"Hope is being able to see a light despite all the darkness"
RHEMA
Still very devastating, coming back to school was never gonna be the same ever again. Both of us against the world till she was killed for no good reason. Even after school closed down for the rest of the year, I can't still imagine school without her.
"Guy, how far?", Dike said as I walked into the class block. I smiled at him and continue to my locker. I had to talk to Ibim, she knew something, something she was telling the school, something that could lead me to who freaking strangled my best friend. Like the skies heard my prayers, she comes into sight, she's headed for her locker and she's alone, this is my chance. I start walking towards her when I hear a voice call her name, Angeline, the counsellor.
She walks away and so do I, I'll get another chance, this is Ogan after all.
July! Six months since she died, six months since I've stepped into school.
"Hey Rhema".Sarima falls in step with me. I reply with a hey.
"Will we be having you back in drama club this term, I really hope you've healed enough to participate in the club because Ms. Emmanuel has approved the drama week and we really need your awesome skills". I had no intention of continuing with drama club, it was our thing; Lola and I and now with her gone. I feel I would be betraying her.
"Hey, No pressure", she stops walking making me stop as well, her eyes so big they held all of life in them. "You have all the time to think about it, I know it's a lot to ask but please think about it, rehearsals start end of January so, I hope to see you". her small lips go into a line as she smiles. She looks behind me and then smiles. "Goodbye". She's gone.
First period, Accounts! Shoot me dead!
I hope I find Malik soon or else I'm going to lose my mind.
It's been six months and I still wasn't over her death, I won't ever get over her death, I'll just have to learn to live with the pain.
"Brother!". Malik!
I smile at him and we do the hand shake; He looked good as always. Malik and I have been best friends since well.... since I moved to this school in year 2.
"Happy new year, Fam". I say and he responded with a hum.
"It's just the first day back and I legit want to crawl into a pit and die! Ogan is such a crappy school, it's like the longer you stay the more you hate it".
"Bro, we hate it but nobody ever leaves except sent out and that's insane, Fam. We're insane". I itch my hair as I speak.
Malik stopped by his locker, while he was busy in his locker, I used the opportunity to look at Ogan. Everything was still the same, everyone was laughing and going on with their lives like someone didn't die less than a year ago. I hate it, the fact that life has the audacity to go on without Lola's laughter, her smile, her tears and her crappy jokes. God! I miss her, she was the best friend life could give and the worse thing to take away.
"Hey Man, you good?"
I snap back to reality. "Yeah, yeah, you ready?".
He nods and we walk away. Damn, I was gonna ask her to dance that day but I was such a fucking coward and let her walk out of that hall. I had to be a fucking coward.
"We have a lot of work this term, congratulations on your IGCSEs and those who didn't do well, I honestly don't know what to tell you but you need to sit up". I hate my IGCSEs result I hardly made it but I made it and Dad was not taking it easy on me either.
I was scribbling like crazy in my book when a piece of paper makes it to my thigh. I look around for who sent it and nobody looked suspicious. I look at the board and Mr. Gilbert is focus on the textbook on his desk. I unfold the piece of paper.
Should I warn you to stay away from clues? I care for you and you shouldn't do that.
Ms. Adrenalin
Who? I look up quickly and my eyes met Chidimma, I squint my eyes at her but she only smiles and me and looked at the board. Ms. Adrenalin?
This is some next level creepy. I slip it in between the pages of my notebook and I continue scribbling down in my notes. I had to talk to Ibim or I was gonna loose my mind. I make one more sudden turn giving myself a whiplash all in vain because no one was staring at me. I turn back to my book finally giving up but I couldn't shake the feel of eyes on me all through the class.
"Yo, Man, I'm heading to the music lab during free period, I have some work to do there". Malik tells me as we walk out of Accounts class to the Maths class.
"What work?".
"I'm working on a new beat and I finally was able to get my grades up so Epele is letting me in for thirty minutes".
I nod. "Damn bro, I'm happy for you".
He hums with a smile on his face. I consider telling him about the note I got in class but something stops me, I don't know what.
It's Malik, he was angry about something.
Lola's voice booms in my head. She never got to tell me what he was angry about.
He looked at me with this kind of venom in his eyes
I laughed it off and told her not to think much about it. And now because of that random memory I wasn't telling my best friend about the note I got.
Cliché as this sounds, the first person I notice as I walked into the class was Ibim, her mesomorphic figure was sitting in a chair next to her best friend Mofe. I was beginning to see this girl more than I used to and Lola would say that's Fate's way of saying "Y'all need to talk".
I didn't get a chance to talk to her through out Maths class or after because well, the Assholes had been interrupting and then she was always with her best friends and our communication has to be just both of us.
"Hey, Malik, I need help getting a phone number".
