29 I know Everything
You are wanted in the Matron's office now!" Naomi screamed at Gloria, staring down at her with rage.
Gloria opened her mouth in shock to speak, but before she could utter a word, what she saw next were Naomi's shiny boots moving swiftly towards the door. Gloria looked around nervously, her heart skipping a beat. She knew her time was up! This was her last strike… whatever reason the matron was summoning her to her office was not a good one. On shaky legs, she strode behind Naomi to the matron's office.
When the door to the matron's office opened and she saw her sitting calmly watching her, she swallowed hard because she knew it was about to get terrible for her.
"I know everything, Gloria. I know what you did! Get inside here!" The matron's words echoed in her head before Naomi shut the door, throwing her into a room of terror. Gloria's body stiffened, as if she were about to be executed. Her time was up! And Naomi and the matron were her executioners.
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With shaky, sweaty hands, Gloria described everything that happened between her and Anna, how Pablo and his gang abused Sylvia and Stanley, and the part she played in the whole incident. She couldn't leave out any information, not when the matron was watching her every move with hawk eyes. She was terrified. And all the while, Naomi stood in a corner with her arms crossed, watching her with a satisfied look on her face.
She and Anna had finally won! And she was about to expose herself to the school board… what would her mother do? What would be her fate after this? Gloria cried in her head, her shoulders trembled a bit and her eyes were misty like tears were about to roll down any second, but she held them back as she continued her letter. The room was so quiet, not one person spoke a word or moved and she could hear heart beating loudly, which added to her distress.
"Let me see" The matron's piercing command broke the deafening silence in the room when Gloria said she was done. With shaky hands, she handed the letter to a displeased matron, who perused the letter and threw it back at her and asked her to re-write the three-page-long-letter she had already written. This was the second time she was rewriting it and, deep down, she wanted to protest. But when she saw the icy look on the matron's face, she swallowed her words and started afresh.
"I said, you must write everything like it happened… Everything," the matron emphasized. Naomi grinned from the corner where she was standing. The matron was her hero! Her heart fluttered with joy.
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With the letter neatly folded and placed in a small bag the matron had given her to conceal it, Gloria plodded slowly towards the school board director's office. With a heavy heart, her mind wandered back to the matron's last words and her unkind eyes as she instructed her on what to do with the letter.
"We don't want anyone finding out what we are up to until the school board gets the letter. So, once you are done here, go straight to the Director's office. I believe she is in the office today. Hand over this letter to her alone and no one else. She may ask you to explain yourself… make sure you tell her everything. Let her know the part you played and every single horrible thing you all did. Don't miss any word or any important detail! And do not divert or delay in getting this done! Any mistakes will get you into a deeper mess. Did you hear me?"
She was still thinking of the matron's words when she suddenly looked up and saw Anna in her way. She immediately lowered her eyes in shame, avoiding her as she made her way to the extreme end of the school compound where the Director's office was situated. This was her worst nightmare! She whimpered as she dreaded the moment she would have to confess face to face to the School Director. But she was doing it anyway… it was over for her. She had no more tricks up her sleeves. Her mum was going to find out one way or another… she was ruined! Everyone was going to find out. Pablo and Clinton had only succeeded in making matters worse for all of them. Whatever they did had backfired, and they were all going to suffer the consequences.
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Anna felt a surge of pride as she watched Gloria walking away with shame. They had succeeded! They had finally defeated Gloria and gradually the rest would go down with her. But now everything was in the hands of the school board. And she had serious doubt about them doing the right thing. What would the world say if they found out the holy Deaconess of a prestigious school had covered up something so heinous? The school wouldn't want that sort of thing to be out in the open. They will try again to stifle the truth.
Anna shook her head as her doubts came flooding through her veins, her eyebrows squeezed in worry. The happiness she felt before snuffed out by her doubts and worries. She seriously doubted the school board will take the appropriate actions against Pablo, Clinton and the Deaconess. She doubted it! And this would all be for nothing!
"What are you thinking about?" Naomi asked when she saw Anna lost in her thought.
"You startled me," Anna heaved before a weak smile spread on her little face at the sight of Naomi.
"We did it! Anna, just the two of us. We should be happy! Gloria is taking her confession to the school board as we speak. Soon, it will all be over." She proclaimed as she turned Anna back and steered her by her arms towards her classroom.
"But… it isn't over yet. I have no faith in the school board. They can stop the truth from coming out for the second time. And What do we do then? What do we do when Pablo and his gang and Clinton are exonerated? …When the Deaconess wins yet again? There would be no peace for us here! We won't be safe any…"
"Anna… calm your nerves. There's no trick or bribe that would save them this time. As we are speaking now, the Matron is preparing to deal them the final blow. Have you forgotten about our plan already? Even the school board can't save any of them this time. Not with all I have recorded on that device. I have with me the memory card containing everything Pablo and his gang said to me that day. I am just patiently waiting for Edith to get me the recording device to nail the Deaconess finally."
"Do you think she was able to do it…" Anna's voice quivered then, and she paused.
"What is it?" Naomi asked, but she didn't need any answer. When she looked up and saw Pablo and Clinton staring at them furiously from the other end of the school veranda, she immediately knew why Anna had stopped.
"Let them believe they are still
unstoppable.Their time is coming! Soon, they will answer for what they did to my brother," Naomi said, returning Pablo's vicious stare. But she noticed Anna was breathing heavily beside her and she covered her tiny hands with her warm hands.
"They can't hurt any of us anymore," she said, dispelling Anna's fear and making her bold enough to return the vicious stares. Sylvia stepped out of the class then to talk to Anna and when she saw Pablo and Clinton, she almost ran back in fear. But Anna held her hands.
