ONE

I was not your usual sixteen-year-old. I am Nigerian Canadian, my both parents are Nigerian, I have been here all her life so I’m Canadian. Grabbed my glasses; they are my eyes, because I cannot see without them. I got into a boring tee-shirt that said VISION and a pair of skinny jeans, I put her frizzy afro curls in a messy bun and so much booby pins to actually make it look really good. Bag, sneakers, books, car keys, out of the house, I said in my head as I grabbed each thing. My books were almost to my chin as I walked to the kitchen, grabbed a bite of toast from my brother; TB’s plate.

‘Hello, oracle’, my brother, TB said. TB means Tamuno Belema. He was teasing me as usual. TB was my twin brother and unlike me, he was at the top of the high school food chain; popular, a jock and just good looking. I was good looking too, I mean which black person on the earth ain’t fine but I was the weird twin, the lesser twin but I didn’t care actually.

‘We need to go now, people’, my mom said and TB grabbed his car keys as we left the house. We all drove away in our own cars. Wondering why we have three cars when we’re moving in the same direction? Well, it’s TB’s fault, he was always late and he made me and Ma late, so we had to get his own car for him and I.

Brookstone Preparatory, that was school to TB and the rest of the kids here but it was my hell. My life changed since the first high school dance when I told TB and our group of friends that something bad was going to go down during the dance and I had dreamt about it; Mary Ozera, the Russian new girl was going to be kidnapped by some guys in Betty Jameson’s family, they laughed about it but when it happened they started saying I was involved in it and when I got cleared from the police department, they still called me a witch, it was some kind of crime to be able to predict the future. I always thought it was cool like I was hardly ever surprised because I knew what was in our Christmas presents before mom and dad even thought of going out to get them. I like my powers. I got to my locker and started preparing for my classes when; Shantay Rivera and her troop of barbie dolls walked up to me.

‘If it isn’t’. usually she said the black witch, but I finished it up for her yesterday so she was going to change it to oracle.

‘Oracle’, we said at the same time but our tones were different, she was spiteful and I was bored.

‘Don’t you get bored Shantay? The incident happened two years ago when were freshmen, it’s almost half of junior year gone already’, I said and walked out. I heard gigglish groans and then the click clacks of heels as I walked and then the sound was interrupted by the sound of the school bell.

‘Fascism!’, Mr. Eddison said in his usual loud manner. ‘it is a system of governing, the concept was put together by…’, his voice drawled. ‘perhaps, you might be able to tell us, Ms. Ogali’, he said and I sat up straight immediately.

‘Karl Maxx’, I said quickly.

‘Good’, he said I see you study chapter 17 already’, I nodded slightly. He chuckled.

‘You shouldn’t run faster than your shadow, Ms. Ogali’.

I pushed my glasses up my nose a bit then I sat down silently.

‘Psst!’, I heard from behind me. I didn’t turn of course. ‘Psst!’, I turned slightly and Beck Jameson was staring at me with his hazel eyes. I wasn’t scared of him like everyone else in school because minus the whole bad boy façade he is just a strangled little penguin to me.

‘I need to talk to you now’, I looked at him like he had poop on his face then I rolled my eyes and faced our teacher who was going on and on about how the introduction of Fascism was one of the biggest breakthroughs the earth had ever recorded. I zoned out for a while and started making out a thousand possible conversations Beck would want to talk to me about but I couldn’t. I wasn’t going to speak to him anyway, he was part of the deadliest gang in Alberta and I was not getting involved with him. But I was curious to know what he wanted. Think of all the problems one single conversation with him would cause plus he was already mad at me for spilling the kidnap sitch with the Ozera girl.

The bell disturbed my train of thoughts and I picked my bag and literally ran out of the class into the hallway and bumped into the same boy I was running from.

‘Were you running?’, he asked and I nodded in the affirmative.

‘Why?’. He asked amidst a chuckle.

‘Because I do not want to speak to you?’, I said firmly.

‘Why?’, he smiled and I got a glimpse of his pair of fangs. Great, he is a vampire gangster.

‘You are an epitome of trouble, I don’t want any conversations with you now or any time in the near future.

‘Like the one we are in now?’, he said and it downed on me, I was talking to Beck in the middle of the school’s hallway and everyone can see us. Oh lord, may the ground just open that I may enter. I prayed silently in my heart.

