Walking through the corridor of the academy was strange as he could hear whispers here and there even as he got into the field, he was a popular person even among the others, as his talents were nothing at all to scoff at, and after each game, many people would always want to get close to him especially when he did well, but today Richard had a weird feeling, he hadn’t been back at school for a week now as he had some issues with his now acknowledged powers, he got a bit of understanding and can some worth create flames from his fingers with just a snap and if he should put effort into it he could even release flames with every punch he threw. He didn’t know how it happened but he felt that it wasn’t far from what had happened on that fateful night. Knowing that there wouldn’t be any match for the next two weeks, he took a week's leave, and being the captain and star player of Eagle Heights Academy, he could do that without any repercussions. But getting back today was certainly strange as all eyes were on him and the boys around would just laugh as though he did something extremely embarrassing causing him to lose focus as he almost bumped into a pillar on three different occasions but with his newly enhanced reaction speed, he would just dodge it by a hair’s breadth.

“RICHARD, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN MAN” A loud familiar voice called out to him the moment he entered the pitch to train shaking him out of his thoughts “Dave how far, What is going on like this” he said with a smile as this was one person that he was hoping to see today, as if he saw a certain person he doesn’t know if he would be able to control himself rationally.

“Gee you are now the biggest and most viral person in the country, you are even the person as number one trending on Twitter Nigeria,” Dave said as he took his hands off Richard's shoulders to illustrate how big the issue was, “Hey, you know I am not that influential on social media, I am like an invisible person there, what do you mean”

“See this one,” Dave said as he bumped his shoulder a bit, but on the heavy side but Richard was unmoved as it was nothing but a light tap on his shoulder as Dave bent over holding his hand due to the pain “Ouch, did you eat an unreleased brand of fufu that your shoulder is tough like this” Richard couldn’t help but smile wryly as he couldn’t exactly explain the situation to his friend without looking like a mad man

“Look you are pretty famous now, more than you could even know,” Dave said as he went for his phone “Here look at this,” he said as he opened a video, as he watched he couldn’t hide his face that displayed all sort of emotions at the same time, from initial shock, to further shock then to embarrassment as is he was fair he would be visibly be turning as red as a tomatoes because why not, why not when the video had a person in question and that person was none other than himself as he watched himself athletically jumped from roof to roof making some summersaults in the air in a wrapper:

“Wow look at this, no be juju be this.” a voice came out of the video as the person recording joked as he filmed, while due to how it was filmed, Richard could see multiple others filming as well as he heard various comments that came from shock of the feats he was performing that should be impossible. “Bro, why didn’t you tell me you had something like this in you like that’s not all sef, Open Twitter or any other platform, and you would see how it’s all about you even TikTok

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

and YouTube artists have begun trying to recreate your moves” he said as Richard quickly opened TicTok and found out that it was true, he then opened the comment section of one of the videos:

-Dis wan na for film dey wan shoot una just dey behave like small children

-Wow this is amazing

-Why would someone do this in an area that has just suffered from an earthquake

-Ode, didn’t you hear it was not an earthquake but a tremor

-It is your father that is the Ode.

…

The comment section was so chaotic that he could not hide his embarrassment “Come on man, enjoy it while it last, Also, just between you and I noticed that Smith has been out of it quite lately like he is tensed for no reason” hearing that name Richard froze as anger began to well up in him “Hey bro you good” Dave said as he bumped him again but noticed that his temperature was hotter “yeah, I am good” Richard said as he calmed down

PIMMMM

A bulky pot-bellied man with a cap stepped onto the pitch “Now for our next game I want us to go on the attack right from the beginning” he started to talk as he blew the whistle knowing he had gotten the attention of everybody but noticed that not all were present “can I please have everyone out here now” he shouted as some students began to jog out of the facility into the pitch. Richard and Dave were still discussing and laughing as Richard caught sight of somebody who had frozen at the entrance as both of them stood and looked each other in the eye.

---

Earlier in the changing room Smith was seated with his head in his hands as he sweated profusely “How did it get to this point; he was said to have taken a week's break which should end today. If all went well, he should have been hospitalized for nothing shorter than 18 months but what is all this, the very next day he became viral, I was hoping it was an old video but from the way the environment looked it seemed like not, and with the level of damage he should be dead by now….” His thoughts were all over the place as nothing seemed to make sense, it’s as though Richard threw logic all out the window as he didn’t even seem a bit injured compared to what had happened, he was injured, fatally injured at that he knew it because he was there, he had seen and confirmed it with his own eyes so what was happening;

“Hey he is back”

“Who”

“Richard na, he just stepped in”

…

Some junior players said as they ran past Smith making his heart tighten with the words he heard, he could afford to bear the consequences of what he did as he knew that he was this close to getting a scholarship abroad after this tournament, his mind was foggy:

“Can I please have everyone out here now”

He heard the coach's call from outside as even though the man didn’t seem a bit athletic, he knew he wouldn’t want to get on his wrong side. Getting up he took a deep breath as a thought entered his mind causing it to clear up ‘Why the hell am I scared, So what if he is alright, he is just a freak that’s all, what’s the worst he could do, there is nothing that enough money can’t solve, besides who am I kidding I can just do that again and this time ensures he remains down’ thought as he began walking out only to freeze when he saw him standing in the distance laughing with Dave.

“Shit” the curse word left his lips silently.