SANTA MARIA HIGH (COMPLETED)

Part Two: 15

She went in and out of sleep, punctuated with repeating dreams. In one she was walking down a dark tunnel, the shadows were behind and some were out there in the wide open the channel lead to, in the dark crevices of rocks above her where bones, and on the two altar before her were two familiar people. Something furry emerged from the dark, opened a pair of silted eyes and lashed five sharp menacing claws at her face.

She would wake up with tears and goosebumps, wishing for once that she wasn’t alone in the room but finding comfort in knowing she’d be dead or gone if the shadows had wanted it. she was important in ways she was yet to figure out. at one time she found courage to talk to the empty space in hope someone or something she couldn’t see would hear her.

“I know you are there. I know you can all hear me. I know you wanted me to stop this.” She said, her heart beat rising but her voice was firm, “where are they now? What can I still do?”

There was no answer.

School was agog the next morning. All students were invited to the hall, observed a minute silence for the departed soul of Pa Jacob. After that the principal rose up the podium to talk to them. From the bags under his eyes, Hope wondered if she’s was the only one that couldn’t sleep. “As many of you may be aware, two student went missing last night, Lisa Mark and Anthony Laurence, you may have noticed the extra security officials working overtime with our staff, it is going to be like this till the two missing students are found.” He paused, “If you have any information about their whereabouts, anything you think might be helpful to finding them, please do not hesitate. Meet me, any teacher, any prefect, help whichever way you can. Whoever among you prove helpful during this trying time will be rest assured of being awarded best student of the year, forget the fact that it’s first term, and I don’t care if it is ten of you or hundreds. You have my word.”

The crowd stirred, the way some students who had been carefree going about the day business as usual suddenly looked thoughtful you might be tempted to think the location of the missing students is somewhere in the biology textbook and they are trying to find the latin word. If anyone of them knew, the missing would have been found. No one knows.

“secondly, you must all return to your hostel from now on before 6pm. For the brief period until all this is resolved, our beloved school will not be the way we’ve known. There will be room checks, I mean room checks by 7pm and whoever is not around by then…” it appeared to Hope from the look in his eyes that he was trying to find a word that would be more kids friendly, “the punishment would find place between detention for the rest of the session, and expulsion.” The principal, for the first time since mounting the podium smiled, a mean brooding smile, “the choice is yours.”

After a silence in which he tucked a paper into his breast pocket, as a short man came up and whispered into his ears. He looked up as the man left. “this is a trying time for all of us, I’m expecting every one of you to act responsibly, and help the reputation of this school in whatever way you can.”

Just before he left, their eyes met, at least that’s what it felt like, for ten seconds the principal was looking her direction. She couldn’t tell how she managed that without ducking her head. The man might not be looking at her at all but she couldn’t help feeling like eyes are on her, she was after all the girl that sleep walked, twice. No one had said anything mean yet, but Hope felt better prepared, she would fight her own battles her own way.

Lunch was a similar routine. “you sang nicely last night.” Matthew said, in his usual way of having conversation without making eye contact, he was staring at the meat pie on his plate, stabbed it down with a fork as if it could grow wings and fly away.  “I liked it.”