Hell Mary

Chapter Sixteen

Martins seemed to be awakened by a poured beam that leaked in golden yellow hues from the corridor's ceiling. The light settled on his forehead and then spiralled to the oily skin on his face. The detective pushed her way in and stooped, bouncing slightly when she leant on her toes. She looked into Martins' face and saw a weakened zeal.

"Why have you left me here?" He asked. "This is not a prison," he added. He took the generous look of staring around to recollect where he had been. A single mattress ridden of decency and having its threadbare spongy yellow foam fall out. The walls were cold at nights, with its base cracking open and giving off a bloated soft feel. Martins busied himself with popping the walls open and letting the wet cement pour out most nights. He would lock his arm within his compact thigh that never drooped and sleep under the influence of cold and dark and visiting mosquitoes that would dip down in mockery over his ear lobe and then slide in through his trousers to attack his fleshy skin. He asked for a covering and was handed a blanket quite alright, one that stank of undiluted urine.

"You're right," Uju said, standing up and walking around. "I left you here, so that I could be able to drag the truth out from your friends. If they learnt you went to jail, someone would say the truth. It worked," her voice lowered. "I know who the culprit is."

*****

The night seemed promising. There were two mountains of cake on the top of a wooden table dressed to impress. The white material laced with a navy blue, hid the dingy grime filled wooden table which would normally hold the plastic coolers from which meals were served.

Contemporary music were shot from the sides after series of thorough selection. Evening swung in with a deeper shade of darkness that was unbefitting for seven in the evening as the hall was lavished with balloons and lacy strips at every sharp end and with tables surrounded by groups of chairs in threes or fours.

Boys trooped in in small groups first and after a lengthy wait, girls followed in an hour later. They each tried to look their bests with their shapely dresses and beauteous demeanor. Every clique occupied a table and wowed in admiration of the grandeur which the hall possessed. The music was amplified when the hall was nearly filled and soon it drowned all the chats on each table, causing the students to scream so loudly while talking even though a footstep separated them.

Thelma combed the scanty tufts on her head slowly and with each comb backwards, she noticed Mary's empty bed. The feverish feeling that welled up in her subdued her. The hostel was filled with girls hurrying with their drawn brows or bronze red coloured lipsticks and fitting themselves into tight dresses that sucked all their belly fat inside and made it difficult to breathe. Thelma turned over to Ashley's side and noticed Ashley wrapped her hair into a full bun using hair pins to hold one end and then crisscrossed with another pin against another end. They sparkled like diamonds and so did the rest of her being throughout the long night.

"I want to tell you something. It's about Mary," Thelma said.

"Now?" Ashley asked. Her fingers lifted the shiny gray coloured dress and adjusted the singlet she had on that formed awkward folds on her skin. She let the dress fall back down and watched it encircle her feet. The sparkly feel continued to her feet and the heeled pointy shoe she had on, made her seem complete- like a lifesized statue built with diamonds.

"I haven't seen her for a while now and I saw something," Thelma quivered. Her blue gown purged out all insincerity and made her seem sublime.

"I saw her this evening. Maybe she's already at the hall or maybe she's in the other dorm," Ashley said even though she was convinced Mary couldn't have been in the Ss3 wing.