On a day when professor Nwafor celebrated a massive feat, all the nations of the Earth had their backs against the wall. The emergency lines were buzzing, people were panicking, the leaders promised swift intervention, but it became an enormous task. Every nation on Earth had at least one person mysteriously disappear, and no one knew a tangible clue. The government set out to place a bounty. They said:
"Anyone with information about the missing people will be rewarded handsomely,"
Yet nothing tangible after an extensive search. The police dug up some minor clues, but at the end of it all, they were nothing, more like what used to boast of their blurred exploits like peacocks. After two months, and still no solid claims for the police to hold onto, reality began to dawn on them that finding the missing people was perhaps turning into a dead course.
The pain was so much on Obi because his son was among the missing. And Martin's school would be resuming for a new semester the next day. Obi refused to give up hope. If Martin could not show up for his registration, the school would erase his name from their student's database. This troubled Obi so much that he would often spend the night outside on the balcony – waiting for his son to return.
The next day, it was Chioma that arrived early in school scoping out the offices for Dr. Mustafa's office. When she finally found the office, she approached the office door and heard some husky voice emanating from the inside. She waited for a while, but then she made up her mind to open the door.
As she was about to open the door, she heard a female husky, erotic whisper. Chioma leaned over the door to hear more clearly. It was a voice of a lady moaning as if she was being whipped. She quickly ignored the hysteria and agreed to leave and come back another day.
As she strolled out of the science building, professor Nwafor walked hurriedly past her with a shove on her elbow. She greeted him, but the professor didn't respond.
"What is wrong with this old bloke?" she thought to herself.
It was clear then that she could never get into the professor's good books no matter how much she tried. But she however followed the professor at a distance to see what he was up to. While the professor hurried off, he almost stumbled over a berm, and this made Chioma to laugh quietly. She still kept her distance though, but she watched as the professor walked steadily towards his vehicle – a brand new Lexus RX 350, which was parked alone under a mango tree.
When professor Nwafor approached the car, he made sure that no one was watching. Chioma hid behind a cafeteria van and watched him closely. Then the professor opened the front seat door and hopped in. Immediately, the car's engine was switched on, and the antenna mast went up from its housing.
Chioma assumed that the professor was about to leave, and so she waited for assurance before she could come out of her hiding. She knew the consequences of getting caught while she was spying on her teacher, but she remained calm and hidden behind the cafeteria van. She waited and anticipated the professor's imminent move, but the vehicle remained at the same spot for a further two hours. All the while, the fuel was burning off, and the engine was very much alive. The windows were shut, and the car was like an animal in partial hibernation.
Chioma became worried and also fatigued over her crouch position. She, however, remained persistent and refused to blow her cover. Any slight mistake could destroy any chance of her thesis turning a corner – although she had little hope of this happening. So, she remained calm and started reading a novel. After a further four hours, the professor remained inside the vehicle.
"Is he still alive in there?" She wondered.
The car's engine was still very active and yet static. Chioma struggled to decide on what to do next. If the professor was simply reading a book, or perhaps having an intercourse, it would spell big trouble for her and her academic aspirations if she intrudes. Moreover, five hours hiding in one spot was not just a difficult task, but also mentally exhausting. She needed to do something; she needed to take the risk.
So, she came out of her hiding position and approached the vehicle apprehensively. The windows were tinted, and so she was oblivious to what was happening inside. She knocked on the windows.
"Hello, Professor, Can you hear my voice? Are you in there?"
Yet, she heard nothing. The car was cold like a dead animal. Chioma attempted to open the door, but she tried so hard that she accidentally broke the door handle. That was the height of it. She knew how bad the consequences of what she had done. She knew the ugly penalty attached to a student that broke a teacher's property. And so, she ran away as quickly as possible; all the way to the school's exit.
After the long run, she crouched for a while to catch her breath. As she remained in that position, professor Nwafor drove past her with hardly a glance. The door handle was miraculously fixed like it was never broken before. Chioma froze in amazement. She wondered if she was seeing a ghost, or perhaps, she was just hallucinating. She strained her eyes a bit to get a clear glimpse of the car's plate number, and it was indeed professor Nwafor's Lexus RX 350.
