TUNDE UNPLUGGED HIS phone from the charger and turned it on.
He had stayed up studying all night and had left his phone off.
Tunde wanted to pass his final examinations and make his parents proud. He still had two years before his final examinations but his father could not tolerate having his son fail at anything, not even a simple class test.
His phone buzzed immediately he unlocked it. It was a message from Chinyere.
Tunde opened the messaging app and saw that it had been sent the previous night.
I'm going to meet Mystery Boy. Wish me luck.
Chi Chi
08:07 pm
There was no use in responding now so Tunde threw his phone on his bed and knotted his necktie.
After he was completely dressed he went to the kitchen for breakfast.
"Good morning, Mommy," Tunde kissed his mother's cheek.
Tunde's father was a police officer and his mother was a primary school teacher.
"Good morning, dear," Tunde's mother smiled and placed Tunde's breakfast on the dining table. "Have your breakfast before you leave for school. To be smart you need to have a healthy mind."
Tunde took his seat at the dining table and finished his plate of akara and pap in under fifteen minutes.
"I'm done, Ma," Tunde smiled with a mouth full of pap.
"I see you're in a hurry," his mother said and took his dirty plates, "I'll wash your plates for you."
"Thank you, Ma," Tunde said and grabbed his school bag from the dining table.
"Have a great day," his Mom shouted as Tunde ran out of the house.
Tunde was worried. Worried was an understatement of how he felt.
Where was Chinyere?
Chinyere had only been absent from school once and that was when she was suffering from a fever.
He knew that she wasn't sick. Unless she became sick overnight and that was highly impossible.
The first period passed, then the second and the third, fourth and fifth.
Just as the bell rang for recess, their school Head Boy walked into the class with their Head Teacher following behind him.
The teacher whose period had just ended sat on the edge of his desk and waited for the Head Teacher and Head Boy to make their announcement.
The pupils stood up and greeted their Head Teacher.
"You can seat down," the head teacher said with a scratchy voice, "we have a serious announcement to make. I woke up with a cough and my voice is not loud enough so I'll let the head boy say the announcement."
The pupils giggled and mumbled as they took their seats. Everyone knew that the head teacher didn't have a cough. The only reason she couldn't speak loud enough was because she had spent her morning shouting at the J.S1 pupils.
"Silence, everyone!" the teacher yelled and clapped his hands together.
"Good morning, everyone," the head boy started and the class mumbled in greeting.
"A parent of one of our fellow peers just recently reported to us that their child is missing," the head boy that went by the name of Daniel said. "She is from this class —"
Tunde prayed that it wasn't who he was thinking it was.
"—Chinyere Awaziem," Daniel said and Tunde felt his heart drop, "according to her parents, she went missing last night. They didn't find her in her room or anywhere in the compound. If anyone knows about her whereabouts, please inform her family. You are also urged to protect yourself from bad influences and avoid staying out late. There were already several cases of rape, kidnap and human trafficking reported in just this month. Thank you for listening."
Tunde kept his eyes on the door even after the Head Teacher, Head Boy and class teacher had walked out. He was hoping that all that was said was a bad dream and Chinyere would magically appear and walk through the door.
"Tunde, what do you think has happened to Chinyere?" he felt someone place their palm on his shoulder and he turned around to meet his ex-girlfriend.
He wondered why he had dated someone like her. She was the one who had asked him out and he was only being a gentleman when he had agreed.
"What do you want, Rachel?!" Tunde stood up abruptly, his outburst turning a few heads. "Isn't it your fault that she's missing?!"
"How is it my fault?!" Rachel yelled.
"Yes, how is it her fault?" Amanda asked.
Tunde felt sorry for Amanda. He didn't know when she was going to realise that her best friend was not a good influence on her. Amanda followed Rachel like a shadow.
"Shut up, you thing," Tunde told Amanda and turned back to Rachel, "aren't you the one that encouraged her to go and meet that stupid mystery boy or whatever you call him?"
"What makes you think that she took my advice?" Rachel asked. "And even if she did, what makes you think that he was the one who kidnapped her?"
