Two Birds

Thirteen

Inioluwa's POV

Day; Friday.

Conclusion; Either I would die out of boredom or boredom would die out of me.

My body could barely move up from the comfortable bedsheets, it was spread out in and it hurt to have thoughts of doing something else. I mean anything at all.

I laid out on my bed like a sacrificial lamb waiting for the ritualist that would take me away from the comparable red and pink theme coloured room.

At this point, I felt like everything had been done; had breakfast and bath, done my skincare, added a new Tiktok video to mg quickly growing account and watched educational videos on youtube and yet it felt like nothing. A chain of repetitive task that yielded to nothing. Absolutely nothing.

My eyes travelled to the rolled up artwork that rested next to my pillows. I sat up, took a deep sigh, bent my back and practically crawled to arrive at where it was positioned. I unraveled the work and every time I came face to face with it, I could not help but marvel at the delicacy and the intricacy of the work.

In the painting, we were complete; seven in number. All crafted with a pencil. With two down, we were left with only five but with me done and left in the unwavering long halls of indefinite suspension. I guess in actuality we were only four.

No way!

I refused to believe that my journey had come to an end. I refused to go down for something I did not do. Desperation was creeping into me. A kind of desperation that searched for answers to my abrupt downfall but the state of desperation was something that was easy to be at. Basically, being Nigerian meant you knew what it was like to be desperate.

We are all desperate to know when Nigeria would truly rise to become the giant of Africa. We are all desperate to know when the sun that had long ago set would rise.

For me, my desperation was linked to finding out who had set me up and what their hidden motive was behind these set up?

How do I put all the pieces together?

And I can't tell my mother to hire a detective, that would yield no fruit.

I had to do this on my own and maybe my mother was right; I could use the suspension to work in my favour. Finding the idiot who did this to me would definitely work in my favour. I would no doubt burst the crook and drag his or her or their ass/asses to the desk of the disciplinarian staffs and then.

I shifted the paper aside and rose up, my feet encased in my socks stood on top my bed. And then, " I will get everything back!" Everything that was taken away from me would be restored. My pride. My dignity and my future post as a prefect.

I got down from my bed to do some deep thinking. Heaps of questions rushed through my head. I had no idea how to do this investigative stuff. I was not one who was intrigued by mystery or missing persons cases but from the few I had seen. I know, the detective which in this case is me would first of all start with a thorough analysis of the evidence and they usually have a notebook in hand for documentation.

I rushed to my reading desk, took a seat and then searched through the drawers for an empty notebook and then when I had found the perfect red note, I took out my sparkly pen and began to write.

The evidence were various random contraband objects that the school was known to be strictly against and the class two last term examination papers –the disappearance of these papers caused a buzz amongst teachers but what linked me to them was; My ID card and my special pendant (objects the still went returned to me)

These two items went missing last term before the bag was found and my biggest mistake was not reporting my ID card as missing at least that would have helped in proving my innocence.

Questions; When was I last in possession of these items? When and where were these items taken from me? Who took the items from me?

Whoever stole the items from me was no doubt the one who framed me or the person had some sort of connection to this whole situation.

I roughed up my braids, trying to think of the answers to these questions and after about nothing less than a minute, my interest seemed to have been lost and the one thing I was thought about was heading out to do my hair.

" INI, concentrate!" I shouted to myself.

" Okay. I can't remember the last time I was with the ID card because I'm pretty sure I don't care about that thing but the necklace. . .the necklace. " I began to rub my temple. ". . .I - I remember. "

I flipped the page and began to pour out everything I could recall.

Just last term. I think. After Habib's passing, a party was held in his honour. The party was held in Isaac's house since his parents were always in and out of Abuja.

It was a loud, flamboyant party which stuck out to me as odd because if the party was truly held in Habib's honour we would have had an intimate kind of event but not a crowded party that manifested quickly into a raunchy drunk fest. At that time, I was unbothered.

Zarah and I had gotten ready together, we had also made a Tiktok video before heading out. I still remember Zarah helping me put on my signature necklace.

When we had arrived, the party was in full gear. Some students from our school and some bad boys around who were friends with Isaac were in attendance. Girls were getting loose and giving the guys something to lust over. Daniella was also in attendance which was out of place because she was suspended way before Habib's death but since it was a party held in his honour, it made sense for her to be there.

The six of us gathered together in the open kitchen, had a brief moment of silence, gave a toast to Habib and then the real reason for the party began.

Daniella was giving Tobi a nice time.

Phoebe was getting the centre attention from three guys who did not look like students from my school ( not like I knew any of them)

Isaac was having the time of his life in the pool. He had asked me to join him and I had tried to convince Zarah to join but she much rather stare with her dark circled eyes at the whole scenario.

I had changed into the most alluring swimsuit and had given it to Zarah, when I was done swimming and making out with Isaac, I had asked for the necklace back but she said she had given it to Daniella and Daniella claimed she had given it to Phoebe and Phoebe who just so happened to be completely wasted could not recall who she had given it to and I don't remember doing anything at all but getting distracted and wasted thanks to Isaac and the necklace had faded completely from my mind.

♠♠♠

Thanks for your patience and love💕

♠♠♠