It had been two days since Esther and Lisa attempted to break into the principal's office, making it Friday. The three had not met since then because they had obligations to perform as students and junior leaders.
There had been no new missing cases, but the missing students had still not been found.
Esther was sitting on her own in the school Dining Hall during breakfast time, thinking of how she had nearly been caught by Miss Greene. She just couldn't get over the embarrassment she faced.
Esther groaned and shook her head. Just why did they have to be caught?
Her friend, Korah Barden approached her and took a seat beside her, placing his food tray on the round lunch table.
"Hi, Esther," Korah greeted.
Korah's caramel skin matched his personality – sweet, well, to those whom he adored. His mother was black and from Mamar while his father was white and from Saint Liane. Korah had acquired a mixture of both skin tones.
"Korah, it's been a while," Esther admitted. She studied the boy who had been her friend for three years and noticed the scar on his lower lip. "What happened to your lip?"
Korah and Esther were the only students in the entire school with darker skin tones than the rest, and that had formed a special bond between the two.
Korah laughed, "This? I poked myself with a fork during lunch on Monday."
"Must have been one sharp fork," Esther laughed. "How is it even possible that you poked yourself with a fork? Mr. Clumsy."
"So, where have you been?" Korah asked, changing the subject. "I haven't been seeing you around."
"I've been busy," Esther replied and looked at her breakfast, a plate of toast and two boiled eggs. "You know, meetings and Student President stuff."
It was both a lie and the truth. Dexter did all the Student President activities such as asking students what they thought could be improved in the school and trying the quality of the school equipments. He never accepted her help on such matters. However, she was busy with the cases of the missing students. She was still wondering if Dexter was actually right. Maybe they had left on an unknown school trip and they were safe, but it still did not make any sense.
Korah took a bite out of his toast and nodded.
"I don't understand but alright. It must be hard to work with someone like Dexter."
"He is a pain in the rear end," Esther nodded. "He thinks that he's up there, and the reality is that he is. He is the most powerful student in this school, even though he's not the President's son."
"What about the issue to do with the missing students?" Korah asked. "I heard from our Dorm Supervisor that you discussed the matter at the weekly meeting."
Esther let out a heavy sigh, "I don't even know what to say about that issue. It's really suspicious."
"Have you informed the principal?"
"I'm unable to. It's a long story why," Esther answered. "Can we eat our breakfast now before classes start?"
"Sure," Korah agreed.
---
"So, you're saying that the door was locked?" Andrew inquired.
Esther, Andrew and Lisa chose to hold their meeting in one of the classrooms. They had gone to the library but several students were doing research there. They could not risk anyone overhearing their conversation, so they chose an empty classroom to hold their meeting.
"It was locked and we were almost caught by Miss Greene," Lisa replied. "The woman is very alert and always upset for some reason."
Lisa was sitting on a desk while Esther and Andrew were sitting on chairs. They had the desks arranged in a circle.
"Does that mean that we not only have to break into his office but also steal his keys?" Esther asked, worried that they would find themselves in trouble with the headmaster.
Andrew nodded, "Sadly, yes. If he locks the office whenever he goes out, then he must be hiding something."
"Or maybe he's protecting his office from thieves like us," Esther suggested.
"Whatever," Andrew waved her off. "We just have to get our hands on his keys."
"We couldn't possibly go and steal the keys from the man himself. If he remembers to lock the door whenever he leaves his office, then he must notice whenever he is missing something," Esther said.
Andrew tapped his chin, "There must be someone else who has access to his office..."
Lisa flicked her finger, "Eureka! The janitor! He is the only other person in this school who must have access to all the rooms. I'm sure he has a spare key."
"Eureka?" Andrew raised a brow.
"He prefers to be called a custodian," Esther corrected Lisa.
"What difference does it make?" Lisa asked. "Our only problem now is getting our hands on his keys. He only cleans the school at night, after everyone has had their supper and gone to bed. This means that the next phase of our plan has to be held at night when everyone else is asleep."
