Bayo was never the kind to stand up to a bully. If anything, he dreaded ever even saying a word when he was being bullied. He'd learned that trying to fight back would only make the problem worse, so shutting up and expecting them to go away when they'd had their fun was always the plan. But today was different. He'd just turned 16 barely three days back, and it felt like that was some motivation to stand against Wile and his crew. As usual, they approached him while he was having his lunch during the break time, the perfect time to make him look like a sore loser. They stared by defying his hair and giving him violent pats on his back. They then took his Munchkin biscuit, which he often didn't joke about, and began removing all the sticks littering the floor while laughing evilly. 'HEY! That's mine.' Bayo shouted. At this time, the whole class was already watching what was happening. They were shocked, and all went quiet. Could it be that Bayo just talked back at the most feared students in the whole school? Wile, who was about to leave with his boys after making a mess, turned back and glared at Bayo furiously. 'What did you say?' Wile firmly said. Bayo stood up from his chair shakily and echoed once more, 'I said, 'That's mine!' Wile looked around to be sure he wasn't hallucinating and then looked back at obviously angry Bayo and said, 'Come, are you talking to me?' Bayo briefly nodded, and within seconds, Wile's boys began hitting him in the head and asking him to kneel. Bayo knelt, using his hands to shield his head, his eyes filled with tears. Wile called out for his boys to free him. He then pulled Bayo up by dragging the collar of his shirt with both hands. Bayo's tears rolled down his cheek as he lifted his head to behold the menace. Wile hissed and then slapped Bayo with his right hand. Bayo's face flew at an angle of 90 degrees as the spectators expressed their concern for the poor boy through silent shouts and sounds. As soon as Bayo brought his face back to its original position, Wile slapped him again, sending him back to stare at the floor with a bleeding mouth. Again, Bayo brought his face to align perfectly with that of his bully, but this was only after he'd spat out the blood lingering in his mouth. Something was very different about how Bayo looked this time. His face was vibrating, and Wile could hear him huff and puff! ' Look at me! What are you going to do, hun?' Wile said, putting his hand under Bayo's chin and pulling his head up to glare into his eyes. Wile let go the moment he saw Bayo's eyes! They were glowing blue. He was scared and started panting. Bayo dropped to the floor, as he was already weak, and Wile asked ' How did you do that?' Bayo, still trying to regain full consciousness, did not answer. Wile tilted his head slightly to the right and then walked profusely back to where Bayo lay and picked him up again! 'I said, how did you....' Wham! Wile flew across the room, thudding loudly onto the ceramic floor. The students who stood in that area alongside every other person in the cafeteria moved and murmured. One of the boys who accompanied Wile attempted to touch Bayo, but likewise, flew across the room towards where he previously stood. At this time, everyone was staring at Bayo, wondering how he hadn't moved yet, and had ended up sending two hefty guys on their way to the nurse. He stood there, suddenly regaining strength, and looked around at everyone who was staring at him. He then looked at his palms and noticed little blue sparks across his fingers! He soon started panting and became conscious of the fact that he was going to hyperventilate. He then grabbed his bag and zoomed out of the scene.
* * *
Bayo never knew his birth parents. He grew up with Aunty Moji as a mother figure. She was very religious and cared almost too much about Bayo's well-being. She'd told Bayo several times about how she came by him! His parents were involved in a car accident in which Bayo survived. His mom's sister, who is Aunty Moji, then took him in as her own and decided to raise him since her husband had abandoned her because she could not have any children. Aunty Mo, as Bayo grew to call her, was kind to a fault! She never held grudges or had issues with anyone. That was one of the things that made them fairly popular in Ikate, where they lived. She taught Bayo her lifestyle- calmness, godliness, and resilience- and it was very evident in his personality. But, Bayo could not help but sometimes feel like he did not belong! He had no friends at school, and the only people who ever talked to him or made contact were his classmates who wanted to ask for his notes to copy assignments. This was not his fault in any way. It just happened that the people who surrounded him could not see the good in him! Either that or he was just a really boring person. He seldom talked to Aunty Mo about these things. And when he got the chance to, she would quote Bible verses until he fell asleep. His whole life revolved around Aunty Mo, and that was just the way he liked it.
After what had happened in school that day, he could not waste a second in that environment. He dashed into the toilet first and threw his bag on the floor! Still panting, he looked into the mirror as tears ran down his cheek. 'What the hell is going on?' he muttered as he glanced again at his hands. He raised a finger slightly, pointing it towards the mirror. The sparks then became concentrated at his fingertips. He touched the mirror, and a loud shattering sound followed as it broke into pieces on the ground. He started panting more profusely as he turned around to see that almost half of the whole school had followed him to the toilet. He searched their faces for a reaction even he wasn't certain of. The students' phones were in their hands, filming the occurrences. Bayo froze for about five seconds as some of the students muttered 'Ogbanje', which translates to 'Witch' in a Nigerian native language. Bayo then inched towards his bag and grabbed it. The students paved the way for him as he ran through towards the exit door of the school. 'This is not real....This is not real!' He said to himself as he walked towards the school gate. Luckily for him, the gate man had left his duty post to attend to something when Bayo was at the gate. He opened it and ran out in the direction of home. He kept slapping himself, thinking about the fact that it could all have been a bad dream. He walked faster than ever through Elegushi Market, maneuvering his way through traffic. He soon got to a sharp bend that led directly to his street when one of Aunty Mo's friends called out his name. 'Bayo...Bayo', she shouted! He didn't want to be rude, and so he stopped and turned around to answer her call. 'Good afternoon, Ma!', he said, making a slight bend in his waist area to show courtesy. 'How are you, my boy?' she asked.
'I'm good, ma!'
'Ah, that's fine!' she said, pulling out her phone from her purse to check the time. Bayo, growing increasingly impatient, was looking for ways to speed up the conversation.
'Where are you going?..... School doesn't close till' 2 o'clock,' she said
'Ma, I left something very important at home, so I want to get it,' he lied
'Oh, okay! I know you're a good boy! Say hi to Aunty Mo for me and tell her that there is choir practice tomorrow oo!'
'Okay, ma!' Bayo said as he was about to turn around and flee the scene. Out of nowhere, a man pushing a wheelbarrow filled with goods ran into Bayo, and the wheelbarrow, along with its contents, fell on the floor! The man who was pushing the barrow soon started shouting and blaming Bayo for what had happened. The market women left their stalls to see what was happening. The man then made the uncoordinated and dangerous move of grabbing Bayo by the collar to persuade him aggressively to pay for the damaged goods! In a split second, the man flew across the road and into one of the stalls. The whole market went quiet for a few seconds before everyone went crazy about what they had just witnessed. 'Witch.... Witch' they echoed as Bayo again began hyperventilating. He then suddenly noticed from afar people running towards him, sticks in hand. There was no escape, especially because he was now surrounded! He caught a glimpse of Aunty Moji's friend sobbing as the mob was threatening to kill him. In an avalanche, all he could hear was a loud siren blare, and the next thing, he disappeared.