Barrister Ada

Chapter 9: Eyes in School

*Chapter 9: Eyes in School

The hostel felt different this term.

Everyone was louder.

New girls filled the corridors with unfamiliar voices and endless questions. Old students returned with new stories about what they had done during the holidays. Some had travelled. Some had visited relatives. Some had come back with new clothes, new hairstyles, and enough snacks to share with half the hostel.

The hostel was alive again.

But for me, it felt different.

I couldn't explain it at first.

Maybe it was because of the envelopes.

Maybe it was because of the man Uncle Musa had seen around Wuse Market.

Or maybe it was because I had started looking at everyone differently.

Every unfamiliar face made me wonder.

Every whisper made me listen.

Every stranger near the school gate caught my attention.

The walls had ears.

At least, that was how it felt.

Mrs. Ade kept her word.

I reported to her office every Monday after assembly.

The first Monday, she looked up from her desk when I entered.

"Anything strange?"

I shook my head.

"No, ma."

"Anyone following you?"

"No, ma."

"Anyone asking questions about you?"

I thought for a moment.

"No."

She nodded.

"Good. Keep paying attention."

The second Monday was the same.

The third Monday too.

No envelopes.

No strange man with a cap.

No mysterious visitors at the gate.

Nothing.

It should have made me feel better.

For a while, it did.

But strange doesn't always knock.

Sometimes, it simply watches.

It started with looks.

Girls in SS2 would stop talking when I passed.

At first, I ignored them.

Maybe they weren't talking about me.

Maybe I was imagining things.

Then one afternoon, I walked into class and noticed something written on my desk.

OKAFOR.

The name was written in blue biro.

Large enough for me to see immediately.

I stared at it.

My heart skipped.

I looked around.

Nobody was watching me.

I rubbed my fingers across the writing.

Why would someone write my surname on my desk?

I took out my handkerchief and tried to clean it.

The ink didn't disappear immediately.

I scrubbed harder.

Eventually, the letters faded.

I didn't tell anyone.

Not even Tolu.

I didn't want to turn every strange thing into another reason to be afraid.

But then there was Chika.

She was becoming impossible to ignore.

She smiled too much now.

Not the kind of smile that came from happiness.

The kind that made me wonder what she knew.

One morning, as I was arranging my books, she walked past my desk.

"Ada."

I looked up.

She smiled.

"You came back after all."

I said nothing.

"Aunty must have money again."

A few girls nearby laughed.

I lowered my eyes.

Before, I might have answered her.

I might have defended myself.

But now, I remembered the note.

DON'T TRUST EVERYONE AT SCHOOL.

So I stayed quiet.

Chika leaned closer.

"What happened? You don't talk anymore?"

I looked at her.

"I'm busy."

She laughed.

"Busy doing what?"

"Studying."

She rolled her eyes.

"Always studying."

Then she walked away.

I watched her go.

Was she the one who sent the note?

Was she the one who had been watching me?

Or was I simply becoming suspicious of everyone?

I didn't know.

The second week after resumption, Tolu and I started eating lunch behind the laboratory block.

It was quieter there.

Away from the noisy dining hall and the crowded corridors.

We would sit on a low concrete ledge with our food between us and talk about school.

Sometimes we talked about teachers.

Sometimes about examinations.

Sometimes about things that had nothing to do with school.

It was the closest thing I had to normal.

On Wednesday, I went back to our classroom to get my Biology notebook.

Tolu had already gone to the library.

The corridor was unusually quiet.

I pushed open the classroom door.

Nobody was inside.

I walked toward my seat.

Then I stopped.

My bag was there.

But something was wrong.

I couldn't immediately identify it.

I looked around the room.

Everything appeared normal.

The desks were where they were supposed to be.

The windows were open.

The board still had yesterday's work written on it.

Then I noticed my locker.

It was open.

I froze.

I don't leave my locker open.

Never.

I always check it twice before leaving.

I walked toward it slowly.

My heart began beating faster.

Maybe I had forgotten.

Maybe I had been in a hurry.

I reached the locker and stared inside.

My books had been moved.

Not stolen.

Moved.

My Biology textbook was underneath my Mathematics book.

My English notebook was on its side.

And my wrapper...

My wrapper had been folded differently.

It was a small thing.

Something most people wouldn't notice.

But I knew how I folded it.

I always folded it twice and placed it at the bottom.

Now it was sitting on top.

My hands began to shake.

Someone had been inside.

I checked my books.

Everything was there.

My pen.

My notebooks.

My school documents.

Nothing was missing.

That should have relieved me.

It didn't.

Because whoever had entered hadn't come to steal.

They had come to look.

I slowly lifted my notebook.

Something was underneath it.