"Does that mean that we will have to sneak out of our dorm rooms at night?" Andrew asked.
"Yes," Lisa replied.
"I'm in," Andrew jumped up from the desk, excited about their rebellion.
Esther, on the other hand, said a silent prayer to God, asking Him for forgiveness. She immediately regretted forming the group. She had not known that investigating privately also meant going against the school rules.
---
That night Esther, Andrew and Lisa were unable to sleep. They were both excited and nervous. Excited because this was an act of rebellion and they could not wait any longer for the time to come for them to sneak out of the rooms. Nervous because if they were caught, they would be demoted, and perhaps suspended or expelled from the school.
Esther was the most nervous. She had a lot to lose; her authority, her scholarship and she would also get a stain on her name. Andrew and Lisa, on the other hand, originated from wealthy families and could get away with anything.
Supper was served to the students at seven P.M and they were expected to be in their rooms at eight P.M. However, they could stay up and have time for themselves until ten P.M. That was when the lights went out.
Esther slept on the top bunk in her dorm room with Alice on the lower bunk. Alice was someone who Esther rarely spoke to, but she had identified Alice as a nosey girl. Esther could rarely do anything without Alice asking for details. That was why Esther waited until Alice had gone to bed for her to sneak out. The seniors' dorm rooms were located on the second floor of the building while the juniors' dorm rooms were located on the fourth and highest floor of the building.
When she heard light snores, Esther climbed down from her bed as quietly as she could. However, Esther was not careful enough in climbing down from the ladder. She lost her footing and dropped to the ground with a thud.
With a grunt, Esther stood up from the floor, hoping that Alice had not awoken due to the impact of her fall. Alice only stirred in her bed and returned to sleeping soundly.
Esther let out a breath of relief and wore the bed slippers that she kept by the door. She carefully opened the door and left the dorm room, closing the door quietly behind her.
Esther, Andrew and Lisa had chosen to meet in the school kitchen, so that was where Esther headed to. The weather was cold and the clothes Esther had on were of no help; a thin black shirt with red sweatpants and red ankle high socks.
Andrew and Lisa were already in the kitchen by the time she reached. Nothing but a candle provided light to the room, and the light was dim. Andrew was sitting on a chair with his arms crossed while Lisa had her head raised to the roof and was battling her desire to sleep. Her eyes would roll over and then she would blink rapidly to fight the sleep that was attempting to overcome her.
Esther snuck up to the table at which they were seated, "I'm really sorry."
"Sorry? Are you really sorry?" Lisa asked, suddenly energetic. "We have been waiting here for almost thirty minutes, and where have you been? That's right: enjoying your goodnight's sleep."
"No, it's not my fault. I had to wait for my roommate to fall asleep first. It takes that girl a long time to fall into deep slumber," Esther explained. "It was not my intention to keep you waiting. You wouldn't even understand. You both have your own rooms."
"Let's just get this done, so that we can go back to our rooms," Andrew said.
"Why are you using a candle? Isn't the light switch working?" Esther asked.
"It is but that would draw unwanted attention to us, the janitor is still awake," Lisa replied.
"Why can't the custodian just clean during the day?" Esther asked. "Like, doesn't he get tired?"
"If he cleaned during the day, then there would be no effect. The school would just go back to being dirty with the amount of students in the school. It's best for him to clean when there's no one to disturb him," Lisa punctuated her sentence with a yawn.
"How do we go about this?" Esther inquired.
"I'll be the one to steal his keys, while you and Lisa continue with the tasks that you were assigned on Wednesday," Andrew said and stood up.
"Do you need any help, like anyone to watch out for you?" Lisa asked.
"I'll be fine."
Andrew stood up and left to find the school custodian. The school custodian was a fifty-something year old African American man who went by the name of William. He was a muscular man with very little patience, and all he did was complain about the school and the students.
Andrew found William in the boys' restroom mopping the floor. He was humming an unfamiliar tune. He had earphones plugged into his ears and would shake his body to the rhythm of the music every once in a while.
