"So your friend is a bit weird." Mummy stated.
Knowing my mother, there was no way in hell she was going to let my conversation with Jesse go without comment. I mean, come on, she is a Nigerian mother who saw a boy talking to her daughter so there was bound to be questions.
"Ehh. He's okay." I kept my answer short and simple.
"It was nice of him to come and talk to you. You guys seem close." Although she was facing forward, hands on the car wheel, it still felt like she was looking directly at me.
"I guess." I shrugged. I hoped I was inflecting the right amount of nonchalance to make her see there was nothing special and drop the conversation.
"I'm assuming he's the one you ran out of Sunday school with that day." I turned to her.
"How do YOU even KNOW about that?"
"Aunty Felicia told me."
I sighed. "Mummy let me stop you before you even land. Jesse is my friend. Nothing more, nothing less."
"I never said he wasn't your friend. I didn't even say what he was to you."
"Mummy he likes Theo! Okay?"
"Or is it liked now?" I mumbled bitterly.
The car was silent after my admission. I was shocked at how hurt I still felt, Jesse wasn't the first boy I found attractive who liked Theo instead. I didn’t even blame them, I was the ugly weird friend, Theo was the cool, hot one. It didn’t stop it from hurting.
I couldn't even be upset because Theo was gone. Theo was never coming back, and it was all my fault.
Mummy made a sharp turn and pulled into a filling station.
"I didn't know we were buying fuel." I was trying to erase all traces of our last conversation.
"I didn't either. However, this is the first filling station I've passed since last week without a queue. I'm taking my chances."
True to her word, the filling station wasn't too crowded. There were four pumps working and about ten vehicles in the station. Mummy slid in behind a truck and killed the engine. She rolled down the windows and I was hit with the too-familiar unpleasant smell of car exhaust, waste and dirt.
"Do you want to get something?" She moved her head in the direction of the fast food joint attached to the filling station.
"Go and get something. We didn't eat before leaving." She handed me her card.
Guess my input wasn't needed then.
"Do you want anything?" I asked.
"Maybe meat pie. And a cold Fanta."
I got out of the car, making sure to avoid stepping on the empty wrappers of gala, plantain chips and other snacks that littered the road. I took a deep breath and entered the fast food joint. The fans were in at full blast, providing a respite from the scorching Lagos sun.
As I stood in line, I tried to recall everything I knew about Jesse. All I knew was he had joined our church last year, his family was rich and he was very handsome. Which was not enough. I winced as I remembered our conversation in church barely thirty minutes ago.
"Kelly is everything okay?" He looked worried.
"That's strange." Mummy had stopped pretending she wasn't eavesdropping and stepped out of the car.
"What day did you say you saw Kelechi’s lookalike again?"
"Ehh ... should have been like three weeks ago. Was a Friday I think."
What was happening here? How did this become my life? How had I not noticed him at that place? Why was I sober? I needed to be high for this conversation!
"FUCKING SAY SOMETHING KELECHI!" My mind screamed at me. When I spoke next, I couldn't even believe it was me speaking.
"Mummy that's the day I went to daddy's place. I had basketball practice then his driver came to pick me. You can call him and ask him." I rolled my eyes, praying desperately she was buying the nonchalant act I was putting on.
Mummy sighed. "Oh that's true." I knew she would rather chew her toenails than have a conversation with my father.
"Did you really think I snuck out?" I pretended to be offended. "Na wa oh! Have small faith in me."
Jesse laughed awkwardly. "Ma, Kelly is not that kind of person. I knew it couldn't be her, that's why I was so shocked."
"Okay oh! Since you know the kind of person my daughter is more than me." She joked.
"Ma, now you're putting words in my mouth."
Another reason my friends liked meeting mummy was because of how easy-going and laid back she was. I watched her and Jesse banter and felt my erratic heartbeat return to normal.
"Chika. Over here." A woman called.
Mummy groaned silently, then plastered a huge smile on her face. "Mummy Tayo. Ahn ahn. See how you're shining." She walked off to the car opposite us, where the woman's car was packed.
"Kelly I am so sorry. Hope I didn't get you in trouble with your mum." Jesse pleaded.
"You can't get me in trouble when I never did anything wrong." I shrugged.
"Oh thank God!" He placed his right hand on his chest. "Because from the look on your face just now, I nearly thought it was actually you I saw."
"I was just shocked. This is a first for me, the whole mistaken identity thing. I'll like to meet the girl."
"Maybe she's your twin who got switched at birth." He joked.