"You don't need to be scared of them anymore… soon they will answer for their crimes." Anna assured a troubled Sylvia.
"What do you mean? What are you up to, Anna? Whatever you do, don't get yourself in trouble with them." Sylvia said in a weak voice as she wriggled her hands away from Anna's grasp.
"She's right… you don't need to be scared of them anymore," the new senior assured her, her beaming smile radiating hope to a broken Sylvia. Sylvia shook off the feeling of hope, wondering what Anna had told her. She nodded reluctantly before walking back to the class.
Naomi and Anna stood their ground even as the boys attempted to walk towards their side of the veranda. Even when Clinton banged his fists on the balcony railings and pointed threatening fingers at them, the girls didn't shake. Pablo and his gang couldn't do anything… not in broad daylight.
The entire atmosphere was crackling with the tension between the two groups when Edith tapped Naomi.
Taken by surprise, Naomi turned swiftly.
"Hey… it's me… I did it!" Edith stated joyfully, a joyful smile spreading across her face.
"It's finally over now." She mumbled to herself.
"Right, I won't have to ever go back there?"
"You don't have to… I will make sure of it"
Naomi smiled back at her. She then turned back and whispered something to Anna, which made her smile before strutting into her room. Her joy visible in her stride.
Edith and Naomi also walked into their room, where Edith handed her the recording device. Naomi stuffed it in her bag and clutched it to her heart as she walked to the matron's room.
The matron swung her door open and smiled when she saw Naomi standing in front of her door, holding a small bag. It was up to her now to expose all the evil deeds in Bishop Evangelical College. And she must!
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Mrs. Gracious was dressed in her usual ugly, big, unattractive polo, long flowing black skirt and a scarf that covered half her small face when she heard a knock. Her husband and kids were not at home and she wondered who it was knocking on her door this early in the afternoon. When she opened the door and saw an immaculately dressed young woman staring at her, she became even more confused.
And she almost shut the door on the face of the young woman when she announced that she was a teacher at Bishop Evangelical College.
"You need to hear this… You would be saving some poor students by doing this, please. They need you. Just a little of your time." The young woman had pleaded, which made Mrs. Gracious pause.
"Please just hear me out!" The young woman repeated and Mrs. Gracious reluctantly opened the door to let the strange lady into her home.
"Whatever it is you have to say make it quick. And secondly I have zero interest in whatever happens in that immoral school. So, don't expect me to be amazed or concerned about whatever you have to say." Mrs. Gracious retorted, her hawk-like face looking more hostile. But that didn't deter the calm-looking Miss Clara from doing what she had come to accomplish.
"When you hear all I have to say, you will have a change of heart. I know you have a good heart. Your students need you. And I know you need this too. You were dismissed unjustly. You shouldn't let the Deaconess go scot-free with that" the new matron stated boldly while Mrs. Gracious merely stared at her from head to toe, irritated by her presence.
What did she know about anything? She wanted to fling the question on her face but she instead kept her calm and listened to what she had to say.
But she certainly had a change of heart after paying attention to what the young matron had to say. Her hostility towards the lady disappeared once she listened to all the horrible things on the recording device. And she couldn't believe that all that evil had happened under her watch. She was ashamed of herself. And her guilt drove her to ask the new matron what she had to do to rectify her wrongs.
The young woman was soft-spoken and made her feel at peace and she couldn't help but open up to what she had seen that got her dismissed which she had told no one. Not even her husband!
"This all too much! Just one woman has done so much evil but somehow she was still parading herself as the most righteous woman on earth. I can't believe Bishop Evangelical has lost its glory under the leadership of this immoral woman. She has ruined so many lives." Mrs. Gracious said, dropping the bowl of fruits she was bringing for her guest unceremoniously on the table in anger.
The women were truly pained.
But their anger and pain increased in intensity when they got the part Of Edith and Mr. Godwin. They could barely listen through the terror the poor girl had suffered. Mrs. Gracious squeezed her face in pain while Miss Clara clenched her fists.
"We have gotten everything ready! Anna and Naomi, your students came up with a brilliant plan to take them down. All we need to do now is surprise them with this evidence in case the school board chooses to back her up and keep her dirt buried."
Mrs.Gracious still had a solemn look on her face as she tried to digest all the horrible things her ears had heard.
"We can make them pay. But this is where I have to stop because I have to go back and pretend everything is normal," the new matron paused as she weighed the little recording device.
"I can't deliver this to the right people, but you can. That is why I came to see you. We need you to deliver this device to our contact outside. I would give Naomi's parents' number. They would help to set everything up. The school board can never know about this until it is all done. I and the girls don't trust them completely. And we believe this device is not safe in the school with us."
"They threatened me and my family! I was afraid… I couldn't sleep with my eyes shut for days. But If I do this, that means I no longer need to be afraid of her or Pastor Jude. But this might also be the end of the school!"
" What happens to the school after isn't important now. What is most important is bringing those evil souls to justice. They have destroyed so many innocent lives. Those poor girls have suffered enough. I saw with my own eyes when those brutes almost molested one of them. And it pierced my heart. Imagine burying such evil and letting the innocent ones suffer? It's about time they paid. Are you ready to do with us?"
Mrs. Gracious stared at the tough-looking young woman in front of her for a moment. Her boldness was impressive, and her penchant for justice was admirable. And she accepted then that her dismissal had happened for a very good reason.
She nodded reluctantly in agreement to the young woman's question before stretching out her hand to collect the recording device. The Deaconess must answer for all her atrocities! Her day of reckoning was here!
