Episode 8
I nervously opened my door and came face
to face with the hostel president, a policeman
in uniform and the S.U.G president.
I stared at them with panic. “Please can we
come in?. The officer has some important
questions to ask you,” the S.U.G president
explained while my heart froze.
My guilty conscience was at its worst that
moment.
I fearfully allowed them into the room, my
heart pounding furiously as the policeman
took a sharp look round my room before
settling down on the only plastic chair I had,
while the two students with him stood and
stared at me. I knew they all noticed my
nervous behaviour.
“I’m here to question you as a result of the
body discovered in your lodge. The dead girl
found under the stairs”.
The serious looking officer said to me as he
brought out a small notebook which he
opened. “So what’s your name?” he asked. I
breathed deeply and looked at the hostel
president who nodded to me in agreement. I
slowly murmured my name, repeating it
twice. “You saw the girl’s body right?” the
officer asked.
I swallowed hard and nodded. Nmeka’s
image quickly appeared in my head. “yes I
saw her” I answered weakly,
“do you know her?” he asked, sending my
heart flying with the question. “um no, not at
all” I replied, “are you sure?” he asked again,
“yes I’m sure” I answered,
“you mean you have never ran across her
even in school premises?” he asked. “Yes I’m
sure, I haven’t seen her anywhere” I
answered a bit boldly.
He marked something in his book, closed it
and stood up.
“thanks for your time, but I may be back” he
grinned before leaving.
I locked my door, fell on my bed and
covered my head with a pillow. “Liar, damn
you liar” i heard Nmeka’s voice scream in my
head, sickening me.
I laid awake all night, scared and afraid. I
was scared of Nmeka’s ghost, scared of the
police and scared of being discovered.
A very terrible wind equally blew that night
as if rain was about to pour, but there came
no rain, instead the wind kept making strange
noises on my window which seriously
terrified me.
Early Tuesday morning i packed some of
my clothes in a small bag and headed to my
friend Gideon’s lodge. I just couldn’t stay all
alone in my room anymore.
Unfortunately Gideon and his neighbours
were all too eager to hear the dead girl’s
story, especially how she looked, who was
being suspected and
so on.
They wanted to hear everything without
knowing
that they were upsetting me with their
questions.
The more I managed to answer, the more
questions they asked to the extent that I
almost lost the remaining part of my mind.
Early Wednesday morning I headed home to
be with my surprised parents who were very
astonished to see me return home in the
middle of the week. I managed to mutter
some lousy explanation which I believed they
never truly bought.
But then it was as if the devil had so much
interest in my case, because by 8:15am the
next day, the hostel president called me on
phone, asking me to show up at the lodge.
“The police needs to search your room”. He
ended up saying.
To be continued