Chapter 1

Dreams...dreams...dreams.

What are they anyway.

Nobody knows for sure, but everyone has their own beliefs about them.

Some people believe that they are messages from our future selves, meant to guide or warn us about upcoming events in our paths.

Some traditional believers say dreams are warnings from our ancestors, and they have great effects and impact on our lives, while scientists say dreams are just imaginary events created by our minds while sleeping.

There's no exact definition of a dream, which is why at the end of the day, each and every one of us holds on to whatever concept we believe in.

However, the same can't be said about me.

My name is Trevor Ncube. I'm a 23 year old single young man who stays in a very small village in Zim, known as Insango.

To be honest, I personally never thought deeply about dreams. I remember having nightmares as a kid, but when I grew up, I stopped experiencing them.

I'd dream at night and won't remember the dream in the morning - not like I really cared about it, though, but my relatives did.

I remember when my overly spiritual believer cousin told me that the village witches were responsible for my amnesia because they didn't want to see me progress in life. He believed that all the dreams l forgot had important messages that could have led me to success.

Who cares about messages in a dream anyway. And to top it all, I never believed in witches erasing someone's dream in the first place. All of that was just crap to me.

Well, it was, until one day I had this particular dream, a dream that got me worried and asking myself a lot of questions for a long time.

I wanted to blush it off like always, but it was stuck in my brain.

The strangest thing about this dream was that it kept on repeating itself for countless nights - so much that I became afraid to even fall asleep.

Afraid that it will haunt me like it always does.

But the dream wasn't a nightmare or anything to be scared of.

I just found it rather strange.

Isn't it strange to have countless dreams about a person you've never seen anywhere?

It is, right?

Exactly.  At least you agree with me on this one.

So, I always dreamed of a girl I've never met.

I told my friends and relatives about it, but the responses I got from them were just ridiculous. 

My friends said I've been single for a long time, and my brain is just fantasizing about my ideal girlfriend. While some said I was growing, and I was just experiencing wet dreams.

Wet dreams at age 23!!!! How ridiculous. 

So, when I realized that my friends weren't going to help me with anything useful, I went to my cousin, and as soon as I told him about my situation, the idiot dragged me into the house and started splashing me with water in the face.

He went to his room and came back after a few minutes, wearing a white garment and carrying a wooden stick.

He started praying out loud in the top of his voice, asking God to deliver me from a spiritual wife.

To be honest, I wanted to laugh and slap his hand away that was touching my head, but I kept cool. I wanted to see where this was going.

Then, he started speaking in tongues, and by this time, I was really giving it everything. I've got to hold my laughter.

After shouting for almost half an hour, he opened his eyes, his face sweating like he was doing something hard.

His breathing was unstable, and his bold head wet from sweat.

I can't blame him, though.

It's not easy to pray at the top of your voice for half an hour.

After taking his time to stabilize his breathing, he looked at me and said ," My dear cousin. I've prayed for you. I'm not spiritually strong, so I suggest you come to church with me this Friday. Our church prophet will tell you everything about the spiritual wife that's been troubling you at night.

After he said that, I told him I'd come on Friday, not like I believed anything he said, but because I just didn't want him to think I'm arrogant or anything.

I later went back home, and at night, I switched off the lights and fell asleep.

Then..... there she was. Standing in front of me, a smile on her face.

She looks shorter than me, and her eyes glow with nothing but love.

Although she's wearing eyeglasses, I could still see the freckles in her nose, appealing dimples in her cheeks, and her small, soft lips.

She walks towards me while playing with her natural black shoulder-length and ponytailed hair in a very shy manner.

Then, she gently grabs me by my shirt and pulls my face towards hers.

Before our lips met, l felt a hot slap in my cheeks, and that's when I woke up.

It was a dream. I was dreaming.

"You almost kissed me, you freak!!!, my 13 year old brother fired at me.

We share the same room and the same bed.

He was telling the truth.

I was so lost in the dream that I thought the girl was going to kiss me, while I almost kissed my brother in reality.

How ridiculous.

"I'm sorry, man.... now go back to sleep, "l pleaded to him. 

"Bro.... get a girlfriend.  You almost kissed me right now, and who knows what you'll try to do to me next. Sharing the same bed with you is a risk. Now I'll start sleeping on the floor.

I could see from his responses that he was really pissed off. I can't blame him. So, I kept quiet as I watched him take blankets and sleep on the floor.

After a few minutes, he started snoring. I, on the other hand, couldn't sleep. I started thinking about that dream.

It just felt real.

What if... what if my cousin is right.

Maybe I really have a spiritual wife. I don't know what to believe anymore. I guess I'll go to church with him and hear what the so-called phrophets will say.

I later fell asleep after hours of thinking, and in the morning, I didn't tell anyone about the dream.

Days passed fast, and now Friday was upon me.

I took a bath, wore my best clothes and waited for my cousin to come and pick me up.

But when he came, he was shocked to see me already dressed up.

"Man.... what!!! You're ready.

"Yeah, man. Let's go. I want to get this over with.

"Where do you think you're going. To a party? You must be joking. What kind of clothes are those honestly.  A ripped Jean, Timberland shoes and an oversized drip shirt. This is a Madzibaba church, bro, and we only wear white clothes. Here, take this garment i brought for you and put it on.

I looked at my cousin for a while without saying a word, then I took the garment he brought for me and tried it on. Geez, l looked like a homeless grandmother. The garment looked big and funny on me. Even my young brother laughed when he saw me wearing it.

"No man. I ain't wearing this.

"Oh... God of Abraham. Save this child from all these demons. (facing the ceiling) Listen man. The Bible says, don't let these earthly beauties and flowers separate you from God. Wearing your jeans is a true example of earthly flowers. Just wear this humble looking gown and you won't die. Just like me.

"Bruh... You're used to wearing this. I can't go around the village wearing this garment.  Okay, I have a plan. I'll go wearing my clothes, and if we get close to church, I'll change and wear the garment. Isn't your church in the forest?

"It's in the forest.... well, do whatever you want man. Now let's go. I don't want to be late.

After coming to an agreement with my cousin, I took my satchel and packed the garment inside. Then, we hit the road. He was wearing his white garment,  and I was wearing my normal clothes. I was even feeling ashamed to walk with him, so I walked a meter away from him, so that people would think that we were not together.

I bowed my head down a little to avoid eye contact with people,  and then as I was walking.... I bumped into someone carrying a box of tomatoes.

The tomatoes fell to the ground and I started apologizing and picking up the tomatoes for the person.

Then, when I looked at the person's face. My heart stopped beating for a second. I stayed frozen for a while, observing her face closely. She also looked at me and we maintained eye contact.

It was her.

I can't mistake it.

Her eyeglasses.  The freckles in her nose. Her dimpled cheeks and her ponytail.

I'll never forget this face.

The face I've been seeing for countless nights now.

Right before my eyes, the exact girl I've been dreaming about was standing in front of me.

Time seemed to have stopped together with my breathing. Or was it that I'd forgotten to breath, and because of that, I felt a sharp pain in my heart as I fell down to the ground and lost consciousness.