"If that's the case, I think my mum has some explaining to do." I smirked.
We both laughed. I remembered the last conversation I had with Jesse. He had been so sure Theo was coming back, so certain of it. Going on a hunch, I decided his running into me was not coincidental. Bringing it up in front of mummy was a threat. I wondered what he knew, and I decided I was going to find out.
"By the way, are you with your phone?" I asked.
"Oh yeah." He reached into his pocket and brought it out.
I snatched it. "You're using a Samsung S20. Rich kid." I teased.
"Haba. I'm sure you have an IPhone."
"The one you bought for me?" I asked, my tone laced with sarcasm.
"God you're funny. I can't remember the last time l laughed this much."
I glanced at mummy. She was surrounded by Mummy Tayo and five other women. She would be busy for a while.
"My friend asked me to send pictures of my outfit and I left my phone at home. Can I use yours?" Liar, liar pants on fire. My phone was safely in my purse, thankfully on silent mode.
"Sure. Do you need help with the pictures?"
"Definitely." I gave a few awkward poses while he snapped away.
"That's not it. Come on give me a smile." He grinned.
As if on command, I let out a shaky smile. "Much better. Now cross your legs. Look to the right." I held the pose for a few minutes before I ran up to him.
"I'm done. It's pictures of my outfit I need not myself."
"Who says you can't get both? Look at this one. It's nice."
The picture wasn't bad, the problem was my front teeth sticking out, spoiling the picture. Also the line of pimples that dotted my forehead, not excluding the black head that popped up this morning. At fifteen, I still had no semblance of hips or a bust and remained stick straight. I looked like an ugly overgrown child.
Jesse, oblivious to my thoughts was grinning widely at the picture.
"Looking peng, are we? In fact, I'm posting this on my status."
"No don't." I scowled. "The picture is ugly."
"What are you saying? You look great."
"Jesse." A male voice called out. We looked up. Mirabel and Victor, two of our Sunday school mates were walking towards us.
"Umm. Please can you go stall them? I don't feel like talking to people right now."
"Of course." He jogged towards them, calling out to them.
Once his back was turned, I scrolled through other pictures in his gallery. If he was working with Theo, I would find something incriminating, I reasoned. All I found were several pictures of a white dog, pictures of him, his siblings, dumb motivational quotes. Nothing incriminating in his gallery.
I glanced in his direction. Finding him occupied with the conversation, I left the photos app and clicked on WhatsApp. I hastily scrolled through the chats, till I got his chat with Theo. I checked the date of their last conversation and did some mental calculations, it was the week before she went missing. I noticed he, Mirabel and Victor approaching, and quickly deleted all evidence of my snooping.
"Kelly how far." Victor greeted.
"I'm alright. How are you guys?" I tried to smile.
"We're fine. Sorry about Theo's death." Mirabel replied.
"Thanks." I nodded.
The four of us stood in awkward silence before Mirabel spoke up. "By the way, I sent you messages on WhatsApp. You never replied."
"Oh. I haven't really been online. Sorry about that." I mumbled.
"It's all good." She said in a tone that sounded like it wasn't. "I even thought maybe your phone spoilt or something."
I had never been more thankful to hear mummy's car horn blaring.
"I have to go. Bye." I handed Jesse his phone.
"Wait. How will you get your pictures?" He asked.
"Oh yeah. Just give me your number I'll text you on WhatsApp."
"How will you do that? You didn't bring your phone."
"Oh true." My hand paused in the act of opening my bag.
He handed me his phone and I dutifully typed my number, ignoring Mirabel's glare.
"Okay bye. Before your mum blows the horn again."
"Bye Kelechi." Victor smiled.
"Later." Mirabel said.
I waved bye and ran after the car. An idea came as I got in and strapped my seat belt. I took my phone from my bag and called the number that sent the threatening text. The same number that Theo had used to text me.
"The number you dialled is switched off."
It wasn't him. I let out a sigh of relief. Maybe it had all been a coincidence.
Back in the line, I selected two cold Fanta and a meat pie and sausage roll each for mummy and I. The total was a staggering 4200 naira. I handed over mummy's card without thinking too much. Everything had become way more expensive, and less tasty. I collected mummy's card and walked briskly to the car.
Mummy had left the line and was parked close to the ATM machine.
"What took you so long?" She snapped.
"Sorry there was a queue."
"In this economy there's still queue to buy snacks. Where are people seeing this money?"