Chioma woke up the next day to the seeping sound of water after a night of heavy rainfall. She procrastinated a bit before getting up to ready herself for school. On her way to the lecture hall, she saw professor Nwafor entering his office with a young man dressed like a hipster. However, she felt exhausted and opted not to spy on them any longer. Instead, she opted to pay Dr. Mustafa's office a visit again.
Before that, she had heard rumors that Dr. Mustafa was on another level of perversion. It wasn't long before the rumors appeared to be true. When Chioma entered the doctor's office, he was stunned by Chioma's beauty. He tossed his cigarette butt into an ashtray to salivate over Chioma's fair and petite body.
"What a beauty from heaven at this time of the day," he said, and in a muffled manner.
He couldn't help but fix his eyes on Chioma's chest. Chioma cleared her throat, and that was when he came down to Earth.
"Am so sorry, young lady; do you want to see me for anything?" Dr. Mustafa asked with a malignant grin.
"I am a newly admitted student for the Master's degree program," Chioma replied, and she gave him a copy of her admission letter.
"Oh, I see."
He stared closely at the letter on his desk, and then he replied.
"Are you sure the faculty was aware of this? They should know that Professor Nwafor will reject every chance of working with other teachers here. Yeah, because he's such a psychopath. I wonder why they still assign students to him. Who does that? It's been six years now since the last student he tormented committed suicide. This will probably be a huge mistake by the faculty. And now it will be extremely difficult to escape from his grasp. Not after he had achieved such an exceptional feat."
Chioma was dreadfully upset. She tried to quell her emotions by remembering her past pickles, but she knew it was all over – probably the end of her quest in that institution.
"But don't give up," Dr. Mustafa said. "Perhaps I'll help you."
He said those words in a manner of subservient groveling. Chioma went on her knees and started pleading.
"Please Sir, I am an orphan. I worked so hard to be here. I feel it would be better not to see all of my hard work end up in vain."
She was already shedding tears, but Dr. Mustafa took her by the hand and felt her soft palms. Chioma was charming. She was tall, fair, and with a long slender neck.
"I will see what I can do, and perhaps we can get to know more about each other," Dr. Mustafa said.
Chioma was not aware of Dr. Mustafa's perverse intentions. She trusted him like as if he was going to be her Knight in shining armor – kind, brave, and eager to rescue her from her difficult situation. Only time will tell if Dr. Mustafa was all he hoped for.
Some minutes later, Chioma was in a small eatery – not far away from professor Nwafor's usual parking position. She ate two packs of Cheddar biscuits while she waited for a bus to arrive. As she waited, the thoughts of spying on the professor creeped into her mind. Her sense of adventure was greatly excited. Suddenly, the young man she saw earlier with professor Nwafor came out hurriedly from the faculty building wearing the hoodie like he clearly doesn't want to be recognized. Shortly after that, professor Nwafor came out all cozy. It was crazy because Chioma saw how they both have the same pattern of movement. Chioma watched as they both opened the car doors and hopped in at the same time. They also closed the doors at the same time with the same pattern.
"Is this like a cult thing or something?" She asked herself.
Their behavior was so mercurial, and Chioma wondered why everything was so weird with professor Nwafor.
The car's antenna mast went up from its housing once the engine started. Again, Chioma saw the vehicle static and not ready to move. She knew what was to come next, and she was not ready to wait again for an impending six hours dead mode. So, she carried herself politely to the bus station, and she boarded a bus back home at Jessica's – her friend.
The next morning, Jessica stretched out her hand lazily for the buzzing alarm clock. When she switched it off, she opened her eyes to see Chioma already awake and ready for school.
"It's like someone is enjoying school lately," she said, and she smiled sheepishly at Chioma.
"Not at all, Jess" Chioma replied. "School has been as boring as a cricket match. The biology teacher has been acting crazy recently. I think something must have been terribly wrong with him. I tried spying on him, and to be honest, it's been quite an interesting first few weeks; not entirely boring."
"Girl, you've got some guts there," Jessica replied.
"So, you've been spying on your biology teacher? What are you now, a detective?"
Chioma smiled.
"Not a single thing about being a detective is here in my head," Chioma replied.
They both laughed.
