Hell Mary

Chapter Seven

"Submit your English assignment!" The high pitched voice of Ashley rang through. She stood before her desk with a few collected books and had her hands strap both sides like a buckle, protecting the already submitted ones.

Kelvin stood beside her with a gait that fitted his responsibility. His leather strapped Gshock blue wristwatch beeped and indicated it was eight o'clock, start of a new fresh day at school. Mr. John would walk in very soon with his textbook and a board marker and scribble Maths with the faintest writing. He coated himself with complexity and several layers that aimed to instil fear as though to garner respect, but the students knew the truth; he wasn't at all wicked or in the slightest bit fearful.

"I will soon go oh! Mister John will soon be here," Ashley warned while waiting for the few others that hurriedly wrote in their answers into their books or copied from someone else's.

The weather was cool and dry. It was that time of the year when one could wash their clothes at nights, wring off the water and lay it bare on the lines outside with assurance that they would be dried before morn. The time of the year that scarred one's lips and let out a streak of blood, parting the lower lip into a perfect symmetry; it was harmattan.

The trees blew gently on their own accord; swerving to both sides like the flexible waists of talented Igbo dancers. Their collective harmonious whistles sent chills to the skin and rose each hair strand on one's body.

Ashley had aggressively packed up the books on her desk and made for the door with Kelvin marching behind her. Some other students ran after her with their books towards the staff room when Mr. John pushed his head into the class and the rest of his body bowed in in accord.

The rest of the day was filled with interested students storming the staff room for the forms of the quiz competition. For every declared interest, there was a scholarship attached to the win as opposed to the monetary gifts from donors every year. It was an occasion Queen's college held every year but for the unprecedented turn out of events; the boys moving in, hence they made necessary adjustments to accommodate them.

The school felt choked... Very suffocating. A lot of reshuffling was done and the students were crammed up like sardines at just about every gathering. Some boys couldn't wait to leave while some others already felt at home.

"You're registering?" Mary had asked Ashley but got no immediate response. Ashley was still bent over by Mr. John's table imputing her name in a cursive font into the form. Even her handwriting spelt out perfection.

"I hate answering stupid obvious questions," she responded when she had been fully up. Their uniforms were supposed to accommodate hats but no one wore them except during assemblies except the newly admitted intakes who would eventually get over their overly obedience to school rules.

"I'm sorry," Mary added. "I was just hoping you wouldn't, because you- I mean- I badly need the scholarship."

"...and I don't?" Ashley asked.

"Your father will do anything to take care of you and make sure you get the best. I need the scholarship so I can save up the school fees and help myself after school. I was hoping I could start a small business then use the money I'll get from it to go to the university..."

"Gosh! Your life is so pathetic. My father will just pay the fees again so don't worry yourself," Ashley replied, turning to leave the fairly crowded staff room.

"That's the thing. I was hoping I would leave your house," Mary added and Ashley paused.

"Did you say leave?" Ashley asked. She rolled her eyes on an unsettled image with her mind racing about. "Even if I wanted to step down, do you seriously think that I'm your only competitor? You must be joking. You're below average in class. I'm not your only problem." She turned to leave again when Mary grabbed her slightly by her wrist but was wriggled off by Ashley's ferocity. "Don't you ever grab me by my wrist again!" She warned and stormed out of the room.

*****

The bell for the afternoon lunch could be heard faintly against the sturdy wall of the girl's hostel and so was the distant clanging of spoons against plates; it was another Wednesday and it meant the Reverend sisters had been generous enough to serve the students from the deliciousness of their jollof rice and beef, but yet again, Mary remained back in class going through some maths exercises with Kelvin. She had just solved an exercise and had been applauded by Kelvin.

"I need to go," Mary announced after a loud and long painful yawn.

Kelvin steadied his hands around her dry elbows and drew her down. "You can't go for lunch," he said with a silent laugh escaping his lips. "You are up against Ashley and you want to eat? You need to carve in more reading time and this is one of it. Luckily for you, I brought more snacks." He rummaged his bag and drew out the pack of delight. She beamed at the sight of the cookies suddenly remembering how the other one saved her life during an extensive maths lecture. How she buried herself beside her desk and ate with light crunches still clouded her memory.

"Wow so no jollof rice for me," Mary painfully said and the slow nod from Kelvin gave her a response. "I'm that bad huh?"

"Ashley is that good. You on the other hand," he started, resting the soft touch of his fingers on her cheeks, "You're wonderful."

A wave of stillness enveloped the air and for what seemed like long precious minutes, no words were said. A few students still flocked around the block but right there, just right there in SS2A, it felt like it were only the both of them.

"I guess we should study more then," she said, disquieting the room. 

****

"Kelvin?" The detective asked unsure. She had learned about few students especially those that had close proximity with Mary. Everyone was a suspect but she definitely didn't expect that name. All she heard about him were in good graces.

"Yes, Kelvin," Stella replied. "If anyone would know anything about Mary's sudden disappearance, it would be the boy no one ever expects. They were too close and I'm sure he knows something about it."

The  detective released a mirthless laughter. She took off her cross laced jacket revealing her white vest. Undoing her hair again to gather all the loose strands, she packed them all up into a dense bulk. The case was hitting rock bottom. It had series of complications staining the clear image she envisaged the  case would have.

She narrowed her eyes to the monotonous drawing of Jesus on the wall. She stared at  the skull as shown in the drawing and noticed the pouring out of blood such that it distorted  the Immaculate nature his being represented. Her eyes had been fixated on the drawing, but her mind wandered far off.

"So you are accusing him on the basis of unclear grounds? Just because he was closer?"

"No ma," Stella said. The 'Ma' in her words seemed a little too formal for Uju but yet somewhat befitting for her role. Her dark skin, ever radiant, complimenting the bulge her eyeballs gave her eyelid. She was slightly above her thirties. It was easy to assume even though her dainty figure could be misleading.

"Then what?" The detective asked again.

"Kelvin is a bad person cloaked with goodness. He was  in fact the worst of his friends but of course no one knew that," Stella replied. She leaned closer and added the subsequent words slower so that they sank in and gave an extra effect, one filled with thrills. "Kelvin could have killed Mary. It's very possible he did."