Purified Tomorrow: The Mad Awakening - Episode 1

 

 Fred was stupid. Carl always knew, but he could never believe his stupidity would be heightened to this state. He was ranting about a girl that would never love him. Carl looked around with the hope that he would find anything or anyone that could be stupider that Fred. There was nothing to compare it to. Even those fanatics, Grousters, that had taken it upon themselves to face the world over a crazy existence of something that wasn't there, weren't as stupid as Fred . Many of them had been crying that humans weren't the only things living on earth. They believed the aliens that destroyed the world were back. But, they weren't as stupid as Fred. At least, they were fighting for a cause. Fred was blabbing and scattering Carl's line of thoughts on the surprise gift he would get for his girlfriend, Joyce.
'Can you keep quiet already? That's what you should be doing at this time', Carl said disdainfully as they walked down the usual lonely road towards the mall. Fred had insisted that they get a flash drive for a background check they needed to do about the earth. They had been meeting obstructions while trying to discover something about the world, and it had made Carl tired, but made Fred curious.  Carl was a seventeen-year-old guy, whose body and sense of fashion could deceive anyone into believing he was in his late twenties.
'That's being stingy', Fred said nonchalantly as he typed rapidly into his phone

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/purified-tomorrow-the-mad-awakening

. His baggy trousers danced around his fat body. A fly buzzed around him, he slapped it away but missed; instead, he hit his earpiece. He jumped after the rubber protection that fell off as if the earth would swallow it.
At this point, Carl felt like slapping him repeatedly until his numb brain came back to life. 'I'm just saving you from falling into a pond'.
'So you'll say'.
'So it is. You know me. That's what you should know already'.
Fred stopped and faced Carl. 'I've seen the joy that radiates from your face whenever you see Joyce. I want to have that joy also and I won't let you deny me of that.
Carl stared at his fat friend whose face always looked awkward without his glasses. 'My friend, stop deceiving yourself. Sonia doesn't and would never love you. That's a fact'.
'That's just jealousy. Pure jealousy. Tell me you love her'.
Carl stopped in his track, and burst into laughter, brushing the dust off his trousers. 'Me?'
'Yes. You do. I've seen the way she rallies around you the same way fishes swim around a worm. Well, that was since she returned from... from wherever she was kidnapped to'.
'Can you hear yourself? How many times do I need or have to tell you that no lady can take my eyes off my Joyce? Joyce is the real deal. That's the only thing that should ring in your head'.
Fred gave him a mocking nod. 'Then, you must have forgotten the saying that goes silence means approval'.
'What are you insinuating?'
'When she came to you, teasing you ...and...and doing, you know, doing sexy things to you, why didn't you resist or stop her?'
Fred's phone rang.
'That's because...' Carl began to say but stopped when Fred frowned and placed a finger to his lips to stop him from talking. Carl felt like slapping him for such act. Sometimes, having a friend like Fred was bad in itself. Although there was no doubt he was the best in anything called Knowledge”; he breathed knowledge; lived on it; knowledge was his food, but still, he was stupid.
'She said she's just around the corner', Fred told Carl excitedly after he had finished talking to whomever he was talking to on the phone. He looked at his oversized striped-shirt and began to dust off imaginary dirt from it. 'How do I look?'
Hey! Stop, you are raising dust, Carl moaned. He felt like shaking his fat friend to come out his virtual reality into the real world, where the only girls that liked him were the animations in the papers he stuck to his computer.
From all indications, Sonia never loved Fred and there was no way she would ever love him. Some things couldn't just happen. Before her sudden disappearance, he had watched Fred do everything to catch her attention, and he felt sorry for him. But, she didn't care about anyone except Carl, only him. He avoided her like plague. And her disturbance only stopped when she wanted to take the exams into the University. At that time, she was a class ahead of him. Now, he was awaiting his own results. He couldn't stand his mother's nagging if he ever missed going to the University that year. She would lecture him on how she worked herself up to make sure he had the best of everything.
'I said how do I look?'
'You know what I will say'.
Fred nodded. 'Yes, you will spill out the truth without thinking of my feelings'.
'You look like a cow... A goat... No… A Mule. But that's not news'.
'Whatever! I will have my joy'.
'Oh, My! My friend will disgrace himself. He will fall into the mud and roll there like a fat pig. Hope youre not holding that filthy can of yours? Carl said and tapped down Fred's body.
What can?
Fishing rubbish.
Fred shook his head, disgusted.
Wait! Why does she want to see you?' Carl said, biting his fingernail.
'How will I know? But of all the 395 reasons my head is processing, I'm sure it's to give me an answer'.
'An answer to what question?'
'I texted her'.