She took the receipt and read through. "Four thousand two hundred. For meat pie and Fanta. Jesus help me." She sighed and started the car.
My Sunday was pretty chill. I helped mummy with lunch, which was white rice and chicken stew. After lunch mummy called me to help loosen her braids and we spent the rest of the day doing that. I fell into an exhausted sleep and woke up in the middle of the night, panting and clawing my neck.
Interhouse sports day was Friday, so this week was going to be crazily busy for me. The heat for field sports like javelin, shot put, high jump, long jump and volley ball were all holding this week. Plus, basketball practice.
I had been injured when my house played in for basketball game. Luckily, the SS3 students participated and we ended with the bronze medal. If we were going to win this competition, we needed more medals. Preferably of the gold variety.
I had neglected the track team in my state of grief. Luckily, my other house members had picked the pace. The March past was good, although our cheerleaders needed more practice in my opinion.
Monday was the shot put and javelin race and we got two silver medals. Tuesday we finally hit gold when Nafisat won the gold for high jump. I joined my house mates screaming and running around the field in joy.
Wednesday was the volleyball match. Wednesday was also the day of Theo's candlelight procession. I woke up ten minutes before my bus was meant to arrive to Mummy screaming at me. I ran out only half dressed, holding my bag in one hand, and three slices of bread in the other.
The volleyball match was good. I've always found it similar to basketball but more stressful. Two houses would play against each other, and the top four would battle for the three medals.
We faced white house first. They’re the house with the least athletes and we had an easy win. The next team we faced was red house. It gave me great joy beating Jessica and we moved on to the final match against blue house.
Blue House had clearly been practicing. It didn't matter to me, I badly needed a win. After a difficult match, I saw the ball coming my way and hit it with all my might. I watched the players struggle and fail to catch it as the whistle blew. Gold for yellow!
The high from the win sustained me throughout the school day. Other students had even stopped pretending I was invisible and sent congratulations my way. All we needed was to win the races and the gold trophy was as good as ours.
I got home as they were setting up the poster in front of Theo's house. The poster had a picture of her from her birthday photoshoot last year. She wore a black off-shouldered dress with a sweetheart neckline. Her hair was braided with honey coloured attachments that framed her face. She wore a silver necklace with a heart pendant, my birthday present to her. On her arms were an assortment of bracelets and rings. She had on a megawatt smile. She looked like someone who loved to live. Above her picture were the words
Gone too soon.
Underneath it
02/04/2009 – 13/03/2025
I felt sick to my stomach. I turned and ran inside my house.
The procession started around 6pm. Following the dress code which was black, I wore a black graphic tee with black cargo pants and a pair of my Nike slides. I came down around 5:30 pm to see if there was anything I needed to help with. Mummy wore a black boubou with a scarf tied on her with like a turban. We met Tami and her mum at Theo's door.
Mummy hugged Tami's mum while Tami and I had that weird moment where you're no longer friends with someone but you don't want your parents to know.
"Oh my God! Kelly it’s so horrible!" She moaned on my shoulder. "We have to be strong for Mummy Timi."
It took my great effort to not push her away or roll my eyes. Isaac opened the door and greeted our mothers.
Mummy Timi sat in the living room, surrounded by her sisters. The blank gaze hadn’t departed from her face. There were some other guests talking to Daddy Timi.
Isaac directed Tami and I upstairs, they had modified their living quarters upstairs to include a second living room. Gabriel laid on the sofa, he greeted us with bloodshot eyes.
"Hey ladies, including my brother."
Tami let out an awkward laugh, however Isaac didn’t find anything funny with the situation. He responded to his brother’s greeting with a stone cold glare.
Gabriel was the only one among his siblings who looked like his mother. While the others had their father’s light-skinned features, he was a carbon copy of her face. I knew his siblings called him, ‘mummy’s handbag’ as a joke.
He stood up towering over his elder brother with at least a foot.
"Great meeting you guys. Now I gotta bounce. " He flashed a peace sign and walked out of the room. Isaac followed, hot on his heels. They entered their room and Isaac slammed the door behind him.
"What the fuck is wrong with you Gabriel? You chose today of all days to get high. "
We could still hear their conversation from behind the closed doors.
"It’s like being a fuck up is the only thing you’re capable of. " He snapped.
"Being a suck up is the only thing YOU are capable of. If I’m going to go through this stupid farce I’m going to do it my way. " Gabriel responded heartedly.