A/N
Hey guys, if you made it this far? Why are you reading this shitty book also thank you for believing in me and taking out the time to read my piece of work .
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If you live for seventy yearsI hope to live for sixty-nineSo I don't get to feel the sting of your absenceHappy birthday, Best friend.She was found dead on the night of the same day she gave me this. I still keep the card under my pillow, very absurdly it made me feel so close to her."Hey, we need to get to school", Malik's voice was hoarse. "You be dressing up like a female, my Man, you've been at it for twenty minutes".Laughter erupts from my lips. "Says the boy that has a skin care journal"."Guyy, No loud am nau"
IBIMMrs. Yakubu asked us to stay back, I knew that the lawyers where coming but I thought they would at least let us settle down in school first. These Abereyes were not having it anymore."I don't care who goes to jail, I must get to the bottom of this", she said so loud, it was literally booming off the wall of the assembly hall."Lola's Mom is looking at us like she's gonna kill every last one of us", Mofe said."Are you serious?", I signed."Deadass".I wrapped my arms around myself, I remember Lola vaguely, she was the drama girl as Mofe called
The chill of the water hit me and I nearly collapsed, I was tired of hearing the voices, tired of feeling this weight in my heart. I badly want this to end. I'm sorry Lola sorry your death can't be given justice to because I'm such a fucking coward.I turn off the shower, wrap myself in my towel like a cocoon and walk out of the shower stall . No one was there, I was alone no other person was wiling to have a bath today, I guess. I set my toiletries bag on the sink top and get out all the things I need for my hair when I feel a presence behind me. I turn swiftly giving myself a whiplash. Standing there is.... is...."Hello, Ibim".How am I seeing her?"Lola?"
Stab the body and it heals but injure the heart and the wound lasts a lifetime. MINEKO IWASAKIRHEMA
"I didn't know this place even exists", I say and she nods with a mouthful."No one in this school does", she says when she's finally done with chewing. "My brother used to be the drama club president in his set and he found the keys and he gave them to me when he graduated. I always come here when I want to go away".The attic in the drama room is at the top of the stairway leading to nowhere, well, that what I thought till Chidimma pulled out a key and fitted it into a keyhole in the wooden wall. It's a small room with a desk, a bench and a minishelf of books."Wanna see the view?". I nod.She stands up and I do too, the little window shows the sports centre of the school and the roads outside the school fence. The
IBIMWhy you texting me?This is Ibim, gotta be a mistakeI didn't reply to his text till the next morning when I was finally allowed to leave the infirmary, the plaster was changed this morning and I had to come back to the infirmary after lunch to take medications.I needed to find Mofe. I hadn't spoken to her since she walked out of the infirmary . I walked to my locker and then towards hers but I was pulled away."Hi, Ibims"."Mina, you do not just grab a blind girl like that"."I'm so sorry", she says and I nod. "I was going to tell you that Mofe left school last night and no one has
It's not a mistake. We really need to talk. I know you know somethingI stared at my phone blankly as Siri's voice stopped for the fifteenth time that hour. What do I say to this?I walk to the drama room and Chidimma's nice voice met me at the door."Hello, Ibim". Said she. "So nice of you to show up""Yes. Umm.... you said you-"."I was thinking if you've ever thought about drama club. I know you're already a pianist and you make mixtapes but I feel you have it in you"."You think I'm a good recruit for your club?'"Yes. We have drama week in March and rehearsals s
Group presentations usually took half of the first period and since this was poetry club, I was hardly interested in it. Malik and I had found seats at the far back of the hall. While they introduced the first presenter; Mofe."Hello everyone, Mofy here and I will be presenting a poem written by Sarima Egwakhide titled Texting with him". she proceeds to start her poem and soon everyone is silent listening to the words. It's a love poem from the hoots from girls and boys alike. I look away from the stage for a split second and my eyes fell on Chidimma, she smiled at me, a smile I reciprocated and then her friends; Abby and Sarima whispered something her ears then they both laugh except her who just looked at me again shyly. The whole scene makes me smile a bit before paying attention back to poetry."All these fe
Let's visit our main guy Rhema. RHEMA I kept zooming into the video on my phone pleading the image to change from Malik to someone else, I didn't want to believe he had killed her or had a hand in killing her. We were like siblings, he was always around us and now all of a sudden he killed her? My insides were doing flips. I want to be anywhere but here right now, Chidimma and Sarima are talking on and on about the video giving their theories and I just seated here in denial. "Are you okay?", Sarima asked and that's when I realise them staring at me. "Why?".
