who the f*ck left this here?”

She kicked the book aside.

The phone continued ringing.

Maria reached toward the desk.

But before her fingers touched it, something happened.

The phone moved.

Maria froze.

The device lifted from the desk.

Slowly.

It floated through the air.

Straight toward her.

Maria instinctively raised her hand.

The phone dropped perfectly into her palm.

Silence.

She stared at it.

Her mouth opened slightly.

“Oh sh!t.”

Her breathing became heavier.

She looked at the phone.

Then at her hand.

Then at the desk.

This wasn’t the snake.

This wasn’t panic.

This wasn’t an accident.

She had moved it.

With her mind.

Maria slowly backed away.

“What the f*ck is happening to me?”

The phone was still ringing in her hand.

She finally looked at the screen.

Henry.

She answered.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” Henry said. “You home?”

Maria looked around her apartment.

“Yeah.”

“You sound weird.”

Maria swallowed.

“I think…”

She stopped.

“What?”

Maria stared at the phone.

She didn’t know how to explain it.

“I think something is wrong with me.”

There was silence on the other end.

Henry’s voice became serious.

“What happened?”

Maria looked at her trembling hand.

“I don’t know.”

But somewhere deep inside her, she already knew.

Something had awakened.

And it wasn’t going back to sleep.

Far away from Maria’s apartment, Olu stood alone beneath a streetlight.

He stared at his hands.

His fingers slowly curled into fists.

Then he smiled.

It wasn’t the smile Nicole had seen earlier.

It wasn’t the smile of the boy who had confessed his feelings.

It was colder.

Hollower.

Something moved beneath the skin of his neck.

And somewhere inside his mind, a voice whispered:

Find her.