My Ex Wants Me Back
It all started with a simple text message on WhatsApp on a rainy Monday morning in June 2019.
It was not a formal message or a regular message like all the other countless happy new month felicitations that clogged my DM. It was from him and it read thus;
If I can’t have you, no one else would.
Of course, it was short, precise, and icy. Nothing like the other typical messages I had the cruel undeserving honor of receiving from Tosin, since our tragic break up in May.
Taking my best friend, Fiona’s advice, I quietly ignored and dismissed the message, simultaneously marking it as unread. The blue tick was a clear sign to show him I was not fazed by his uncanny threat. After all, Tosin was only just a wanna-be lunatic and there was nothing that could be done about his newfound craze and passion to sound like a gangster from a psychopathic Hollywood movie.
It was raining heavily outside, and the thunder bouts did shake the building of my hostel apartment to its very foundations.
Gosh, I hated rains, and rainbows, and thunders, and wet slimy roads, plus everything else that came with the turbulent weather season.
After dismissing the early morning threat and relegating it to the back of my mind, I got into a cab and scurried to class to avoid missing my test. I had other pressing matters and urgent problems to take care of. Tosin’s sudden early morning fervor to type ghost-like messages would not get to me. I would not let it.
I resolved that the next time I get a similar message or threat, whichever you’d prefer to call it, I would call him and warn him not to disrupt my peace with useless threats. The nerve!
I got into a cab, Few minutes into my journey to school, and my phone beeped again. The sharp notification sent a deep feeling of foreboding, and a sharp tingle to my spine. I knew immediately that something was different about today’s messages, and everything that I had worked so hard to avoid could easily go wrong.
I ignored the phone and tried to focus my mind on something else. My nails, for instance, were chapped and broken like I had spent the weekend apprenticing as a slave for Cinderella’s Stepmother.
I made a mental note to get my nails fixed and ready as soon as I returned from my test and boring class schedule for the day.
I didn’t open the message until I got into the classroom. I noticed the lecturer walk in with his awry look, and I made a mental note not to cross him in any way. Dr. Kingsley looked like he just had a fight with his wife over the weekend. With that thought in mind, I quickly stole a glance at my phone, to see what Tosin’s new rave was all about.
The message was short and precise like the former but filled with more seethe and hatred. I can feel the heat of Tosin’s hate emanating from every letter, every word, and every deliberate punctuation. The message was simple;
I am having very bad thoughts, and I want to do all of them to you. I want to watch and hear you scream out in fright—I want you to feel the same way I am feeling. I want you to feel every hurt you made me feel
I felt sick to my stomach as the realities of his messages hit me in the head. Again this message was different from the others. What happened? What changed? Why did he have to write the threat in such a sick manner?
I stopped and thought of all the times we had together, and the creepiness of it all. I remembered how we used to send lovey-dovey messages in this manner with words like “I want to watch and hear you scream out my name” ” I want to do very bad things to you baby”. “I miss you and I hope you feel the same” ” can’t wait to see you, baby. I have bad thoughts when you’re not around me”
How could he? The bastard! Why did he have to mar such seemingly honest and intimate moments — memories, by restructuring those words into something this dark. How dare he try to send threats with the same words we used to profess our love to one another. Why lay the pain of our sacrifice on this trepidation altar?
“Miss Anna!”
“Miss Anna!”
I heard my name and looked up at once, startled from my thoughts and plunged immediately into reality. It was Dr. Kingsley standing over my table with obvious disapproval in his eyes.
I watched his eyes rove from my face to my test paper and back to the phone in my hands.
I blushed immediately in embarrassment as I noticed the awkwardness of the situation. All the other students were staring at me.
“Oh shit! They think I was trying to cheat on the test!” I thought.
“Miss Anna, I mentioned before the start of the test that it wasn’t an open test and that no phones should be used.”
I looked around and noticed that the entire class was still staring. Everything was happening so fast. I was in trouble already, and worse, for an attempted crime that I would never have the mind to commit originally. A crime that was not even a crime!
I stared at him. At that moment, I had no strength to apologize or explain.
I only wanted the test to be over so I could go report these weird messages from Tosin to someone. I looked around and my eyes found Fiona, my best friend, she was staring at me in shock. She also thought I had been cheating on the test.
I knew that if I informed her about Tosin, she’d immediately demand that I get a report to the police right away. I stared a little away from her and found Dave, my new boyfriend staring at me with a frown.
My phone beeped again, and this time with the class staring at me, including Dr. Kingsley, I couldn’t resist the urge to check what Tosin had sent again. I was like a Mad dog in heat.
I turn on my phone and the words I read make me turn Stark white immediately.
“The Game has just begun. Only two are perfect together. If this life is no longer for us, won’t you come along with me to the afterlife so we can make it better there?”
“Have you lost your mind?” I muttered aloud unconsciously.
I was lost in my fear again when I heard Dr. Kingsley call my name for the umpteenth time.
This time, his face was laced with fury, and it was obvious he felt disrespected. Before long, I helplessly watched as Dr. Kingsley seized my phone.
“Remain behind after the test! I want to see you in my office. We need to talk about your attitude. “
“But..but…”I stuttered in confusion. “I was not cheating…I only wanted to…”
“I don’t want to hear it!” He barked and walked out
“My life is in danger,” I screamed at him. “I need help!”
“So does every Tom, Dick, and Harry in this room. He yelled back. “See, I know the tricks you lazy students have up your sleeves. A simple test and your life is in danger because I took away your phone. What’s going to happen when it’s an examination? Mtchhww…” he hissed and the entire class burst into laughter.
I watched in horror as Dr. Kingsley walks away from my desk in fury. I contemplated reporting the strange messages from Tosin to him, again. But decided against it immediately. He would not believe me. Besides, everyone in class already juiced off the story of our tragic breakup.
Why give them another thing to gossip about?
The bell rang to indicate the close of the test session and I watched everyone hurry out of the hall. I gestured to Fiona and told her to wait outside for me and she nodded in understanding.
Dr. Kingsley and I were left in the big hall. His back was turned to me as he stood there arranging the test scripts in alphabetical order. He was so involved with his work that I wondered if he still remembered that I was there.
I contemplated whether to approach him for my phone, however, the next series of events happened so suddenly. Out of the blue, I felt a strong hand on my mouth, and a strong whiff of something I could not identify placed forcefully on my nose. The smell made me dizzy and sick at once. I struggled to breathe and scream out Dr. Kingsley’s name.
“Help! help!”
It was impossible, the patter from the heavy rainfall drowned out my voice within seconds. My mouth stopped working and the scream barely escaped my throat like a sigh. Suddenly, everything was blurry and I felt my bones and body grow weak against the tenacity of my mind.
I did not know what was happening. I could feel my eyes welling up from the helplessness of it all. I kept willing myself to stay awake as my mind grew foggy. I could still see the shape of Dr. Kingsley bent over his papers, oblivious that I was being abducted under his watch. I try to flail my hands to draw some attention but it was useless. My hands were so heavy and my fingers did not move.
The last thing I heard was the voice of someone I was hoping to never meet again. His lips came near my ear.
“Hello my darling, I’ve missed you so much”.
Tosin!
He was back for me. Those threats were not threats after all. He meant every word. Dear God, is this what death looks like? Dear God, I’m going to die.
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All images are sourced from pexels.com
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