'You textedSo? What's new about that?' Carl hissed as he sighted a public toilet. He hurriedly hatched a plan. The toilet was the best place to hide from her incessant tease, that accidental touch, that flirty look. He wanted to be away from her by all means. The gate of the toilet had gotten its own share of being defaced. One of the Grousters had scribbled the mumble jumble that “the humans weren't alone”. Each man should be with his belief, but trying to force it down people's throat was as disgusting as anything. Yet, he wouldn't blame the Grousters alone. He would also blame the people that agreed with them. The world leaders have sent the aliens away.
'I've told her I love her'.
Carl inhaled a mouthful of cold air, roared with laughter and pointed towards the toilet. 'I'm in the toilet'. 
He doubled up, laughing again as he pushed the gate into the toilet's compound, and closed the gate behind him. The reason the toilet had a compound was still unexplainable. And the fascinating part of its awkwardness was that there were flower beds on each side of the compound's walls. Most times, it looked as if one was going into an orchard. The ground was floored with beautiful tiles. The robots cleaning the ground stopped the moment he placed a foot on the first tiles.
When he entered the toilet, he checked his hair in the mirror and patted it. He shouldn't have to worry about Sonia now that Fred assumed he was in love with her. December 2nd was the World's Revamping Celebration, and he ought to buy something that would mean their world of love was being revamped.
He patted the hair again and hope to have a robot brushing his hair too. Nothing must ruin his good looks. That hair cost him a fortune, and he wouldn't want anything to ruin it. He looked around, stared into the mirror and wondered what the creator of the mirror was thinking about before he created such a useful item. It probably was water because when you stare into the water, you are certainly going to see a clear reflection of yourself. The human mind is just too complex. He loved it. He loved to see how many of those beautiful minds existed in the former world.
According to history, aliens invaded the world in the year 2020 and few experts were saved around the world, children were also saved. But he couldn't wrap his mind around the ridiculous history. There was something fishy about it. Even the story about their creation was too ridiculous and he would go to any length to make sure he discovered what happened. All he needed was the right motivation, and Fred was doing that.
'The way I see life is that a man can always love two women equally. According to cultural history, Nigerian men were known for marrying more than one woman', Sonia said behind him. Carl could recognize her cracking voice anywhere, and the effect it always had on him. He couldn't stand for long in the room because her voice always got him on the edge.
Several ladies had boldly thrown themselves at him to no avail, but she was the only one who knew how to make him remain speechless. He stared at her and knew he was staring at one with the qualification of a model. If she was beautiful before being kidnapped, she was now stunning. Yet, he couldn't be her boyfriend as she had wished. His mother had constantly warned him about women. She said his generation had that problem in their blood, that the love of women killed his father and grandfather. So, he had made a promise to himself that he would stick to one woman.  He loved Joyce, just Joyce.
'Fred is outside', Carl said as she strode towards him, her eyes fixed on him.
'Okay'.
'Okay, what? That means I'm not doing this today. Sonia, no', Carl said as she blocked the way.
'Tell me you love me'.
'No'.
'It would last me for another year. Your love kept me burning when I was kidnapped', she said as she moved nearer and blew him a kiss. She smelt different, like water, but pleasant.
'You know what? You're insane. This is the last time I'll have this conversation with you', Carl said as he pushed past her, out of the toilet, out of the gate.
'Fred', he called.
Fred wasn't outside. The street was empty. Carl turned towards the toilet just as Sonia came out.
'Where's Fred?' He asked, biting his thumbnail.
'He was right here'.
No matter what happened, Fred would have stayed behind. Even if there was an emergency, nothing could make him leave without Carl. Except, he was angry.
'Did you make him angry?'
'Me? No', she said as she pulled her nose.
'Sad'.
'Erm... I can't say'.
'What do you mean?'
'He told me he loved me. That he wanted to have a relationship with me'.
'He said that?' Carl asked with an amused look. His curiosity overcame his fear of being around her. 'Hope he didn't stutter?'
'No. This time, I think you've really encouraged him'.
'Well, I guess you said no'.
'Of course', Sonia said, rolling her eyes and pulled her nose.

Read " The Thorny Path to Europe " by the same author ( Akíntayo Akinjide )

. 'I mean Who says yes to a cow?'
'I'll find him'.
'It takes one to know one. Carl love me. We were made for a greater purpose. Greater anything in the world. Me and you'.
He has gone home, Carl thought, disregarding her ramble, and spun towards their house. They were next-door neighbors. The most painful part of it was that Fred had just proven him right: he was stupid. Now, Carl would have to return home to drag him back to the mall. However, the moment he turned, he saw one of the rubber protection on Fred's earpieces, lying on the ground. Fred listened to music regularly, to Carl's chagrin and he wouldn't have left without the protection, even if the world was crumbling. But before he could think much of it, his phone rang.
J.
Carl, Im in serious trouble.