The Vanishing
641 Words
Fifteen years ago, Lagos state University was alive with the chatter of students, the scent of roasted plantains and groundnut drifting through the air, and the occasional honk of danfos weaving through the crowded streets outside the gates. It was on such an evening that Tunde Adebayo disappeared without a trace.
The night had been humid, the sky stretched with clouds, swallowing the moon’s glow. Tunde, a final-year engineering student, had left his hostel just before midnight. His roommate, Emeka, recalled the moment vividly—Tunde had been clutching a leather-bound notebook, his expression tense.
“Guy,where you dey go this night?” Emeka had asked, half-asleep.
Tunde hesitated, then forced a smile. “Library.”
Emeka scoffed. “Library don close. You no fit wait till morning?”
But Tunde had only muttered something about needing to check something urgently. He left, and that was the last time anyone saw him.
Amara flipped through the dusty archive files, her fingers trembling. She had spent years chasing truth, uncovering corruption, but this was different. This was personal.
Her heart pounded as she reached a thick file stamped CONFIDENTIAL. It had been buried beneath irrelevant records—almost as if someone had hidden it intentionally.
She pried it open, her breath catching at the first document inside.
“Case File: Tunde Adebayo – Status: Missing, Presumed Dead.”
Her stomach tightened. The file contained investigation notes from the university and the police, but the details were vague. The authorities had ruled his disappearance a case of voluntary escape or possible drowning in the nearby lagoon. But Amara knew better.
A second document caught her attention. Student records erased. All mentions of Tunde—his enrollment, his coursework, even his school ID—had been systematically deleted.
Amara’s fingers clenched around the papers. He hadn’t just disappeared. He had been wiped from existence.
She dug deeper into the file, flipping through more pages. Then she found something that made her blood run cold—a witness statement from Emeka, dated just days after Tunde vanished.
“Tunde was scared. He kept saying he had found something important, something people would kill for.”
Amara swallowed hard. This wasn’t just a case of a missing student. Tunde had stumbled onto something, something big enough to make him a target.
Her hands trembled as she reached for the last page in the file; a photocopy of an old letter, written in Tunde’s unmistakable handwriting. The ink was smudged, but the message was clear.
“If anything happens to me, the answers are in the notebook. Follow the symbols.”
Amara’s breath hitched. She had the notebook. The same one delivered to her doorstep last night.
Suddenly, a rustling sound echoed through the quiet archive room. Amara’s head snapped up, her pulse racing.
Someone else was here.
She quickly stuffed the file back where she found it, grabbed her bag, and backed towards the door. But before she could slip out, a shadow moved between the towering shelves.
A deep voice cut through the silence.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Amara’s heart pounded as she turned to face the stranger. A man in a security uniform, his eyes cold and assessing.
She forced a smile. “Just doing research.”
He stepped closer. “This section is restricted.”
She held up her hands. “I didn’t know.”
His gaze flicked to the table where she had been reading. He wasn’t convinced.
“Leave. Now.”
Amara didn’t need to be told twice. She slipped past him, forcing herself to walk calmly until she was out of sight. Then, breaking into a run, she dashed through the hallways, her mind spinning.
Tunde had left her clues, warnings, and now she knew someone else was w
atching.
And they didn’t want her uncovering the truth.
- Writer