"So what have you gotten so far?" Jessica asked.
"Not much."
Their conversation stopped drastically when Chioma's phone started ringing from her pocket. She reached into her pocket for her phone and answered the call.
"Hello, Chioma here." She answered.
"Well hello Chioma, how are you today?"
The voice was deep like a voice of an elderly man.
Chioma replied: "I am fine; thank you. Please who's this?"
"This is Dr. Mustafa. I'm sorry to trouble you with this surprise call; your number was there in your file. I was thinking, perhaps you will pass through beach junction today on your way to school. Perhaps, I can give you a ride."
"Oh! Thank you so much, doc," she replied. "But I'm still presently at home, and I don't want you to wait for me."
"Nah, don't worry about that," he replied. "I'll also like to meet you today. Maybe at McDonald's; let's create a plan for your thesis."
Chioma took note of the venue and time on her to-do list, and after her school's activities, they met in the popular restaurant.
"So you think the professor is hiding something in his vehicle?" Dr. Mustafa asked.
"Yes," replied Chioma.
"There's also this man, but he wore a hoodie. I could barely see his face. They were very secretive about whatever they were doing inside that vehicle."
"You think he's gay?"
"Nah, far from it."
"So, you suggest I take a picture of them both?" Dr. Mustafa asked.
"Yes, but the aim is to find fault. I mean, if we can provide a tangible proof – a perfect evidence of fault against the professor, we can send pictures to the appropriate individuals and make friends for ourselves. And since the professor has so many enemies, it will be an opportunity for you to gain more special friends for yourself, and that may include me. We can become friends if things can go according to our plan."
Chioma knew that Dr. Mustafa had grown a special interest in her, and she chose to exploit that emotion. So, they started enjoying each other's company, and most of the time they spent hours in their conversations.
The next day, the teachers had a faculty meeting. Professor Nwafor and Dr. Mustafa both had their distances, but Dr. Mustafa kept an eye on the professor throughout the meeting. It wasn't long before he noticed the professor's frequent excuses. He had already excused himself three times midway in the program, and then he was about to excuse himself again for the fourth time.
Dr. Mustafa quietly sneaked out through the back door to follow the professor at a safe distance. They passed the school's refectory, then the restroom, and all the way to the mango tree where professor Nwafor's vehicle was parked.
The doctor watched from a distance as the Professor went around the vehicle wearily. The professor was nervously flicking his head from side to side – seeking for that perfect alone time to initiate his next act. Shortly after that, he stripped himself naked.
"What the..." Dr. Mustafa whispered.
It was a show-shocker that gushed out the doctor's bowel of discombobulation.
"This is insanity," the doctor whispered again.
Two or three photo shots of that moment would be the perfect evidence of fault against the professor, but Dr. Mustafa had forgotten his camera at the meeting room. It would have been a worthy accusation of fetish or mentally ill behaviors within the school's premises, which would have gotten the professor into real trouble, but the doc had no camera on him. The scene, however, had propelled a sudden burst of emotions within Dr. Mustafa. He rushed out of his hiding position and called out the professor's name.
"Professor Nwafor, are you okay?"
When the professor saw Dr. Mustafa approaching him with a concerned expression, he hurriedly hopped inside his vehicle and locked the doors and windows. His pants were still on the floor. Dr. Mustafa picked up the clothes and gave a gentle knock on the window.
"Hello, professor, what's going on? Are you okay?"
After a while and still without a reply, Dr. Mustafa reached into his bag for his mobile phone. Then, he dialed Chioma`s phone number and waited as the phone rang on the other end. Suddenly, professor Nwafor`s vehicle became alive, and the doctor could only watch as the professor drove off with full speed.
Professor Nwafor had abandoned his clothes and shoes, and Dr. Mustafa wondered how he was going to cover his nakedness after that.
A few seconds later, Chioma picked up the call on the other end of the line.
"Hello! You won't believe what I've just seen!" Dr. Mustafa said, and he was still shocked by the crazy event.
"Same here," replied Chioma. "Do you remember that fella I told you about? The one I saw wearing a hoodie, he's been live on national television for the past two hours now; quite amazing, isn't it? They said he's among the missing people who disappeared weeks ago. His name is Martin Obi."