"This farce" Isaac snapped "is not about you. It’s about our dead sister. "
"It’s about daddy. It’s about turning our dear sister’s death into a shitshow. That is what this shit is about so save the bullshit for someone who actually believes it. "
"If this was really about Theo why didn’t you guys listen when mummy said no? Or the women don’t have a say in this family? " He emphasized the last word mockingly.
I tried to distract myself from the conversation and picked the photo album from the table in front of me.
Tami cast awkward gazes across the room, muttering under her breath.
I was flipping through the album absentmindedly when I stopped at a picture of Theo and her brothers. The picture was at least ten years old, Theo stood in the middle striking a pose, her brothers flanking her. They stood in a well-manicured lawn, surrounded by flower shrubs. I could see how brightly the pavement stones shone when polished, those unmistakable white marble pillars.
This was it. The house I met Theo in. the place she was hiding during her fake kidnapping episode. The last place I saw her alive. It was here, in her family album.
I heard footsteps and jumped, slamming the album shut. Timi walked in at the tail end of his siblings bickering and sighed.
"Don’t mind my brothers."
"The procession is about to start. You can go downstairs."
The procession started with a prayer led by Venerable Damijo, our vicar. After that we walked the length of our estate. Theo's dad and brothers led the procession with the vicar. Following them were family relations, friends, neighbours and sympathisers in no particular order.
The turnout was quite huge, I could see almost a hundred people, not excluding church members and people who saw the news of the procession on social media and decided to attend. Even Sister MaryAnne was in attendance. We marched in silence, Tami sobbed on my shoulders the entire time. I blinked away the tears that threatened to fall and kept moving.
Most people had their phones out, making videos and taking selfies. Theo’s family had even hired a photographer to cover the event.
"Hi guys, I’m here at the procession for my late bestie …"
I turned to see Tami with her phone out, live on Instagram. I shoved her off my shoulders and marched on.
"Hi." I turned. Jesse stood beside me, wearing a black top and shorts.
"You run track right?"
"Yeah?"
"It's obvious in the way you walk. I have a friend who walks like that."
"Seems like you're seeing me everywhere. It's giving obsessed."He laughed.
"Nice one. I walked right into that." We fell into a comfortable silence, as comfortable as it could be considering the circumstances.
"I can't believe she's really gone." He sounded amazed.
"Well, you were so sure she was coming back."
"That's because I thought it was a prank." He lowered his voice. "Theo mentioned something like this one time. About how when she's gone we'll know how much we loved her. Sometimes you don't know what's a joke or what's real with her. This was one of those times."
"When I heard she went missing, I was so sure it was a prank. Then two weeks passed and I wasn't so sure anymore. And now, she's gone."
"Well now you know it was definitely not a prank. It was real." At least parts of it were.
He nodded soberly. "This is all shades of messed up. I hope they catch the guys ASAP."
"Same."
I kept my eyes fixed on the Ogazie men. One of them must have assisted Theo. I was sure of it. The question was which of them? Or was it all? Was it Timi who was always barking into a phone? Or Isaac? Or Gabriel?
I noticed Jesse was still talking and turned to him.
"Sorry I didn’t get that. "
"I said hope your friend liked the photos. "
"Which photos? " I remembered as soon as I asked. "Oh yeah she loved them, well the dress style shaa. "
"Cool. So what’s up with you? "
"Well, my school’s interhouse sports is on Friday. "
"Nice. So you’re very busy then. Agba basketballer. "
"Oh please!" I scoffed. I felt a thrill run through me at his words.
"I can’t wait for this week to be over. Next week is mid-term break. "
"Same. See, we have so much in common." He grinned. I laughed.
We finally got to the end of the procession. The priest said more prayers for Theo's soul, and for safety of Nigerian women. After that people started leaving.
I saw Theo's dad giving an interview to a news crew.
"It's a horrible thing. My family will never remain the same. The government needs to act; we need to protect our girls from evil men roaming the streets."
I remembered Gabriel's rants and wondered the truth in them.
Some of the attendees stayed back to greet Theo's family. Theo's mum remained seated on the couch, her eyes clouded. Theo's dad was at the forefront of the visitations, greeting people, talking with them.
Isaac and some of Theo's cousins had been recruited into serving guests. Not in the mood to start serving food, I snuck upstairs. Theo's parents stayed in the master bedroom, which was mummy's room in our house. Theo's bedroom was in the same position with mine, at the left of the stairs. Which meant the next room was her brothers'.
I knocked and heard Gabriel curse softly.
"Who is it?"
"It's me. Kelly."
I waited a beat before I heard, "Enter."
