Chapter Thirteen

                                    

                                          

It was one thing to suspect Segun, it was another to suspect Adaeze. It didn't even make sense. "How can you even say that? I wasn't even in this school when she died." Was the girl just suspecting everyone? If that were the case, Adaeze had every reason to suspect her. 
"No, she died the day you got here." 
"So, you think I had time to kill her and still make it for the tour round the school? Use your sense, Ayomide, don't let me insult you." Adaeze sneered. All of a sudden, the room was claustrophobic. "We don't even know the cause of death, all we have are your speculations." 
"Say whatever you want to say, all I know is a girl doesn't just die in the girl's bathroom unless someone kills her. And I don't know what to think about you since you've been acting strangely from the day you got here." 
Strangely in what way? "So, you think I killed a girl?" Adaeze's eyes were cold, hard.
"Like I said, I don't know what to think." 
"No, you know what I think? I think you're so full of it." Adaeze pushed off her bed.  "I think you want to have someone to blame for what happened to Ogechi to the point you're willing to push that guilt on anyone." She walked to the door and placed her hand on it, she stopped. "I never thought I would have to say this, to you of all people, and I don't care if you believe me or not, but I had nothing to do with what happened to Ogechi Nwafor." 
She pulled the door open and she left. 
That evening Adaeze walked around the girl's hostel to clear her thoughts. She took the stairs and walked from one floor to the other and walked the full length of the hostel making sure to visit both the left and the right wings. How could Ayomide suspect her? It didn't even make sense. She stopped when her legs carried her to the matron's office. She knew it was late in the evening and it would be disrespectful, but she needed to speak to her parents to know how they were and how they were holding up without her. It was the only thing she could think of doing to get her mind off everything.
She knocked softly on the door. "Good evening ma'am." The woman looked up from her computer screen. She took off her glasses and set them down on her table. 
"Good evening my dear, how may I help you?" The woman couldn't be older than forty.
"Can I please use your phone to call my mother?" 
"Is anything the problem?" 
Adaeze vigorously shook her head. "I just want to hear from her."
"Mommy's girl." The woman praised and smiled. "Okay, come and take." She picked up the phone from where it was charging by the computer and handed it to Adaeze. She didn't know much about phones, but the woman's phone looked like an iPhone X, much bigger than the Infinix Adaeze was using, heck it was bigger than either of the phones Ijeoma or Chinedu were using.  
She only knew her mother's number off by heart, she only ever needed to know her mother's number. It wasn't like Adaeze wasn't close to her father, she was as close as they could be but there was always this barrier she couldn't get through. Like a wall he put up to protect her from the real him, but she knew the real him. She knew the version of him that came back drunk Friday nights and picked fights with Ijeoma. She knew the version of him that lied about getting drunk with his friends. She might have been a child, but she wasn't blind or deaf. 
Ijeoma picked up on the third ring. "Hello?" The woman sounded tired, but from the noise in the background Adaeze knew the woman was still awake. She could imagine her mother was preparing dinner for her rambunctious house of kids.