Andrew wanted to laugh but held himself back as he remembered the reason that he was actually there. The bunch of keys he needed was hooked to William's belt and Andrew could see them clearly from where he was standing. It would not be hard for Andrew to steal them.
He snuck up to William and gently grabbed hold of the keys. However, as soon as he touched the keys William started to dance again, making the keys produce a loud jiggling sound.
William pulled out his ear phones from his ears and turned around to face Andrew who had a nervous smile on his face.
"What are you doing here at this time, young man?" William asked. "Don't ya know ya ought to be in bed right about now? And why ya tryin' to steal my keys, huh? All I wanted to do was make some extra cash by working here but ya'll posh kids really know how to make work unpleasant. Acting all high and mighty when ya'll nothing but spoiled brats."
Andrew gulped and scratched his head, thinking of an excuse to come up with.
"I-I just came to tell you that I think there's a clogged toilet in the girls' restroom," Andrew lied.
"What? I just cleaned there," William said. "As soon as I check it out ya ought to explain what ya was doing there in the first place."
William rushed to the girls' restroom with his cleaning supplies. Andrew followed him closely behind. The girl's restroom was just one room away from the boys' restroom. The girls' communal bathroom separated the two restrooms.
William entered the girls' restroom and searched each cubicle for the clogged toilet, "Which one did ya say was clogged?"
"The last one," Andrew replied, "the one farthest from the door."
William entered the last cubicle and looked into the toilet. Andrew, who was standing behind him, took the chance to grab the keys. He placed the keys in the pocket of his pyjama trousers immediately.
"I don't see any clogged toilet here," William turned back to look at Andrew.
"I must have been mistaken," Andrew laughed nervously.
Without thinking about it twice, Andrew pushed William with so much force that he lost his balance and landed on the floor. Andrew ran out of the restroom and shut the door, making sure lock it. The restrooms were locked with bolts on the outside and not with a key and lock, hence saving Andrew time from looking for the key among the bunch of keys.
He then ran back to the kitchen and burst into the room, causing Esther and Lisa to jump in surprise.
He shut the door to the kitchen and leaned against it. He held his chest, hoping it would stop the erratic beating of his heart.
"Are you okay?" Lisa walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You really gave us a fright."
"I am never doing that again," Andrew said and brought out the bunch of keys from his pocket. "I feel like a criminal. A dirty criminal. What if William exposes me to the headmaster? I'll be demoted from my position. No, expelled from school!"
Andrew dragged his body to the ground, still leaning his back against the door for support. He placed the keys in Lisa's hand and covered his face with both of his hands.
"Just calm down and explain to us what happened," Esther came up and squatted beside him.
Andrew sniffed and replied. "I stole the janitor's keys and pushed him on the floor, and then I locked him inside the girls' restroom."
Lisa burst out laughing, "That's hilarious."
"Not if you're in the custodian's place," Esther said with a stern face.
"I feel so bad. My parents would be so disappointed in me. Not my elder brother though, he always wanted me to show my rebellious side," Andrew whined.
"Andrew, as much as we'd like to stay here and comfort you, our time is limited," Lisa said. "Move from the door, so that Esther and I can leave."
Andrew quietly stood up and walked to the table at which they had been sitting. It was a wooden table decorated with a basket of fake fruits in the middle. Andrew knew that they were fake because he had stupidly tried one.
Lisa and Esther then left the kitchen for the headmaster's office. As expected, the headmaster was out and the door to his office was locked.
Lisa struggled to find the key to the headmaster's office because it was among a bunch of other keys. After attempting to open the door with several keys, she later identified it as the one with a 'R 001' engraved on it. She pushed the door open quietly.
"Here," she handed Esther the keys. "The door is open. You go inside and get the documents while I'll stand outside and keep watch. I'll alert you if someone's coming."
Esther nodded her head. She did not want the girl who was unable to keep herself awake to keep watch, but she did not say anything. She closed the office door, leaving Lisa standing outside, and switched on the lights.
