Hell Mary

Dominic took it upon himself to drive the girls to school before turning the wheels around to go to work. He had been there when the head matron ransacked their items with her eyes as sharp as an eagle waiting to see a contraband.

”These earrings are bigger than the normal full stop, ” The middle aged matron said, handing the earring to Dominic. That was surprisingly the only thing they found in the bag of Ashley and confiscated.

Turning over to Mary with a sheer look of disapproval, she looked into her traveling bag.

”You
e new? ” The lady asked, seemingly jotting something down.

”Yes ma! ” Mary replied and stepped aside as the lady checked her items.

”Is that all? Wheres your hoe, detergent and the rest? ” The matron asked, locking the bag up when she had finished as there was only a handful of things to go through. The wrinkles in her forehead were furrowed and her dark skin glowed lightly as sweat beads were evenly distributed on her skin.

”My wife didn buy that for you? Is this all she bought for you? ” Dominic asked perplexed and Mary slowly nodded her head. ”Anyways, ” he dipped his hands into his pocket and counted out some currency notes then handed it over to the matron. ”Ill get the others during visiting OK? ” He had spoken to Mary silently.

”Thank you sir, ” the matron beamed graciously and her teeth shone, a great contrast to her skin.

Dominic gave his usual words of advice to the both of them and prayed with them before hopping back into his range rover sport and then drove away. Since Mary was new, she fed her eyes with the wonderful scenery while still speeding up her pace to meet Ashleys.

”Is that the hostel? ” Mary had managed to ask referring to the building at the far end but Ashley gave no reply and so Mary glued her tongue back into her mouth.

They arrived the building in no time and soon two girls sprang out of the hostel and jumped on Ashley. One had to be Stella, Mary thought. That name was far too mentioned in the house not to take notice and she was sure Stella had visited once or twice probably when she had been too occupied with work at the kitchen or somewhere else in the house to take cognisance.

”Who is she? ” One had asked referring to Mary. Her hair was not as long as Ashleys, but a rich black and so was the others.

”Some girl that lives with us, ” Ashley replied and waltzed into the building with her bags being released from her by her friends.

The hostels were built in a square format, erecting large rooms end to end and the dinning hall was at one end in a separate building. The rooms had giant iron doors guarding them and Mary later learnt that each room belonged to a senior class while the juniors lived upstairs.

Mary followed Ashley and her friends keenly by their heels and observed the room they had landed into. The space was massive for the number of bunks she could see inside. Their wardrobes were inbuilt and had been firmly attached to the walls some bearing giant locks and others defaced by the writings of the owners.

Mary took a bed space she noticed had no occupant and had nothing which indicated anyone was claiming it soon, but somehow made her choice to be close to Ashleys bed space since she was the only one she had known.

The rest of the day was spent arranging and packing up their items while the many others that resumed earlier, glued their eyes to the windows and would scream whenever any of their friends returned.

Darkness had set in soon enough engulfing a large portion of the sky and sprinkling stars on the nights sky like a cook would do to salt to enhance the deliciousness of their meal and yet not everyone had returned.

”Hey! ” Mary turned sharply in response and identified whoever called her to be one of Ashleys friends. ”Im Stella, whats your name? ” The girl had asked. Her eyes were safely shielded by the glasses she had on and her yellow cross checked day wear was reflective enough revealing subtly what she had worn inside.

”Mary. ”

”Cool! ” Stella said and found herself seated on a partly rusted bunk which had been placed beside Marys. ”How do you see our school already? ” Stella smiled and watched as Mary examined the evident refurnishing prior to the arrival of the students.

”Its very nice, ” Mary said as she struggled to lock up the zipper to her bag until it finally yielded.

”Whats that? ” Stella asked, reaching for a book beside Mary and examined the exterior. It had been patterned with pencil drawn flowers at all four edges but had formed dog ears over the years. ”Can I open? ” Stella asked and Mary nodded. ”Wow! You draw? ”

”Its nothing really. I just doddle sometimes, ” Mary replied.

”This is a lot more than just doddles, ” Stella fed her eyes with the drawings. There was one of Ashley, which she drew to perfection getting the details of her doe eyes and other curves right and some of the drawings did seem like jumbled up lines and circles but Stella tilted the book and squinted her eyes as she tried to make a meaning out of some of them. They did seem like some of those paintings that ordinarily made no sense but when explained through the eyes of the artist, made a whole lot of meaning. Then there was another of a nun with blood dripping from the corners of her lips.

”I should pack up, ” Mary said taking the book from her grip and tossing it into her bag.

”Im sorry for prying too much, ” Stella said apologetically, silently wondering what the picture meant.

