I was pretty much pissed that night. Or maybe filled with mixed feelings. But I knew I was pissed. I was now stuck in the middle of a situation I never wanted.
Veronica was bad news and I had that feeling from the beginning but I never pictured having to deal with a dead body afterward. If only Grace had listened when I told her. I was mad at her for that.
Thank God we weren't caught, I thought as June and I trekked to our house that night. We knew our parents would still be at the store by that time so we weren't bothered about having to lie about anything. Thank God we weren't caught. I didn't know about my friends but I already had my life planned ahead of me.
After graduation, I'd leave the town to go study Medicine at UNN and after spending seven years there, go on to further my master's degree and get my Ph.D. and finally become a certified medical doctor. I couldn't screw it up when I hadn't even barely begun.
How the hell did we even get here?
The girls had barely said anything when I asked them what happened at the party and it seemed now that something was going on.
"June, what the hell is going on?" I asked my sister immediately after we entered the house. She had been silent from the moment Veronica dropped us at our junction.
"What?"
"Don't act like you don't understand what I'm saying. Someone died. We could have been caught. What happened at Veronica's party?"
June remained silent.
"Did you fucking lose your tongue or something? Talk!" The intensity in my voice startled her.
"Nothing okay," She yelled back "The party was boring and we all had to call it short. Nothing happened."
"And how do you explain what happened to Sylvester?"
"I don't know and I don't care!" She paused to take a breath "Look if you are not tired, I am... Good night." She said finally and marched into her room.
I just stood in the living room in shock. Her response was rather strange but I could tell she was hiding something.
By the time I walked into the room, she had already taken off her clothes and was getting ready for the bathroom.
"June, I just want to--" Were the only words I could utter before left the room.
It went on like that throughout the weekend. She did her best to avoid me, always helping out with the store, running errands, and made sure we never got the chance to exchange more than three words except in front of mummy and daddy where she knew I couldn't bring up the issue.
What I found more strange was the fact that Margret and Grace were also avoiding my calls too. I guess we all decided that isolation was the best way to deal with what was going on. I on the contrary didn't need that I needed answers and since they weren't picking my calls, I decided to go meet them in person.
It didn't work out though as they both weren't at home at the time I visited. I decided to wait till we all met in school on Monday.
I figured Grace would be the more willing to tell me anything in the two of them so I met her first.
"We need to talk," I said then dragged her out of the classroom to the corridor.
"So spill it, what exactly happened that night?"
"What?"
"June didn't say anything when I asked her and she has been avoiding me ever since. And I know you were too over the weekend. You better start talking."
As she explained what happened at the party to me, it began to dawn on me that the reason I never liked Veronica in the first place was that my spirit sensed something off or rather evil in her. You might call me naive but this was Nigeria and we weren't new to stories about witches and their various schemes to get blood and steal destinies for their coven. We even prayed about them regularly in church. It would be of no surprise to me if she was.
"My God! But that would mean... Who did you say you wanted dead? And who did June mention too?"
She couldn't reply as we both kept quiet while two students passed us.
"You know what, that doesn't matter right now. What we have to do is find a way to stop this from happening again... And I'm beginning to believe what everyone else is saying about Veronica."
"And what's that?"
"That she is a witch."
Grace laughed.
"Really? That's what you are going with."
I frowned.
"What else do you want me to think? You are not starting to support her are you?"
"No, but am just saying, there should be a more logical explanation to what is going on."
"What is logical about any of this? She invited you to her house didn't she?"
"Yes."
"She wanted you guys to play a gI'me right?"
"Yes, but--"
"Can't you see? This was all her plan to get you guys and add to her list of eaten souls or something. Babe, reason being."
Grace was about to say something until she sighted our physics teacher.
"Mr. Shittu is here, let's go back in."
Okay, fine. If she was a witch what then could we do about it? And even if she was, there was no concrete way of proving it. Unless.
We could confront her. If we could get her to believe we already knew her plans, then she might feel there was nothing to hide from us again. It was risky but if we could get her to call our bluff then we would have an upper hand against her and try to think of a solution.
I didn't need to call out Grace after our teacher left. She dragged me out herself.
"Okay, I believe you. But what do we do now?"
"Uhm, I was thinking... We have to confront her. It's the only way she can get her to tell us about her plan."
"Confronting her? Won't she kill us at the spot if she finds out we are onto her?"
"No, I don't think she can do anything to us unless the other people are dead."
The expression on Grace's face showed that she didn't appreciate my logic that well. I didn't either.
"Okay, so when do we do it and how?"
"We don't have time to waste," I said then threw myself into deep thought. If we wanted to go ahead with it, we had to do it now.
"We're on the free period right now. Go get Margret and June and meet me in the Chemistry Lab. I'll be there with Veronica."
Grace nodded and together we went back into the class to carry on our separate missions. I sighted Veronica in her usual spot by the window and I walked up to her.
"Hey, what's up." She said to me.
"Hi, Uhm..." I realized that I didn't take the time to gather an excuse to draw her out.
"Well go on." She said impatiently.
I cleared my throat.
"The girls and I want to see you. We have to talk about what's going on."
Her face brightened.
"Grace told you abi?"
What was she talking about?
"Yeah, they are at the chemistry lab. Let's go."
What next, that was the thought going through my mind as we walked to the chemistry lab. She wasn't going to find anyone in there and I had to act fast.
I let her walk in before me.
"Where are they?" She asked looking around.
I looked at my side and I saw a set of burettes on the table. What the heck! I had knocked someone out last week anyway.
"What's going on--"
I bashed the glass on her head before she could turn around.