27:4:2024
10:23pm
Skeleton in the cupboard
Lucy stood outside the biology teacher's office, a knot of anxiety tightening in her stomach. She fidgeted, her gaze darting nervously around the hallway, her body trembling slightly. Something was clearly weighing heavily on her mind.
Just then, Mr. Mark, the new biology teacher, appeared at the end of the hall, his footsteps echoing against the linoleum floor. Mr. Mark was a young, dark-skinned man with a warm smile and a gentle demeanor. He was known throughout the school for his kind words, his easygoing nature, and his undeniably handsome appearance.
He approached Lucy, his expression softening with concern as he took in her distress. He gently took her hand, his touch offering a small measure of comfort.
"Lucy," he said, his voice soft and soothing, "I'm so sorry about what happened to your uncle. Mr. Bassy was a godsend to us all. He was a really kind man. I know it must be hard for you, especially with the upcoming waec exams before exams,"
Before he could finish his sentence, Lucy interrupted him, her voice barely above a whisper, her eyes filled with a mixture of fear and desperation.
"Mr. Mark," she said, her words hanging in the air, "I'm pregnant."
Mr. Mark's face drained of color, his eyes widening in shock, his hand tightening around Lucy's. The world seemed to tilt, his senses reeling, his mind struggling to process the information.
He reacted instinctively, his years of teaching experience momentarily forgotten. He quickly opened the office door, gently but firmly ushered Lucy inside, and closed the door behind them, locking it with a sharp click.
Turning to face her, his eyes filled with a mixture of disbelief and concern, he said, "Lucy, are you sure of what you're saying?"
Lucy, her voice choked with emotion, was too weak to speak. She simply nodded her head, tears streaming down her face, her body trembling uncontrollably.
"For how long?" Mr. Mark asked, his voice growing slightly louder, his pacing quickening. "When did you find out?"
Lucy explained that she had been feeling sick for several weeks, experiencing bouts of nausea and dizziness. Then, she had noticed that she had stopped seeing her period, a development that had sent a wave of panic crashing over her.
Driven by fear and uncertainty, she had purchased a pregnancy test, taking it twice this weekend to confirm her suspicions. Both tests had yielded the same result: two unmistakable blue lines.
Choking back a sob, she reached into her purse and pulled out the plastic pregnancy test, showing it to Mr. Mark, the two blue lines a stark testament to her predicament.
"I don't know what to do," she whispered, her voice cracking with emotion. "WAEC starting tomorrow, and I don't want to get expelled before I even start my exams.
Mr. Mark took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure, his mind racing, searching for a solution to this impossible situation. He knew the stakes were incredibly high, that Lucy's future, and potentially his own, hung in the balance.
He gently cupped Lucy's face in his hands, his eyes filled with a mixture of sympathy and determination. "Don't worry," he said, his voice soft and reassuring. "We'll find a way to handle this. We have to be careful, though. If anyone finds out, it could ruin everything."
He explained that if news of her pregnancy were to leak out, Lucy could face expulsion from school, jeopardizing her chances of graduating and attending university. And for him, as a teacher, it would mean certain termination, his reputation tarnished, his career in ruins.
"Since tomorrow is the first day of WAEC," Mr. Mark continued, his voice low and urgent, "what subjects do you have?"
Lucy choked out "Food and Nutrition"
His eyes widened, "This can still work!" said Mr. Mark. "What can work is that you must follow my words exactly. In the morning, you're gonna leave your house as if you're going to the school, but you should not go school." He began looking around frantically.
"On the way," Mr. Mark explained, "I'll pick you up. Then, I'll take you to a clinic."
Lucy stared at him, her eyes filled with disbelief. "A clinic?" she whispered.
"Yes," Mr. Mark said, his voice firm. "An abortion clinic. It's the only way, Lucy. It's the only way to protect you, to protect us both."
Lucy hesitated, her mind reeling, her heart filled with fear and uncertainty. She had never considered abortion before, never imagined herself in this situation. But as she looked at Mr. Mark, his face etched with concern, his hand still gently cupping her cheek, she knew that he was right.
There was no other choice.
With a trembling nod, she agreed, sealing their pact, committing themselves to a course of action that would forever alter the course of their lives.
MEANWHILE
Sunmi emerged from the toilet stall, her brow furrowed with concern, her phone pressed against her ear. She was on a call with Amon, her voice laced with a mixture of frustration and worry.
"Why didn't you come to school today?" she asked, her tone bordering on accusation. "You know we planned to read together! WAEC starts tomorrow!"
Eamon's voice, apologetic but firm, came through the phone. "Sorry, baby. Something came up. Mom sent me on an errand, something I had to do, like sharp sharp. But don't worry, I'll come tomorrow."
"Tomorrow is just Food and Nutrition na," Sunmi retorted, her frustration evident. "You know I'm not offering Food and Nutrition. And," she added, her voice dropping to a whisper, "I'm not even sure I'm coming tomorrow."
Eamon sighed. "Okay, maybe I'll come to your house then? We'll see, sha." The topic was over.
Sunmi ended the call. Her nerves where on edge, but there was still a long time before that took her focus. As she began to wash her hands at the sink, another notification popped up on her phone, an Instagram alert that snagged her attention.
Intrigued and a little bored. Now to distract herself, Sunmi unlocked her phone and tapped on the notification, her heart sinking as she saw the image that filled the screen.
