It started out as a beam of colours. One minute, he was playing with Teni, his best friend from next door and the next minute, he was knocked off his feet by a burst of light that exploded right in front of him. When he came to, he saw soft beams of different colours of light surrounding Teni’s face as he stared at him anxiously. He was silent for so long, not answering Teni’s “What happened? Can you hear me?, that Teni ran off to call his mother from the kitchen.
By the time his mother got to him, the light was gone so, he thought he had imagined it and forgot about it until it happened again.
This time, he was eleven and his father was sitting astride his mother, slapping her as hard as he usually did.
Eno was cowering behind the mustard coloured sofa in the living room, whimpering and crying, telling his father to stop, when the light exploded around him, knocking him against the standing cupboard behind him.
The delicate flower vases on the shelves shuddered from the impact and fell to the ground with a resounding crash.
It was enough to get his father’s attention.
His father stopped long enough to glare at him, his eyes taking in the damage, then he grabbed his car keys in a continued fit of rage and stormed out of the house.
Eno watched his mother crawl her way to him as he sat propped up in shock against the wall. As he stared at her, he saw the light again. This time, they were like clouds that enshrouded his mother like a bodysuit. They were a bright white interspersed with a faint pink tinge and made up of what looked like stardust. He should have been afraid, but he was more curious. And the shock of being knocked back was just wearing off.
“Eno”, his mother whispered, her voice forcing its way through swollen lips. “Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself”?
As she spoke, the light around her turned to a pulsating red.
Eno did not know how, but at that moment, he knew that his mother needed to go to the hospital.
He shoved himself off the floor and started yelling for help.
Teni’s mother who had been wringing her hands in despair since she overheard the fighting next door, rushed down to their house. she was the one who called and paid for a taxi to take them to the hospital.
Later, the doctor has said that if she had arrived a moment sooner, she would have been dead.
From that moment on, Eno saw the light clouds around people all the time.
One time, he was walking back from school and saw a man trailing Irene, one of his classmates who lived in his neighborhood. She was a quiet sort, the kind who kept to herself and was left well alone for it. Eno liked to think that they walked home together even though he always walked behind her, and they never said a word to each other.
On this day, he saw that something was wrong with the light that enshrouded the young man trailing Irene. It was a dark grey, the kind of heavy grey that filled rain clouds and it was getting darker as he walked faster towards Irene.
Suddenly, Eno had a sick feeling in his stomach. He lurched ahead past the young man and stopped right beside Irene, falling in step with her.
Irene had looked at him startled, her eyes wide and questioning.
Eno had smiled at her, and under his breath said, “walk faster, the man behind wants to hurt you”.
Irene froze for a split second but then began to match his pace and they fast-walked away. From turning his head sideways, Eno saw the young man slow down and turn away as soon as they picked up their pace.
When Eno saw Irene to her doorstep, she had looked at him with gratitude in her eyes.
“Thank you, she said.
She told him the young man had been pestering her for some time after coming to buy some things from the shop her mother set up in front of their house.
“I told him I wasn’t interested but he wouldn’t listen and told me I would regret it”, she said, a faraway look in her eyes.
Without asking, Eno continued to walk Irene to her doorstep every day after that.
The only person Eno never saw a light cloud around was his father.
He had tried to tell his mother once about the light clouds, but she had looked at him as if he was suffering from a fever.
“It’s just your imagination baby”, she had said dismissively.
The day Eno saw the clouds around his father, he knew that it was not a good sign.
The clouds around him were a thick black and pulsated with a life force that was so revolting, Eno literally heaved.
His father had been drinking all day; bottle after bottle and when he drank, he was usually unbearable. But today was different.
He was muttering under his breath about how his wife had bewitched him and he had fallen on hard times since he married her. it was a bright Saturday afternoon and his mother had gone to the market to stock up on foodstuff.
Moments later, when he heard his mother drive in, he ran out to meet her.
“Don’t go inside mummy. Please. Daddy is going to hurt you worse than he usually does”.
His mother stared at him.
“You saw the black light cloud”? she asked.
Eno’s eye widened, but he nodded.
She smiled sadly then, ordered him to get in the car.
As they drove away, his mother patted his back.
“I’m sorry, she whispered. "I'm so sorry.
Photo credits
Photo 1 by Wonderlane on Unsplash
Photo 2 by Heather M. Edwards on Unsplash
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