The room was surprisingly neat, it had a bunk and a single bed. The remaining furniture were a desk and chair with the wardrobe. A small fridge was on the floor in the middle of the beds. Gabriel sat cross-legged on the single bed, clad in only a pair of sweatpants. He was engaged in the very serious and attention demanding act of rolling a blunt. I saw three other perfectly rolled up pieces of paper and my mouth watered.
"What do you want?" Gabriel asked in his dry tone.
"One of those." He looked up and smirked.
"Are you for real?"
My facial expression must have told him, yes I was for real because he lit one, took a puff and handed it over.
The feeling of the blunt in my hand was heavenly. I was a starving man in a desert who had gotten a drop of water. I took a long drag and sighed as I felt the smoke move through my airways.
Gabriel stared at me with his mouth wide open.
"You've done this before. Jesus!"
"I ... I didn't thi ... nk you'll rea ... lly do it." He stammered.
I took another drag and sighed happily. "Thanks." I handed the blunt back.
"On second thought," I snatched my hand back before he could take it. "Can I keep this? I think I'll need this."
"Sorry I don't give drugs to children." He seemed to have recovered from his shock and reached out, grabbed my hands, forcing it open and snatched the paper from my hands.
"You're just two years older than me." I scoffed and laid on the bed.
"I didn't say you could stay."
"I didn't ask." The only sound in the room was the sound of the electronic fan whirring as it rotated.
"How long have you been smoking?" He asked worriedly.
I rolled my eyes. "Do you think you're in any position to judge me?" I don't know why I was uncharacteristically bold with Gabriel. Maybe he reminded me to how fucked we both were so there was no need to pretend to be normal.
"I'm not judging. Just ... you're too young for this."
"You sound like my mother."
"Your mum is hot. I don't mind." He shrugged.
"Eww. You pervert." I hit him.
"I've been called worse." He shrugged. He dropped the blunt and I snatched it up, eyebrows raised, daring him to do something. He shook his head and went back to rolling while I smoked.
"And everybody calls me the fucked up one."
"I saw a picture in you guy’s photo album. Fancy house." I tried to eject an air of nonchalance into my voice.
"Which house?"
"I think it was white. Was really big. Trees and flowers everywhere. Think it was Theo and you guys in the picture. You were much younger then."
"Wait. I think I know what you're talking about." He got up and rummaged through the table and came back with a photo album.
"This house." It was the same house; this time it was only the three boys in the picture. Timi already had a serious look, Isaac and Gabriel had their hands in their pockets, faces contorted in expressions that they probably thought made them look cool.
I snorted. "You guys look ridiculous."
He rolled his eyes. "Ridiculously good, you mean. Thanks."
"So yeah the house?"
"Oh. It's Big Mummy Tise's house. One of dad's crazy rich aunts. It's not even far from here. We used to go there all the time when we were younger." His eyes became more animated. "Those were good times men."
"Now everything is fucked up." He sighed.
"Looks like the kind of place Theo would have liked." I continued.
"She loved that place men. We all did. It was like a beautiful tropical garden, all those flowers. So far, it's the grandest house I've ever been in, I'm not lying. Then her husband died so, she relocated to Australia. That's where her children are."
I nodded. "Seems like you miss it."
"I do can't lie. Some of my best childhood memories are there." He said wistfully. "
You guys can still visit. She should have left the key with somebody in Nigeria."
He frowned. "Why are you so interested in the house?"
I shrugged. "Like I said, I like pretty places."
"You've probably seen bigger houses. Your dad's house is like that."
"Yeah well I hate my dad. And the feeling is mutual." I snapped. I cursed inwardly. I hadn't meant to say that.
He spoke so softly I nearly missed him. "Same."
I turned to him. He blinked rapidly. "You have to go. Before they start looking for you. If they find you here, we're in soup."
I nodded. "Yeah." I had already found out what I wanted to know.
"You probably need to greet people too."
"True." He groaned. "Just go down first and I'll come after you."
I smoothed out the flame and buried the blunt deep in my pants pocket.
"Do you have gum?"
"Yeah, sure." He handed me a pack of Clorets.
There was still a crowd downstairs, made of mostly neighbours. Mummy frowned when I came down the stairs but didn't say anything. A few minutes later, Gabriel came down the stairs hands shoved in his pockets. His appearance caused a bit of stir as he greeted the neighbours. Mummy got up to leave and I quickly followed.
As we left, I noticed Isaac glaring at Gabriel, then he turned to me with still frowning.