It was a picture of her and Matthew, taken the day Matthew dropped her off after the heist. The photo was taken far enough away and had no detail, but her eye color and hair where too distinct to go unmissed. It had all been posted to a random phone number's anonymous page, from an account with no history by agentofnormality, It looked so clear that it was obviously done by someone powerful and she began to question everything.
As she scrolled through the account, she saw more and more posts, each one more damning than the last. And with that, she finally saw the full nightmare. It was the video of Matthew jumping from the floor to her balcony, a feat of superhuman athleticism that no ordinary human could accomplish, clearly revealing that Matthew was something more than just a regular guy.
Panic seized her. She couldn't breathe. Her hands began to tremble. The world felt like it was closing in around her.
"No, no, no, no, no!" she gasped, her voice rising in hysteria. "What the fuck?!"
She began to curse, her voice escalating into a desperate plea. Her vision started to blur.
Without thinking, she tapped through her contacts list and called Tolu, her finger hovering over the call button, her hands trembling and she hoped that the call went through.
Meanwhile, Tolu, Mirabel, and Moses were in the art room. Their voices echoed into the street. Each of them were discussing their situation, sharing information, and trying to piece together the puzzle of their intertwined destinies.
The sound of Sunmi's ringtone cut through the air, shattering the tense atmosphere. Tolu glanced at her phone, recognizing Sunmi's name on the screen. Something in Tolu's expression and voice and body made it clear that all this was getting to her.
"Sunmi?" Tolu said, answering the call.
Sunmi didn't give her a chance to respond, she went straight to her. "Tolu, check Instagram," she gasped, her voice frantic. "Now! Just check it, you need to see this."
Tolu, her heart pounding with apprehension, hung up the phone and tapped the Instagram app, her eyes scanning her feed, searching for the source of Sunmi's distress.
As soon as Tolu saw the video, her face paled, her eyes widening with horror. She immediately showed the video to Moses and Mirabel, her hands trembling as she held out her phone.
Moses and Mirabelle crowded around her, their expressions mirroring her own sense of growing dread. They watched the video in stunned silence, the implications of its content sinking in.
"Oh God," Mirabel whispered, her voice barely audible. "This is bad, really bad."
"Moses," Tolu said, her voice sharp and urgent, "you and Mirabel need to get the computer room, right now. Find a way to track down the source of this video, and get it deleted. I can't let it stay out there even a second more."
She shot a meaningful look at Mirabel, her expression pleading. "You both are the nerds that actually know what to do. As for me.
You two are on these missions so I can get to to Sunmi and to make sure she doesn't destroy the world or anything,"
Without waiting for a response, Tolu turned and bolted out of the art room, heading straight for the bathroom, her mind racing, her heart filled with a growing sense of dread.
As Tolu approached the bathroom, she could already feel the tension in the air, a palpable sense of chaos and instability. The lights flickered erratically, casting long, dancing shadows on the walls. Her heart racing, because of her friend. When the light stopped. Her power became more unstable. A storm was about to happen here.
As she entered the bathroom, she saw Sunmi standing before the mirror, her eyes wide with panic, her hair already shifting to its telltale black and white, a sign that her powers were spiraling out of control.
Tolu burst into the bathroom, her eyes immediately locking onto Sunmi, who was standing before the mirror, her face pale, her eyes wide with terror, her hair a stark black and white, the unmistakable sign that her powers were spiraling out of control.
"Sunmi!" Tolu exclaimed, her voice filled with concern. "What's going on? Are you okay?"
Before Tolu could say another word, Sunmi launched into a frantic explanation, her words tumbling over each other in a desperate torrent.
"I'm so sorry," Sunmi stammered, her voice trembling. "I'm so, so sorry, Tolu. That day… I didn't know what was happening, I swear. I don't know how they managed to convince me . All I know is that Matthew came to my house. Matthew and Gift. They convinced me that we needed to rob something, they convinced me that it was part of my training! I thought I was helping.
Then everything went wrong! Sunmi took a deep breath before it all came tumbling out:
"I lost control. I didn't want to do it," but she didn't finish, she started crying because now she had to say what she hated the most. "I accidentally killed Mr. Bassy. I was so scared, Tolu! I was so, so scared! I didn't know what to do or that she won't be able to control anything" She was not in control, and it was going to spiral.
"I was too scared to tell you, to tell anyone," Sunmi wailed, her voice cracking with emotion. "I was afraid you'd think I was losing control, that you wouldn't trust me anymore! That all of you would not see me as her. As the person to kill. So she tried to stop being her, and that what would happen."
Tears streamed down Sunmi's face, her body shaking with sobs, her hair flickering between black and white as her emotions surged.
Tolu, her heart aching for her best friend, immediately sprang into action. She removed her cardigan, gently placing it over Sunmi's head, carefully covering her black and white hair, concealing the evidence of her inner turmoil.
"It's okay," Tolu said, her voice soft and soothing. "Just breathe, Sunmi. Just breathe. We'll figure this out. We'll find a way to fix this."
She paused, her brow furrowing with concern. "First things first, you need to call your dad," she said, her voice firm but gentle. "Get him to come pick you up. You can't stay here right now."
Sunmi recoiled, her eyes widening with panic. "I can't call my dad," she protested, her voice rising in hysteria. "What if he's seen the video? What if he knows what I did? What will he think of me?"
She started to sob again, her body wracked with uncontrollable tremors. "What if they link the video to Mr. Bassy?" she whispered, her voice barely audible. "What if they find out that I'm the one who killed him? It's not just my reputation that will be ruined, Tolu! My dad's a politician! It will ruin his whole career. He'll lose everything!"