Sister May had shown up much later, adorned in a glorious white that screamed holiness, purity and for uncertain reasons, peace. She spoke briefly, acknowledging everyone and making a joke about the character that role played Joseph in the birth of Jesus' drama. The students laughed, a cracking coarse laughter that they seldom did in classes when a teacher made a joke that wasn't entirely funny, but somehow conferred regard for the teacher.

Kelvin momentarily stared around, while his eyes were glaring on his wrist. He observed the time as the second hand ticked its way slowly towards nine and yet there was no sign of Mary in her splendour or particular radiance so he turned towards Martins who seemed to be doing same.

"You knew, right?" He asked.

"Knew what?" Martins asked back. His fingers ran over the cap of the orange drink he offered Mary, all shades of guilt welling within him.

"You knew that Dayo sent the memory card home?" Kelvin asked again. He clasped his hand together as he spoke with intensity and confidence. His glare was intended to dig out the truth from Martins' undaunted expression but he was somehow left in the dark, scared of what Martins could say.

"He told me he did," Martins said finally.

"So why were you talking with Mary?" Kelvin asked.

"I don't know, I'm so used to competing with you."

Kelvin sneered and got up, hitting his thigh on the plastic table. It didn't seem to hurt much and so he proceeded to heading towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Martins asked.

"I'm going to find her because some of us actually do care." Ashley stood up as well and Martins hadn't noticed she was seated beside Kelvin until then. She seemed invisible to him although cloaked in magnificence. Martins grabbed her by her arm, tight and firm.

"He will never like you half as much as he does for Mary. You'll always be a third wheel," he said.

She pulled off her hand and stared around to see if anyone watched, a few persons stared back, shocked. Stella looked too as she slowly sipped from a tall glass of fuzzy brown drink. Apparently, everyone was free to order what they wanted as the lady who stood by the canteen, moved her goods a distance to make some night cash.

"It's funny how I used to think people liking me mattered. I'm not trying to compete with Mary or seek Kelvin's approval, I'm trying to do the right thing which I should have done a long time ago. Kelvin as a friend has treated me better than you all my life and I'm so OK being a third wheel." She grabbed her lengthy dress that swept the dust on the floor and headed out. Stella sprouted a smile and looked away when Martins turned her way. She sucked on the white straw and he watched the drink rise and sink into those cherry lips of hers.

Outside was dewy and a lot of floating water beads settled on their skins. Some students loitered about under the starry skies that glowed and died again. There was always one star that glowed brighter than every other shiny dot on the blue black sky and Ashley felt like that star in her shiny gait. She sighted Kelvin's lucid self and doubled her steps to catch up and ended up nearly tripping over a hedge because a sharp rusty nail pierced her foot, but stopping her weight almost immediately from landing helplessly to the ground in a loud thud by hurriedly placing a foot before another. Kelvin turned back almost immediately and noticed how she struggled to pull out a rusty nail from the thicket that pierced her sole through her shoe.

She fell on the floor when the tingling painful feeling spiralled around her feet and towards the rest of her body. A tiny drop of blood oozed out from the point of impact and she was sure a bright red sore will remain there until it faded to black. Kelvin rushed over asking repeatedly if she was OK and pressing around the point of impact. She winced silently, somehow trying to depict strength or prove that no small wound could demystify her swollen complexity.

"Were you following me?" He asked, staring into her glassy pupils that shone. His fingers were working miracles as he forced out a darker shade of crimson red blood, something he occasionally referred to as bad blood.

"No! Why would you think that?" She asked.

"Oh it's nothing. I just thought you were walking fast enough to catch up." Kelvin reached out to undo his sandals by pulling apart the velcro.

"What are you doing? I hope you're not pulling out your sandals for me to wear? I'm not some damsel in distress in search of a prince charming," Ashley said, pushing her tender squeezed feet away from his relaxing grip.

"I haven't said that, I'm just trying to be a good friend. I can endure the crushing pain of my feet against glass because we men are-"

"Women are what? Weak?" She asked, standing up. He stopped trying and squeezed the arcs by the ends of his eyes and released a weary sigh. Her figure continually limped towards portentous darkness as he walked casually to meet up.

"Where are you headed? You're going towards the incinerator." He stopped, his hands tucked into his trouser pocket unruffled. She stopped as well, realizing how pointless her actions seemed.

"Where were you going?" She asked.

"I was looking for Mary," he said with sigh. "I haven't seen her and the event is almost over."

"You do care for her very much," she said, limping back towards him. The red patch had sunken into her dress like must and dust stains from the floor made her dirty and helplessly weak.

Kelvin tried to say something, she could see his lips part in readiness to spew out words, when Stella hurried towards them.
"You guys! I haven't seen Thelma. Have you?" she asked in between short breaths.

Kelvin stared deeply into Ashley's face before adding, "Mary too."

"I'll search the hostel area with Stella, you can search around. I'm sure it's just a false alarm," Ashley opted.

