“It couldn't have been better,” I reckoned as I closed my eyes and took a long inhale and exhale after a few seconds, slowly.
The breeze blew so warmly around me that I felt like I could sleep under the gigantic Balboa tree, whose shade could shelter a whole community as the sun's exuberance manifested in its mighty radiance.
It was so calm that I told myself, with an unconvincing breath, I'd made the right choice and that it was the best time to ease up and feel grounded.
Then I heard a buzzing sound and an oozing smell, both approaching from a distance.
At first, I was lackadaisical and decided that it didn't matter, knowing that the breeze that brought it would surely take it away, but I was deceiving myself.
Although the buzzing sound stopped, the oozing smell got stronger, as if what carried it was nearby. Irritated by the unpleasant combination, I opened my eyes and saw this creature humped-walking towards the Balboa tree. It was a scraggly-looking thing that looked like a gnome, and it was now standing a few meters away from me.
I stared at the strange creature in disbelief, and its appearance was enough to make anyone uncomfortable, but rather than cause trouble, I decided to leave the location.
“This one na bad market oo,” I uttered, knowing that its presence was a spoiler that would hinder my peaceful time.
It humped-walked and stood behind me. “ I don dey leave here for you,” I uttered and walked in the opposite direction without looking back, and it was just watching me leave, but unfortunately, the creature had other plans.
Everywhere I went, it followed me, making the same annoying buzzing sound and spreading its irritating smell as I went to the mall. I quickened my pace, but it followed. I changed direction, but it followed. I even turned around several times to ensure I was not imagining things, yet there it was, dancing behind me like an unwanted shadow.
The worst part was that nobody saw it except for me, but they thought I was the one oozing. Meanwhile, it never uttered a word for me to know what it wanted. It simply buzzed and repeated its strange pattern of dancing as though it were performing a ritual known only to itself.
“ Is this thing following me home?” I soliloquized as I watched my back every ten steps as it was there dancing to a song that only it knew where it came from.
By the time I got home, I was completely fed up, but to my wildest surprise and greatest disappointment, the gnome was still behind me.
“ Will you leave me alone?” I shouted at the top of my voice.
Instead of responding, it continued buzzing and dancing as though my words were part of the music, and that was the last straw. My patience finally snapped, and I charged towards it aggressively. I tried everything possible to get rid of the creature, but nothing worked, and before I knew what was happening, we were wrestling on the floor, but surprisingly, the gnome did not defend itself. Whenever I thought I had defeated it, it returned stronger than before. It neither attacked nor spoke. It simply continued its annoying buzzing and ridiculous dancing.
I was exhausted, frustrated, and furious. “ How could such a tiny, scraggly-looking creature make my life so miserable?” I thought, and I realized it wasn't ready to go yet.
“ Enough is enough,” I roared. Gathering the last strength in my body, I clenched my fist and delivered a powerful uppercut to its ugly jaw, and to my astonishment, the creature flew upwards like a rocket, disappearing into the heavens.
“ At last,” I exclaimed triumphantly, and suddenly, I felt a sharp movement in my arm and opened my eyes. I was in my bedroom, lying on my bed, with my right fist raised towards the ceiling. I looked at the ceiling, then sideways at the familiar walls of my room. There was no gigantic Balboa, no mall, no scraggly-looking gnome, no buzzing, and certainly no irritating smell. “ It was all a dream!” I uttered. I hissed, shook my head in disbelief, and settled comfortably back into bed. A smile slowly spread across my face as I closed my eyes again. “I had won already,” I concluded with a smile and wrapped myself up in a blanket, then I slept like a baby.
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From @oyebolu