What is happening to me?

"Knock! Knock!" came from the other side of the door.

Uche tardily woke up to the loud knock. "Yesss," he said, sitting up, wiping the sleep from his eyes, and starting to stand up when he realised his boxers were at his knees. His white bedsheet was stained, and his laps were covered in dried sperm and saliva.

"What is happening to me? He questioned himself. The air was heavy with the smell of sex and saliva.

"Knock! Knock!" The voice at the door strikes again, cutting short his thought.

"Yes," he responded. It has to be Omo; she is the one that knocks that way. After a deep breath, he pulled his boxers up and turned the bedsheet upside down, concealing the stain.

"Yesss." He opened the door to find Omo with a smug look on her face and a red plastic bucket in her left hand. She was disappointed by the look of confusion on his face.

"What is wrong?" Her smugness faded as she reached out to touch him.

"Nothing." His reply was cold and he pulled away.

"Alright… I came to wake you up so we can go and fetch water from the stream."

"Stream?" His eyebrow went up in wonder.

"Yes… stream or you skip this morning's bath."

"Can't you fetch for your brother?"

"Me and my brother, who is supposed to fetch for each other?" She gave him a questioning stare.

"Alright, I am coming..."

"We are waiting outside for you."

"We?"

"Yes… everyone is going."

"Alright, let me get dressed."

*

The cold, the damp ground, and the cassava farm on either side of the bush path could be the first things one notices. The scent of rotten mangoes could even be the first thing one would notice along the bush path, where red-headed lizards chase after the females and flies hum. However, Uche didn't notice any of these; instead, he walked in silence with a yellow jerrycan, oblivious of his surroundings.

What is happening to me? He thought. This has gone beyond a wet dream. Wet dreams don't pull down your boxers. While he slept, was he masturbating? Is even that possible? But he does not masturbate. Has never been a fan of self-pleasure. He tried it while growing up but was told in church that it is spiritual. Only those who have spirit wives engage in this nefarious behaviour, which can eventually exhaust a person's sperm and render them impotent. Now, he knows it is just one of the lies sold by the church, yet, for some personal reasons, he still doesn't engage in the act.

Then, what is wrong? Why does he go to bed and wake up with saliva and sperm all over the bed and his boxers down at knee level? Who pulls down his boxers? Him or someone else? If it is someone, who and why? How does the person get into the room without his notice? Is the person a man or a woman? The idea of another man suckling his dick sent shivers down his back. "God forbid!" he revoted aloud.

"God forbid what?" Behind him, Nosa asked.

He gave out a breath of depression. "You won't understand."

"Try me."

"Some strange things are going on in that house."

"Strange things, how?" Nosa stopped him and both of them stood by the corner of the bush path.

"There are some strange, weird things I am experiencing at night."

"Hmmm… my brother. Them say, wetin dog see dey bark anyhow, goat don see am, keep quiet."

"How?"

"I dey experience some creepy things in that house too."

"Really?"

"What are you guys doing here?" Ada asked passing the both of them. Her bathroom slippers slapping the wet earth, her buttocks shaking under her blue short skirt. Without responding, the eyes of the young men followed her like a dog after a foul smell until she disappeared into the fog.

"Men, this girl is fine from behind sha," Nosa whispered excitedly.

Uche chuckled. "What of from the front?"

"Hmmm," he waved his head slowly with lips squeezed to one corner of his face. "She still try…"

"You are a madman." Both of them burst into laughter and shook hands.

"Nosa, my brother..." Omo jumped into his hands in a really tight hug. From the viewpoint of Uche, he saw her breast pressed firmly against his chest. He looked away as jealousy creeps up to the surface of his heart.

"Uche… Are you guys not coming?" She asked, now facing him with her arm over Nosa's shoulders and his on her waist.

"We are… we are having a serious conversation first."

"Alright… But there is no time oh. It is already seven am. We are meeting the principal today." She left and once again the eyes of both men followed. Uche watched every step with admiration and lust. He wished that hug was his. He desired her for himself.

"Not even a side hug for me?" he asked.

"I don't know you!" She screamed and ran off to join Ada, her buttocks clapping against each other. Uche felt his heart race.

"But, you know this girl likes you sha," Nosa turned to face him.

A smooth smile appeared on his lips. "How?" he pretended not to understand what Nosa was saying.

"Nigga, don't pretend with me. She is coming to visit you, both of you laughing and talking till midnight and you still don't get it."

"Still don't get what? But you are the one she hugged."

"Forget that hug. She did it to make you jealous and you fell for it. I saw it in your face…"

"Na so… general overseer"