Tunde was boiling in anger. If it wasn't for his respect for females he would have given her a hard slap.
A slap so hard that even her own mother would not recognise her.
"I feel sorry for you," Tunde whispered but it was loud enough for her to hear, "and for you too, Amanda. I wonder when you will realise that Rachel isn't worth your time."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rachel asked.
Tunde leaned in closer to Rachel and whispered, "If Chinyere is not found alive and healthy I will never forgive you and I will make sure you pay."
With that, Tunde stormed out of the classroom.
He could hear Rachel calling after him but he didn't care, he'd had enough of her stupidity.
Tunde stormed into the boy's restroom and banged the door shut behind him. The boys who were already in the bathroom jumped in surprise and looked at Tunde.
Tunde leaned against the wall and glared back at the boys, "What are you looking at?!"
The boys looked away and ran out of the restroom.
Tunde sighed and closed his eyes. He couldn't believe that this was happening to him again. Someone he loved dearly went missing, again.
Tunde's older sister had gone missing a year ago. She was only a year older than him and they were close.
After school, she had decided to go shopping with a few of her friends and Tunde went home alone.
When she didn't come back in the next two hours, he knew that something was wrong.
He had tried calling her phone but she had left her phone at home.
He went to her friends' homes but they all said that they left after they watched her board a bus back home.
That was the last he'd ever heard of her.
Tunde felt his chest tighten. He was breathing hard and sweating profusely. He was having a panic attack.
Tunde placed his hand on his chest as he felt his eyes tear up. He took deep breaths of air but his lungs still felt empty.
The door to the boy's restroom opened and Daniel walked in only to see one of his fellow pupils on the verge of collapsing.
He ran to Tunde and placed his hand on his back, "Are you alright?"
Tunde didn't respond, he couldn't respond. He tried to stand upright but his legs felt too weak for that. He collapsed to the ground and he shut his eyes.
He had fainted.
CHINYERE FELT STUPID. She felt foolish. She felt like an idiot. No amount of insults could describe how she felt about herself.Her hands were tied behind her back and her feet were tied as well. Her hair was all over the place but that was the least of her worries.Where was she? Was she far away from home? Where were they taking her?Chinyere huffed as she struggled to sit up. She had faked being asleep for the past three hours and not only her head, but her entire body, was aching."Look who's finally awake," the man who had knocked her to the ground said and walked up to her.The truck was large and it hadn't stopped moving since she had woken up.She wasn't the only person in the truck. There were other several kids and teenagers, both boys and girls.Some were crying, others were sleeping, while others were shaking with fear.There were two benches on both sides of the truck. Muscul
CHINYERE'S HEART BEAT faster as the old man walked up to her. He grabbed hold of her arm and looked at Tobi. "I want her.""Ah, that one," Tobi's father climbed into the truck with help from Tobi. "She's our newest. She's a golden egg, so we're picking the price.""But I'm your most loyal customer," the old man said, "at least let me choose the price.""Sorry," Tobi's father said, "but that is impossible. Eight million Naira.""Eight million?!" the old man yelled. "All that money? The last one I bought wasn't this expensive!"The last one? Chinyere pulled her arm out of the old man's grip. Chinyere could feel the ropes around her wrist dig into her skin.The old man didn't seem to mind. He rather focused all his attention on Tobi and his father."This one is even thirty five percent off, oh," Tobi said without looking the man in the eye. "Take it or leave it."The old man was not pleased. Chinyere could tell from the frown
CHINYERE COULD NOT believe what she had just heard.Her wedding ceremony?She wasn't ready for marriage. She was only sixteen for God's sake.Chinyere saw her world come crashing down right before her eyes."What are you waiting for?" the woman holding the makeup kit asked, "Go and bathe."Chinyere dragged her body to the bathroom. No sooner had she entered the bathroom than she started crying.She wanted to go home.Loud sobs escaped from her mouth as she shut the door.She lowered the toilet seat, sat on it and continued to sob.A soft knock came from the other side of the door, followed by a woman's voice, "Are you alright in there?"Chinyere buried her head in her hands and continued to sob but she managed to choke out, "Y-yes."Her response was a lie but if there was anything she had learnt in her entire sixteen years of living, is that it was better to lie about her feelin
