Barrister Ada

Chapter 12: The Trap

Chapter 12: The Trap

The stone and the leaf were still under my pillow.

I had stopped being afraid of them.

Not completely.

But enough.

Every night, before I slept, I would reach beneath my pillow and touch the smooth black stone.

Then I would touch the folded photograph of my mother.

Sometimes I wondered whether she would have been proud of me.

Sometimes I wondered whether she would have been frightened for me.

Sometimes I wondered if she would have known what to do.

I didn't.

But Aunty Ngozi did.

Uncle Emeka did.

Mrs. Ade did.

And together, they had taught me something.

Fear could be useful.

Fear could tell you when something was wrong.

But fear didn't have to control you.

The man thought he was scaring us.

He didn't know he was teaching us.

He had shown us his pattern.

He watched from the edge.

He left things behind.

He wanted me to know he could reach me.

So we decided to make him believe something too.

That I was still alone.

On Monday, Aunty Ngozi came to the school.

And she didn't come alone.

Uncle Emeka was with her.

Mrs. Ade signed them in at the gate herself.

I watched from the administration block as the security man asked,

"Reason for visit?"

Mrs. Ade didn't even blink.

"Family emergency."

The security man looked at the visitors.

"They need to see the girl."

That was all.

He stepped aside.

My heart began beating faster.

Family emergency.

The words sounded serious.

And, in a way, they were.

Because we weren't meeting to talk about school fees.

We weren't discussing my scholarship.

We weren't talking about my grades.

We were planning a trap.

The administration block was almost empty.

Aunty closed the door behind us.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Then she pulled me into her arms.

I hugged her tightly.

"I've been thinking about you all weekend," she whispered.

"I'm okay."

"I know."

She pulled back and looked into my eyes.

"But being okay doesn't mean you aren't scared."

I looked down.

She was right.

Uncle Emeka was standing near the window.

He had his cap in his hand.

The same kind of cap the mysterious man wore.

I stared at it.

"You brought that on purpose?"

He gave me a small smile.

"Maybe."

Aunty sat down.

"He came to the fence because he thinks you're scared."

I swallowed.

"I am scared."

"I know."

She reached for my hand.

"So we let him believe it."

I looked at her.

"What?"

"We let him believe he still has power over you."

Uncle Emeka stepped forward.

He held the black stone in his palm.

"We make him think you're alone."

My stomach tightened.

"I don't want to be alone."

Uncle Emeka immediately looked at me.

"You won't be."

His voice was firm.

"Not for one second."

I believed him.

Or at least, I tried to.

Mrs. Ade walked toward the desk and folded her arms.

"Tonight, after prep, you will walk toward the science block."

My heart started beating faster.

"You will pretend you've forgotten your book."

I looked at her.

"Tolu will walk with you."

"Okay."

"Then she will leave."

My eyes widened.

"Leave me?"

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"Three minutes."

I stared at her.

"Three minutes?"

Mrs. Ade nodded.

"That's all."

"My heart will break in three minutes."

Aunty's eyes became wet.

But her voice remained hard.

"Good."

I looked at her.

"Good?"

"Because for those three minutes, you will know exactly what fear feels like."

She squeezed my hand.

"And you will also know that fear doesn't mean you are helpless."

I took a slow breath.

Mrs. Ade continued.

"Uncle Emeka will be outside the fence."

Uncle nodded.

"I'll have eyes on the path."

"Aunty and I will be behind the laboratory block."

Mrs. Ade pointed toward the door.

"Two teachers will be with us."

"And if he comes?"

Uncle Emeka's expression changed.

"If he comes, he walks into us."

Silence filled the room.

I looked at each of them.

Aunty.

Uncle Emeka.

Mrs. Ade.

They were all serious.

This wasn't a game.

This wasn't some school drama.

This was about the man who had been following me.

The man who had sent the photograph.

The warning.

The leaves.

The stone.

For the first time, we weren't waiting for him to make the next move.

We were making ours.

I nodded.

"Okay."

Aunty hugged me again.

"You can do this."

I closed my eyes.

I wanted to believe her.

I really did.

The rest of the day passed slowly.

Every class felt longer than usual.

I couldn't concentrate properly.

My Biology teacher asked me a question twice before I realized she was speaking to me.

"Ada?"

I blinked.

"Sorry, ma."

She smiled.

"You are somewhere else today."

I forced a small laugh.

"Just tired."

She nodded.

But I knew my mind was nowhere near Biology.

It was at the science block.

It was at the fence.

It was waiting for a man in a cap.

By evening, my hands were cold.

Prep began.

I opened my books.

I pretended to read.

Tolu sat beside me.

She knew the plan.

She didn't say anything.

Every few minutes, she would look at me.

"You're okay?"

"Yes."

"Sure?"

"No."

She smiled.

"At least you're honest."

I laughed softly.

It was the first real laugh I'd had all day.

Then prep ended.

Students began leaving the study hall.

The hostel became noisy again.

Girls were talking.

Someone was singing.

Someone complained about homework.

It sounded completely normal.

Too normal.

Tolu linked her arm through mine.

"Come."

I looked at her.

"My book."

She nodded.

"Your very important forgotten book."

I smiled.

We walked toward the science block.