IBIMMofe and I were sitting in one corner of the prep hall in the hostel that afternoon. She was busy copying the notes she had missed when she was away in surgery and well, I just didn't copy notes."Floxy, she said something so weird. I think she's abroko, ask Tochi. Guy she was weird...really weird".Mofe dug into her bag of plantain chips and chewed noisily while listening to me talk."I always suspected her but what's her connection with the whole thing sef. See at this point I just want to graduate from Ogan and never step my feet back here", she said."I swear ba... the school is tiring". I said and ran my hand over my face."So what did she say exactly?"."She said that Mina and Malik deserved the cloak and she somehow expected me to know why they deserved it".Our phones buzzed.Mofe looked into her screen, it was a screenshot of a message between two people. Abroko has struck again.
LOLAIt all started the day I overheard Ms Angeline and Senior Daniel in her office, he was telling how they needed to stop whatever it was they were doing. I should have walked away but I stood at the door and pressed my ears to the door."I can't do this anymore Angie,if we get caught, you'll lose your job and I'll get expelled"."We won't get caught"."We could, the sex was good, the dates perfect but everything needs to end"."But Daniel, we're in love"."I'm seventeen,Angie. This doesn't go anywhere, we're just going to end this now".She let out a noise like scream. "I won't let you do this boy, I will make sure you pay""Your back again with your threats,did you smoke a blunt today,Angie." My heart was beating in my chest. I looked around and nobody was on the hallway. We were all meant to be in the assembly hall with Ms.Yakubu for a briefing on the inter-house sports. I wanted to go to the b
IBIMThe hallway was quiet, teachers were in their meetings, the SS3s were having a seminar with some people from outside school. Tochi was striding easily behind me humming some tune, I recognised to be Burna Boy's but not sure what song exactly."What song is that?", I asked."You don't know this song?!", he sounded terrified.I laughed. "I recognise it but I can't remember the name"."Bank on it"."You can bank on it, you put a hundred grand pon it"., I said and he cooed."You know the vibes then", he hopped like a child waiting for
IBIMOgan looked a little bit different than I remember it to have been all those years ago, the grass hedges looked a bit higher, there were more flowers outside and the uniform was better looking. One thing about seeing is the world looked new to me, everything caught my eye. The house fly on the kitchen counter, the stain in the car seat, the white spec on my uniform skirt even the dust that danced in the sunlight. I just taught I hadn't seen enough of the world yet. When I walked into the hallway, Mofe was standing at the door with a blue bag slumped on her shoulder, she had texted me the precise location, she would be and I wouldn't have recognised her if she hadn't described her location. She looked so new to me like she wasn't my best friend I had known for all these years."Ibims", she said and ran in for a hug."Mofe?""Yes", she said still holding me in her embrace."So many people are lookin
IBIM.The door creaked and Mom's perfume filled the ward, I moved in my bed and she tsked."Toku, they said you should not move oh, this is a major surgery"."I feel like I need to itch my eyes". I said with a chuckle."Madam, don't talk like that.""Mommy, I'm just joking", I said amidst chuckles. "Don't freak out. Where is Daa?""He went to get you food"."Please nothing with carrot milk, the surgery is done. I will throw up if I so much as see carrots".Mom laughed and I felt the space on the bed dip. She held my hand and was p
Ibim was not in school, the next day as she had said earlier. I stayed with Chidimma all the time, she held my hand every time we were together and that was holding my sanity. Malik was not in school either and so was Mina. Nobody knew what had happened when they were called but it seemed like Mrs. Yakubu was trying to save her son. The ground was shifting beneath us already when another video was uploaded by abroko. It was a video of Manny carrying Bevy, she looked lifeless. The caption was....the cards are beginning to flip over."What doesManny have to do with this. I'm honestly tired", Floxy said. She walked faster than us so she could stand in front of us and talk."Who do you think Abroko is?", she asked looking at me and I shrugged."No idea"."First,they were just making people listen to gossip but now they are beginning to ruin people's lives. I think shit just got real in Ogan".I looked at Floxy as sh
IBIM"I don't know why she didn't tell me", Tochi said as we walked with Mofe down the hallway. He was talking about Mina's nudes and somehow they were friends or cousins or family friends."She won't tell you, genius", Mofe said and I laughed."Are you minding this one?". I asked her and he laughed."Ibim so about your surgery"."You have another surgery?", Mofe asked. I had forgotten to tell her yesterday, I didn't feel like talking to anyone after Tochi said goodnight to me."Yeah, she didn't tell you?""Shoot! I'm so sorry, best friend. I for
IBIM"I like the way, I'm feeling now", I sang as I opened the door to my room, all day in school I couldn't wait to come back and lay down and stare at the light bulb on my ceiling because it felt good to see it just exist. Lola had gone since Tochi and I left the room, I was grateful that she had gone to wherever she disappeared to it let me feel normal again."Boo!!". I jumped and laying there was Lola."You'll kill me this girl"."So did you talk to Tochi?""About what?". I asked looking back at the light bulb. It was the only thing I could see that was in my reality."Nothing much". I said.