His Eyes Flew Open

The clanging won't stop and this is making Ekene restless. He twisted and called out to his colleague and fellow apprentice, Olisa to stop making the noise but he didn't. Ekene tried to ignore him but the noise is making him very uncomfortable.

After what seemed like forever, the clanging was joned with a loud music. Ekene hissed. He just want some peace and quietness and everything around him has decided not to give him that.

But something is off, the music is from the church which is close to the compound he lives in and he is at work. His eyes flew open, it was then that he realised that he had been asleep all the while and the clanging was his alarm while the loud music was coming from the church. He don't need to check what the time is, the church music has already pointed out that it's 6.00am and time for Angelus for the Catholic faithful.

He got up from the bed so disgruntled, not only has he slept in his work clothes from yesterday but he also had the most restless night of his life.

Yesterday had been very hectic because of the contract his boss got to make furnitures for an entire duplex. This kind of contract don't come often but once it comes his boss makes sure everybody felt it and he does that by overworking them. Ekene knows today will be the same but Thank God It's Friday, after work today he can go home and have a very good rest. He is a Jew and his boss let's him take the day off on Saturdays. He is grateful that his boss is a respecter of religion unlike most people he has met in life.

Ekene took his bath and prepared for work dragging himself all along. He doesn't mind that he is still serving under somebody. He had overworked himself yesterday and it is perfectly understandable if he is late today.

As he stepped his feet out of the compound, he saw a group of people gathering and laughing at a particular girl who is covered in what looked like floor. The girl was also smiling. It looked like the girl has been pranked. Ekene likes pranks and he is a master in pranking. He tries to pull prank on people around him now and then and he enjoyed seeing the surprises on their faces after or during the prank. It was unbelievable and unbecoming of him not to prank anyone this week, hell he had not even thought about it. It is really a stressful week. The contract work will end hopefully mid next week and he will make everyone feel his presence again, they had been on a break long enough, he thought to himself a he smiled devilishly. 

His first thought was that the day is the girl's birthday so he tried to remember the date only for him to realize it's April 1st, April fool's day!

He had totally forgotten about it. He would have make a big plan for the day. Ekene could remember his prank on some of his colleagues last year.

He had sent two of his colleagues messages from each other's phone proclaiming their undying love for each other. To make the message specific, he had used their names and then he deleted it from each sender's phone. He had watched them all day smiling to himself as they make awkward glances at each other. It was epic.

Ekene Knew what was waiting for him at the shop today. Last year, after the prank was over and everyone realised the truth they swore to retaliate this year and he won't see it coming.

He fidgeted a little but tried to calm himself down, "The Master of Prank cannot be caught unawares" he said to himself. He would prepare himself and use their plans against them.

When he got to the shop, everyone was their usual self, he knew this is one of their tactics so he decided to play along and pretend that he doesn't know what the day is but he will secretly look out for anything extraordinary and then catch them at their own game.

It's now some minutes past twelve but every one is still going about their normal business. Any prank after twelve O'clock on April fool's day is invalid so he secretly smiled to himself but he still want to be alert just in case.

At past four, one of Ekene's colleague asked Ekene to help him get some tools at one of the packing stores, Ekene knew this might be their plan because clearly, he doesn't need help.

Ekene looked at everyone but they were still pretending and they are very good at it. He braced himself and followed him.

Some minute later they are out of the store back to the workshop. "If the prank didn't happen in the store, then it will happen when they get back", Ekene thought. Maybe that was their plan to take him out so they could arrange the plan.

After thirty minutes they came back to the workshop and nothing happened, Ekene became restless, he knew that whatever they were planning that has not been done by this time must be big. He can't wait anymore for whatever they are planning and he is no longer interested so he decided to send out warning so that they will cancel what they had want to do. 

He raised his voice and said, "It's is evening already, anybody that will do anything now, I won't find it funny with the person". The announcement was more of telling them that he wants his peace of mind back. He kept his face straight and mean to show them that he is serious about what he said.

Everyone looked up at him as if he is out of his mind. One of the colleagues asked him what he was saying. Ekene replied, "Your April fool plan. It has already ended by twelve so anyone that tries anything now will have himself to blame."

As he finished speaking, everyone started laughing so hard, Ekene didn't understand why but still kept his face straight to show them how serious he is. After everybody had laughed to their satisfaction, one of his colleagues turned and said, "It's 2nd April, nobody is trying to prank you. It skipped our mind yesterday because we were too busy. You are just lucky".