*****

Thelma rushed into the convenience of the class that simmered with inauspiciousness. She feared where her legs took her to and even worse, where she was coming from. She sat on her desk as her fingers were invigorated on their own accord. The night loomed of icy chills, but her entire being was drenched in her own sweat. Her hands didn't stop forming sweat and so she rubbed them on the abrasive wood of her desk, while tears poured generously from her eyes. She had killed someone and would never be able to live with that.

A bright white light which Thelma was sure belonged to one of the over zealous security guards, would shine up to the sturdy pillars painted in light brown and would settle on the floor almost as though the figure and his lamp were transcending at the other end of the block. He focused his light towards the class and she stooped, pushing a desk that scratched the stoned marble of the class floors and screeched in her ears. She prayed silently in her heart not sure for what exactly, because they were all jumbled up words of fear and panic forming in her heart. His slow steps were approaching, her heart was racing, the light was bright enough to reveal the entirety of the class as seen during day and yet he hadn't seen her. He appeared to be drunk, as she could perceive the faint air of alcohol oozing from him until he was long gone.

Thelma returned to her seat and laid her head on the desk as it helped to comfort. It was a lot better remaining in the darkness alone than scooting off to were others, who weren't murderers were. Then the evasive thought of being caught dawned on her. She needed an escape, anything that would move every inkling of thought from her and then the plan came, the note.

She recalled the note Mary had written which was supposed to look like this:

Dear God, this life is really hard for me. I've lived my whole life struggling and in pain. I cry my empty soul to bed all night, trying to make the most of my being during the day and now breathing is difficult for me? Is this how I'm going to die? I don't want to die, I'll miss the people I love- Kelvin, Martins, Stella, Dayo, Thelma and even Ashley. Please help me from this problem God.

But instead, in her craftiness, Thelma penned:

Dear God, this life is really hard for me. I've lived my whole life struggling and in intense pain. I can't take it anymore! I need to kill myself and end my suffering. If you find this letter, please don't be mad, I'm only saving you from my worthless self. I hope you forgive me.

Thelma stopped. It seemed a little too intense and yet grossly perfect. She cried again as she stared at the work she had carefully scripted while mimicking Mary's handwriting. She slid the soft paper through Mary's desk and wiped her face with the end of her gown now caked with dust. Looking into the class mirror, she could see smoky glimpses through the light from a tall building afar off how swollen her eyes were and  feared if she stared too much, Mary's spirit would float out to haunt her. She wasn't going to return to everyone with a face that pointed her out as guilty and so she searched the desks of people she knew took water to class and found one in a yellow plastic bottle. A handful of water danced within the bottle and filled her hand, she wiped her scarred face with it and blew out her nose with a large snort filled with watery mucus.

Her face still seemed red, swollen and pale and so she tried relaxing the bloated eye bags but they kept inflating back up. Tired of trying, she descended the stairs with her hand firmly locked around the bannister until she reached the iron door that safeguarded the entire classrooms and realized it might have been locked. She kept wriggling the door handle about to scream for help when it opened finally and she realized that in his pitiable, shriveled drunken state, the security guard forgot to actually use the padlock to join up the two iron rings on the door and iron lintel and only locked the ring on the iron lintel.

When Thelma dragged her feet towards the others, Ashley ran over to hug her not minding the sweatiness that was erupting from her skin although being dried by the cool air of night.

"Is Mary with you?" Ashley asked, knowing Kelvin who stood a feet away would be impressed.

"No, I haven't seen her," Thelma said, her eyes casually lingering towards the spot where she had left Mary's body. In his back and forth pacing, Kelvin was getting so close to it and this made Thelma churn inwardly.

"Where could she be?" Ashley asked.

"There is something I want to tell you," Thelma said and Kelvin, Stella with Ashley, stretched their lobes for a peck of good news maybe. "Last night, Mary wrote a suicide note. I wanted to say something but we were all carried away by the night's event."

"Suicide note?" Stella asked in unbelief, but Ashley had begun to tear up.

"Not suicide," she began. "I treated Mary unfairly and now she has taken her life," Ashley continued in hot tears. "Something bad happened to Mary and this is all my fault Stella! It's all my fault!" Ashley said and walked into Stella's soothing embrace.

"Stop saying that! We don't know for sure if she ended her life," Stella said.

"No! I'm not buying that. Let's go report to a teacher first," Kelvin said, sucking his lower lip unless his heart failed him and mustered tears.

They returned towards the hall to bury their complaints, when Mary's fragile finger twitched in a glimmering shine while her face was still buried under the refuse of blurred hope.

Author's note: Thanks for reading! Please don't forget to vote for this chapter by clicking the star icon underneath. Keep your comments rolling, they warm my heart.

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This chapter is dedicated to bisolalayo 💕 I was crushed by your sentimental feeling towards Mary and decided to give you hope. If you notice, I also borrowed your word to add here. We learn everyday! Hope you enjoy it!