A leaf.

I stared at it.

It was dry.

Brown.

Small.

Nothing written on it.

I picked it up carefully.

For several seconds, I couldn't understand why it frightened me.

It was just a leaf.

A dead leaf.

There were trees all over the school.

It could have fallen from one of them.

But it hadn't fallen.

Someone had placed it there.

Inside my locker.

Under my notebook.

My fingers tightened around it.

Why?

What did it mean?

I looked toward the classroom door.

Empty.

I stepped into the corridor.

Empty.

I looked left.

Then right.

Nothing.

But suddenly, I felt as though someone was watching me.

I quickly returned to the classroom.

I didn't tell Chika.

I didn't tell any of the other girls.

I didn't even tell a teacher.

The only person I trusted enough to tell was Tolu.

I found her near the library.

"Tolu."

She looked up.

"What's wrong?"

"Come with me."

She immediately stood.

We walked to a quiet corner.

I opened my palm.

She stared at the leaf.

"What is that?"

"I found it in my locker."

She frowned.

"Your locker?"

"Someone opened it."

"Are you sure?"

"I always lock it."

She took the leaf from my hand and examined it.

"Maybe it fell from a tree."

"Inside my locker?"

She looked at me.

Neither of us spoke.

Then she handed it back.

"Did anything else disappear?"

"No."

"Then why would someone open it?"

"I don't know."

The answer frightened me more than anything else.

That evening, after prep, I went to the matron's office.

I waited until the room was mostly empty before asking to use the school phone.

My hands were cold as I dialed the shelter.

It rang twice.

Then Aunty Ngozi answered.

"Ada?"

Her voice changed immediately.

"Are you safe?"

My throat tightened.

"Aunty..."

"What happened?"

"Someone was in my locker."

There was silence.

Then her voice became sharper.

"Tell me exactly what happened."

I explained everything.

The open locker.

The moved books.

The wrapper.

The leaf.

When I finished, Aunty was quiet for one second.

Then she said,

"Don't throw it away."

I looked at the leaf in my hand.

"I won't."

"Keep it safe."

"Okay."

"And don't walk alone after prep."

"Yes, ma."

"You hear me?"

"Yes, ma."

Her voice softened slightly.

"Ada, listen carefully."

I sat down.

"The man in the Wuse Market..."

"Uncle Musa?"

"Yes."

She paused.

"He knew your mother."

My stomach tightened.

"I will call him tonight."

"Why?"

"If we need eyes outside the school, I will use him."

I looked toward the window.

The school compound was dark.

"But you..."

Her voice became firm again.

"You call me first."

I nodded even though she couldn't see me.

"Always me."

"Yes, ma."

"Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma."

There was another pause.

Then Aunty Ngozi's voice became gentle.

"Ada."

"Yes?"

"You're not alone in this."

Those words settled something inside me.

I closed my eyes.

"Thank you."

"Be careful."

"I will."

The call ended.

I looked at the leaf again.

It was such a small thing.

Something that should have meant nothing.

But it had been placed in my locker deliberately.

I returned to my room.

Tolu was already there.

She watched me pin the leaf carefully inside my book.

"Why are you keeping it?"

"Because Aunty said not to throw it away."

She nodded.

I opened the book to the page where I kept my mother's photograph.

I placed the leaf beside it.

My mother's smiling face.

Baby me in her arms.

And now this strange, dry leaf.

Three things that shouldn't have belonged together.

Yet somehow, they did.

One envelope.

One note.

Now one leaf.

I opened my notebook.

My pen hovered over the page.

Then I wrote:

First: My past.

I continued.

Second: A warning.

I looked at the leaf.

Third: They are here.

I paused.

Then added:

In school.

The words looked frightening on the page.

I stared at them for a long time.

Then I wrote one more sentence.

Aunty is my first call. Always.

I closed the notebook.

For the first time since I had arrived at the shelter, I understood that being safe wasn't the same as being free from danger.

It simply meant having people who would stand beside you when danger came.

I had Aunty Ngozi.

I had Tolu.

I had Mrs. Ade.

And now I had Uncle Musa somewhere outside the school walls.

I had eyes outside through Aunty.

But now I thought...

Maybe I also had eyes inside.

I looked around the hostel.

Girls were laughing.

Someone was combing her hair.

Someone else was whispering about a teacher.

Everything looked normal.

Too normal.

I pulled my blanket around me.

I didn't know who had opened my locker.

I didn't know what the leaf meant.

I didn't know whether the person was warning me, threatening me, or simply trying to remind me that they could reach me whenever they wanted.

But one thing was certain.

The person who had sent the envelopes was no longer the only thing I feared.

For the first time, I felt watched.

Even inside the school gate.