The evening light was weak.

The path behind the building was quieter than usual.

My heartbeat grew faster with every step.

We reached the place.

I stopped.

Tolu looked at me.

"You ready?"

"No."

"Good."

She squeezed my hand.

"Remember what Aunty said."

I nodded.

She walked a few steps with me.

Then she suddenly stopped.

"Oh!"

I looked at her.

"I left mine in class."

My heart almost stopped.

"What?"

"My notebook."

She turned around.

"Wait here. I'll run."

"Tolu—"

She squeezed my hand.

"You'll be fine."

Then she ran.

Just like that.

She disappeared around the corner.

I was alone.

Or at least, I looked alone.

I stood near the fence.

The wind moved through the trees.

I could hear distant voices from the hostel.

My hands trembled.

I counted in my head.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

I looked toward the road.

Nothing.

Ten.

Eleven.

Twelve.

The darkness seemed to grow thicker.

Twenty.

I swallowed.

Thirty.

I could hear my own breathing.

Forty.

I wanted to run.

Fifty.

I told myself to stay.

Sixty.

One minute.

I looked toward the laboratory.

Nothing.

Then I heard it.

A faint movement.

A footstep.

I froze.

Another.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

A shadow appeared near the fence.

Cap.

Dark glasses.

Hands in his pockets.

Him.

My mouth went dry.

He stepped closer.

Not all the way.

Just enough for the weak light to fall across his face.

He looked directly at me.

Then he spoke.

"Ada Okafor."

My entire body went cold.

He knew my name.

I already knew that.

But hearing him say it was different.

It made everything real.

I didn't run.

My fingers curled into fists.

He took another step.

I remembered Aunty.

You won't be alone.

I remembered Uncle.

Not for one second.

I remembered Mrs. Ade.

Fear doesn't mean you're helpless.

The man looked around.

Perhaps he expected me to panic.

Perhaps he expected me to run.

I stayed where I was.

He reached into his pocket.

My stomach twisted.

His hand came out holding something small.

A leaf.

Another iroko leaf.

He held it between two fingers.

Then he smiled.

It wasn't a friendly smile.

It was the smile of someone who believed he had already won.

I stared at him.

Then I heard a voice.

"Don't move!"

The man froze.

Uncle Emeka.

His voice came from outside the fence.

The man's head snapped toward him.

At the same moment, footsteps exploded from behind the laboratory.

Aunty Ngozi.

Mrs. Ade.

Two teachers.

They emerged from the shadows.

The man looked left.

Fence.

He looked right.

School.

Behind him was the road.

In front of him were the teachers.

To one side stood Aunty.

And outside the fence stood Uncle Emeka.

He was boxed in.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

The man's hand slowly lowered.

The leaf slipped from his fingers.

It fell to the ground.

I stared at it.

Another leaf.

Another message.

But this time, it didn't frighten me.

Because the message had changed.

Before, the leaf had meant:

I'm inside.

Now it meant:

I thought I was.

Uncle Emeka stepped closer to the fence.

"Take off the glasses."

The man didn't move.

"Take them off."

Still nothing.

Aunty moved beside me.

Her hand rested on my shoulder.

"You are safe."

The man looked at her.

Then at me.

Then at the people surrounding him.

He had expected one frightened girl.

He had expected silence.

He had expected darkness.

He hadn't expected witnesses.

He hadn't expected family.

He hadn't expected teachers.

Most importantly, he hadn't expected us to be ready.

Mrs. Ade spoke calmly.

"You have been coming around this school asking about a student."

The man remained silent.

"You have been leaving objects for her."

Nothing.

"You have followed her."

Still nothing.

Mrs. Ade's voice hardened.

"You are not leaving until we understand why."

For the first time, the man's confidence disappeared.

His shoulders dropped slightly.

His eyes moved toward the road.

There was nowhere to go.

I looked at him.

I was still afraid.

But something inside me had changed.

I wasn't the sixteen-year-old girl running barefoot through the rain anymore.

I wasn't the girl who believed the only way to survive was to disappear.

I was still scared.

But I was standing.

And people were standing with me.

Uncle Emeka looked at me.

"You see?"

I nodded.

"We told you."

Aunty squeezed my shoulder.

"You're not alone."

I looked down at the leaf lying on the ground.

Then at the man.

He thought he was hunting one girl.

He walked into three.

No.

Four.

Five.

Maybe more.

Because when one person decides to stand up, sometimes other people find the courage to stand beside them.

That night, when I returned to the hostel, I couldn't sleep.

Not because I was afraid.

Because I kept thinking about what had happened.

He had come back.

But this time, we had been ready.

I opened my notebook.

I wrote:

The trap worked.

Then I added:

He thought I was alone.

I stared at the sentence.

Then wrote:

He was wrong.

I touched the photograph under my pillow.

My mother's face smiled back at me.

For the first time, I wondered whether she would have done the same thing.

Maybe she would have stood.

Maybe she would have fought.

Maybe she would have told me that running saved me once.

But standing would save me now.

I closed my notebook.

The black stone was still beneath my pillow.

The leaf was no longer there.

It was sitting at Mrs. Ade's desk.

And for once, I didn't need it beside me to remember the warning.

The man had shown himself.

Now we had to find out why.