Just then, the bell rang repeatedly and each girl understanding fully what the bell meant hurried to the hall. It was the emergency bell and it was rung only when there were announcements.

Each girl was still glowing from the refurnishing the comfort from home gave and there were few of them who were new and clueless just like Mary. Those who had formerly established cliques amongst themselves, sat with each other at the hall.

The chairs had previously been stacked together, forming tall heaps by the wall and they were caked with dust from the previous session. The hall though having been cemented to the ground with tiles, still begged to be cleaned. That was the hall where emergency meetings like that one and masses were held and so a wooden pulpit engraved with the sign of the cross was kept by the wall too at the elevated podium.

A Reverend sister approached from the rear in a navy blue gown and had a long rosary dangling by the sides of her robust waist. One would easily deduce that she was foreign by her aura and obviously skin complexion. Her skin glowed like a cut open interior of soursop with her sweat like its dripping fluid.

A small portion of her blonde hair poked through her veil and the other fine strands fell back and were kept in place with the aid of two pins by both sides of her hair. Her lips glimmered a little as she had smeared a light lip gloss over her pink lips and trod the flooring with her leather strapped sandals.

”Good evening students, ” her refined accent rang through. ”Welcome back! ” She had said and her words were accompanied with a vigorous round of applause. ”For the new students, my name is Sister May Baltimore and Im your Principal. ” She gave a brief pause as though waiting for her words to sink in before continuing, ”As you all know, this is a school where academic excellence as well as moral uprightness is upheld and violators are duly punished. A fraction of the boys hostel was gutted down by a wild fire and so the senior boys would be moving into the newer girls hostel until theirs is fixed and so they can effectively prepare for the senior examinations. ”

There was an echo of murmuring as some beamed wildly with excitement while others wondered how boys could move into the girls hostel. Mary was part of that crowd.

*****

The Principal had given the detective a private space which was converted to an investigation room as there was just a table between two chairs and while the detective sat at one end, the suspects quivered at the other. Stella was still at the hot seat.

She had been staring so keenly at the meticulousness of the detective, observing her rapid eye movements and examination of the detailed drawings in the diary. Stella clasped her feeble palms together between her thighs as one would do bread to butter because that was the only way she could stop them from shaking. She remembered vividly how she had gotten herself there.

A general assembly was conducted under duress when Mary was reported missing. Every girl had been adorned with their white shirt, checked blue and white strokes on their pleated skirts and navy blue blazers while the boys had a crimson red trousers and the same colour on their blazers serving as an extra layer over their shirts. Some had taken theirs off because the meeting had been summoned under the scorching heat of the afternoon sun while others still appeared fully clothed.

Principal May read out a note that had been alleged to be Marys suicide note. She recalled how the Principal had punctuated at each point, the callousness of depression and how everyone had a hand in her choice for murder, but Stella knew that Mary didn do it. Someone standing at the row for Ss2A students did it and proper autopsy couldn be carried out because the body was still missing.

Slowly but steadily, at the last row under the blazing heat and before the teachers and apparently the whole school, Stella rose her hand and countered the contents of the letter.

”Mary didn kill herself, ” she had said and an uproar of murmuring students arose. She had reiterated it when the Principal didn seem to hear her. A little louder even.

”Are you sure about that? ” The Principal had asked, killing the murmurs and Stella replied in the affirmative. ”Then who did it? ”

Stella stared at everyone at her row and many of them shot fiery gazes her way. She then drew lines on the earth with the sole of her shoe which the Principal and many other teachers and Reverend sisters understood to mean that she was trying to protect the identity of whosoever did it.

But that was not it. If at all, Stella would have screamed the name of the person if she had been fully convinced. She had made a claim on uncertain grounds which was just as well punishable by law hence her fear.

”Excuse me detective, ” Stella spoke up.

”Yes? ” The detective asked, raising her eyes from the page she had dwelt upon. It was that of the nun with a blood at the corner of her lips.

”Are you the same detective that handled the case of the little boy who killed his abusive father? ” Stella spat out.

The detective pulled out her glasses and smirked in sudden recollection of the memory.

”Yes, it is I. Its been roughly two years. How did you know about it? ” The detective asked.

”It was all over the news. It was almost impossible that a child that little could commit such an act. Doesn the law protect the interest of children that little? ”

”The law protects everyone, ” the detective replied firmly.

That was definitely not the reply she had anticipated but took it in anyways.

”You did mention that the book had a thing or two about everyone. Didn you? ” The detective casually asked and Stella nodded. ”Why didn Mary say much about you as her friend? Or are some pages from this book missing? ” Stella fell silent and clutched tightly to the hem of her skirt.