Chinyere sobbed as she wiped the blood off her lower lip with a face towel.The punch her husband had given her didn't hurt as much as what he did to her on their wedding night.The monster had raped her. She'd tried as much as she could to get away from him but the doors had been locked.It was Friday and she'd been a married woman for two days now.She'd avoided entering the room whenever her husband was around because she didn't want to be alone with him.She tried to plead with Esther to let her sleep in the servants' quarters but Esther rejected her pleas.She wished she could just call out to God or her mother and have them help her but she couldn't, there was no way either of them would come to her aid.It was her fault that she was in such a position and she had to deal with it herself.A soft knock on the door dragged Chinyere out of her thoughts.She rinsed the towel and h
I WANT TO GO HOME, Chinyere thought as she looked outside the bedroom window.Her husband wasn't around, he hadn't come home the previous night. Not like Chinyere cared. He could die for all she cared.Tears pooled her eyes and she dried them with the back of her hand.She missed home. She missed her siblings and her parents, even her father's first wife who always seemed to be against everything she did.She missed bickering with her siblings and fighting for the remote control with them.She sniffed as fresh tears filled her eyes.Why didn't she listen to Tunde?Chinyere was so occupied in her thoughts that she did not realise someone enter the bedroom."Are you alright?"Chinyere nearly jumped off her chair in surprise.She balanced herself on the chair before she looked at the person who had entered her room.It was her sister-in-law, the wife to her brot
AFTER CHINYERE TOOK a long bath, she made her way back to her room.Chibinobim was no longer in the room but the room still smelled of alcohol and cigarettes.Chinyere used her towel to dry her wet hair and threw the towel on the bed.She didn't bother to comb her hair and exited the room.The only places she had been to in the house were the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom that was connected to her bedroom and the dining room. She had never stepped her foot in the living room and other parts of the house.She planned to go to the kitchen to help Esther and the other maids prepare breakfast.On her way to the kitchen she met Mr. Oko.She bowed her head, "Good morning, Sir.""Why so formal?" Mr. Oko smiled, "call me father."Chinyere nodded but did not say anything. She tried to walk past him but he blocked the passage by jumping in front of her."I need to tell you something," Mr
"WHAT?" CHINYERE ASKED."You heard me," Amanda said. "Your father was the cause of my mother's death and I'm just collecting the debts which my father never did.""What debts?" Chinyere asked.Amanda was about to say something but a knock on the door interrupted their conversation."Who is it?!" Amanda yelled."Mary," the person from behind the door answered.Mary was Amanda's personal maid. She responded to Amanda's every call."What is it?" Amanda asked.Mary opened the door slightly and said, "The driver is here for you."Amanda nodded her head and Mary silently shut the door before leaving."As you heard Mary say," Amanda smirked, "the driver is here for me. I have to get back to school before my absence becomes suspicious."It was then that Chinyere noticed the suitcases standing by the dresser in the room."Why are you going back?" Chinyere held Amanda's hand as sh
CHINYERE LOOKED AT the phone on the table and ran to it without a second thought.She turned on the phone and fortunately for her, there was no password.She unlocked the phone by swiping upwards and clicked on the phone call app.The phone was only nine percent and she knew she had to hurry.Mom's number or Amanda's number? Chinyere asked herself."Chinyere, open the door," Mr. Oko said from behind the door. His voice snapped her back to reality and she knew she didn't have all the time in the world.Eight percent.She punched in her mother's phone number and brought the phone to her ear.Her mother immediately answered the phone. It was as though she had already been waiting for a phone call."Hello?" her mom said. "Chọtala ya? Please tell me you have found my daughter. Sh–""Mommy," Chinyere interrupted her mother. She wanted to cry at the sound of her mother's voice and po