The office was surprisingly warm and cozy. There was a wooden table in the middle of the room and an office chair by its side. The table was bare, save for an empty coffee mug, a telephone and a stamp. There was also a large cabinet that was leaning against a wall in the left side of the office. There was one large window with blue curtains.
Esther immediately got to work. She first checked the drawers of the table but all she found were pens and a few plain papers. It was in the last drawer that she found a file. She quickly scanned the document and placed it under her armpit after concluding that she did not actually have the time to go through the document. She closed the drawers of the table and moved on to the cabinet. The cabinet drawers did not contain any documents except the third one. Esther pulled out the documents that lay in them and began to check them one-by-one.
"Alert! Alert!" Lisa whispered to Esther from outside. "The principal is coming. Hide. I'm running away. Don't try to leave the office."
With her heart beating rapidly, Esther grabbed the first documents that she saw and placed the one under her armpit among them. She looked around the room for a place to hide but the only place she could hide was behind the curtains. She switched off the lights and ran behind the curtains. She considered herself lucky because immediately she hid the principal stepped into the office.
"I swear I locked the door before I left," Esther heard Principal Winter say, and after that she heard the flick of the light switch. "Did I also leave the cabinet open?"
Principal Winter walked about the room, "Did anyone enter the office while I was gone? Could it be William? No, it couldn't be, he would lock the door after he was done cleaning and he wouldn't touch my cabinet. I warned him not to."
Principal Winter kept walking and stopped by the curtains. Esther saw his black polished shoes from under the curtain. She held her breath, scared that her breathing would expose her and attract unwanted attention. She stood silently, hoping that he would leave the office soon. However, luck seemed to have switched sides. Principal Winter moved closer to the window and stretched his hand out to open the curtain. Esther's heart beat rapidly against her ribcage, especially since Principal Winter did not open the curtain right away. Principal Winter seemed to be distracted by something else as he retracted his hand and ran out of the room. Esther knew he had left the room because she heard the door shut. However, she did not take the risk to leave her hiding spot. She rather preoccupied herself with looking for a means of escaping the room. Her body was becoming stiff from standing in one position.
She could not escape through the door because she was not sure where Principal Winter had gone. He could be standing right outside the door for all she knew.
The window was her only source of escape. It was large enough for her body to fit through it, and it was located on the first floor, hence if she fell, her impact on the ground would not be that painful, not considering that she would land on rocks.
Esther quietly opened the window. She threw the files out first and then climbed the window. Climbing windows was not new to her. When she was much younger she would go to school and her parents would leave for work. Her parents worked long hours and when she would return from school, there would be no one at home and the doors would be locked. However, her bedroom window was always open and that became her and her brother's entrance into the house.
Esther jumped out the window but she did not land on her feet as she had hoped, she rather landed on her knees on an area with small rocks. She was glad that she wore trousers and not shorts, or else her knees would have been bruised. With a deep breath Esther stood up, dusted her sweatpants and picked up the documents.
She was freezing and did not know exactly where to go. She did not know whether to use the back door or the front door. The front door was too obvious and she could probably find people there, on the other hand, a security guard was located at the back door.
The school had two security guards; one guarded the front gate and door while the other guarded the back gate and door.
Esther chose to use the front door. If Principal Winter had used the front door, the guard must have chosen to relax and he was probably not fulfilling his duty.
As Esther was about to walk away someone called after her. It was a man's voice. She could not see his face despite the outside lights of the school that were on. He was standing in an area where the lights could not reach him.
"Who's out there?" The person called out and shone a bright torch in her direction.
Terrified, Esther began to run but the person chased after her. She did not know where she was running to; all she knew was that she was running. She kept looking back every once in a while to see how far the person was away from her. Whilst looking back, one of Esther's slippers slipped off her foot and she fell down, all the documents falling to the ground with her.
The man who was cashing her reached where she was and looked at her and shone the bright light from the torch on her face. She used her hand to shield her eyes from the light.
The man looked at her thoroughly and asked, "What are you doing here?"