‘Maybe we could go somewhere private’, he said stepping forward and I stepped backwards on impulse. ‘after school on the bleachers’, he paused. ‘don’t be late’, his calm voice was gone it was replaced with cold gangster voice, I think. I almost peeped in my sanitary pad.

Once he was out of sight I ran in the opposite direction to find, TB. I had to search for a while till I found him in calculus class. I snuck into the class easy cause their teacher was fast asleep in his chair while the class was in chaos. I tapped TB and his face went stern when he saw me.

I nodded towards the door and he immediately excused himself from his magnificent group of friends.

‘What’s going on?’, he asked.

‘I think I’m dying sooner than I had expected’, I said.

‘What did you have a dream?’

‘No!’

‘A vision?’

‘NO!’.

‘You know I can’t see my own future’, I reminded him for what felt like the hundredth time.

‘Then what’s up?’.

‘Beck Jameson happened’, I said and TB’s face lost all the colour in it. He didn’t like Beck one bit well the story is, Beck had shot someone that night at the high school dance in freshman year and that someone was Maggie Richards, the one girl TB had been so crazy about since pre-school? I had been the one who told him who had shot her because he forced me to look into it but I wasn’t sure if it was Beck the one thing that I was certain I had seen was the hoodie, the back was inscribed Captain and it was the wrestling logo, there was only one captain of the wrestling team and that was Beck.

‘Why?’

‘HE didn’t say but he warned that I shouldn’t be late at all’, I added.

‘Do you want me to come with you?’, TB asked.

‘I would love that but he said we should speak privately and that must be gangster code for all alone’, I said ‘so that would be a bad idea’.

‘Tell

Ma that I loved her, please take care of Rivers for me and oh when you get to heaven tell me how 13 reasons why end’, I said and looked up at TB, he had a scowl on his face.

‘Sorry’, I mouthed to him.

‘I will be waiting for you in the car while you meet up with him you have twenty minutes of privacy till I com to get you’, he said firmly.

I nodded and decided to go to the library to hide till I have to face the beast, okay remember when I said I wasn’t scared of Beck? I take it back I am petrified of him and he isn’t a strangled penguin, he is a dragon like scrapper tall, with large teeth and breathes out………. I should probably shut up now.

The last bell rang and my heart lurched into my throat. I took my bag , arranged my hair and headed for the bleachers, that part of school is usually free today so we were actually going to be alone, I might get shot with a silencer the second, I get there and by the time TB comes for me my body is already out cold.

‘Hey, I heard a voice whisper from behind me and I turned sharply Beck. He was dressed in a tank tee shirt, a sleeveless hoodie and a pair of baggy shirts and trainers with knee high socks.

‘Please don’t kill me’, I blurted out and he started laughing.

‘Why would I kill you?’

I nodded slowly. ‘Because you are in a gang?’, I said.

‘I called you here to help me do something?’.

‘Why would I help you with anything?’, I said firmly.

‘Because, Anne-maria Ogali works in Chevis bank, Hamilton. 119^th street on industry, the 4^th floor of the building and on the top of the Chevis hotel just by the building it is exactly 60degrees away from her office and I can shot a straight bullet to the brain, you’re brother sleeps in the basement because he feels it’s safer there, I know all his classes by heart and all the places he is likely to visit in the span of forty days and I even know where your runaway father is, I hope my message is clear’, I nodded very slowly.

‘What do you need?’, I asked.

‘I need you to tell me something that will happen three months from today at Hamiliton’.

‘I... I can’t just work with that I need more information and time’, I stammered as I spoke.

‘Beach villa estate, corona street house number 9a, by midnight three months from today’, he said.

‘I sat down on the bleachers, my body in a frenzy and my cheeks were beginning to get stained with tears,’ I could feel my temperature rising and my heart rate fastened.

I shook like an epileptic patient; my visions were vague until I understood. ‘I opened my eyes and Beck’s eyes were staring intently at me, his arms around me to hold me from falling.

‘Someone dies’, I said amidst tears. ‘I couldn’t see who but someone dies there that day’, I said wiping my tears and standing to my feet.

‘Thank you’ he said, his eyes were hard now, the care I had seen when I had opened my eyes were gone.

‘Will you be okay?’, he asked.

I nodded.

He walked away fast.