Sister Omo was buried in the forest, Father IK said St. Stephen was her home, a place of rest. His voice was aggrieved with sorrow and Father Chibuike couldn't place whether he was actually hurt since the time of her death till now, or if he was a good actor to seem that way.
"We've had a few incidents of death but they've all been suicides. We can't call this murder, but this is one gruesome way to die," he was saying, "we pray Sister Omo finds rest."
The students chorused, "Amen."
"Let her every good work speak for her."
"Amen."
"Until we meet to part no more."
"Amen."
A murmur of sobs were heard, sniffs almost audible as the coffin was lowered to the ground.
Father IK went first to push his own heap of red earth on the coffin, the counselor went next. The staff took turns by hierarchy until it got to Father Chibuike. He declined with a shake of head, using his leg to push aside the shovel the counselor held towards him.
"I made a mistake," he said.
"Don't ask him what mistake it is," Father Ekene warned.
But the counselor was curious, he was still holding the shovel towards Father Chibuike when he asked, "What kind?"
"I didn't ask Omo what kind of flowers she liked before she died, I forgot."
Sister Agatha shook her head.
"I did tell you not to ask," Father Ekene reminded.
"But it doesn't stop you from engaging in the burial," the counselor said, the others waiting, watching the drama unfold.
"Now her grave is going to be empty, such a sad life," he tsked. He knew it was going to be talked about, how he was the last person to speak with her, and how he didn't want to bury her, but he didn't care.
"This is the last respect, we owe her this much," the counselor pressed, raising the shovel up in an offering.
Father Chibuike pushed himself from the tree he was leaning on and whispered to the counselor, "Get this shovel out of my sight before I decide it's your grave I want to push mud into with it."
The counselor brought his hand back to his side. "You have the darkest sense of humour, Father Chibuike."
"I know, you don't have to remind me."
From where Itohan stood, she watched them, her rage unsheathed. She still couldn't believe that Sister Omo was dead, gone forever.
She saw Father Ekene move, and she watched him, a dislike in her eyes. She had not been able to get the correct hue from her own mixture and each day as she submitted her unfinished work, she would watch as he molded her sheet into a ball and discard it in the waste bin.
And when she would come back the next day, he would treat her like a VIP and she would wish he had died the night before.
She saw him near Sister Agatha and whispered something to her, smiling like a teenager who got a positive reply to his love letter. He laughed when the Sister retorted even though she kept a straight expression and when he reached to remove something from her face, her lips curved up in a small smile.
She was so focused that she didn't see Father Chibuike pick a stone and throw at her.
"Ouch!" She rubbed her arm where it had landed and looked up to see him wave. Then he started to walk towards her. "What is your problem?" She asked, a frown on her face.
"You should be careful with how your look at me, everyone is going to notice," he said when he got to her.
If it wasn't the narcissist priest, Itohan mused. "I wasn't even looking at you," she said.
He waved. "Can you listen to yourself? Except you have a blind spot for beauty, you would look."
As if to prove her point, she stepped away from him to continue watching the duo.
Father Chibuike followed her line of sight. "Oh, you weren't looking at me."
"Said same," she murmured absentmindedly. She saw Father Ekene nudge Sister Agatha playfully, she glared at him but it didn't seem to faze him, he took her hand in his.
"They have feelings for each other," Father Chibuike said as if knowing the question that besieged her thoughts.
"What?" She had heard him the first time, she wasn't asking for clarity, she was just shocked.
Father Chibuike repeated with such an ease as if he was saying, 'Water is wet', "They have feelings for each other, romantic feelings."
She looked from them to him. "How?"
"We go a long way back, Agatha and I at first. She's always wanted to be a priestess, she would go on and on, and since I'd just developed my feelings for God, I decided to share her dream.
"We met Ekene while we were waited to get into convent school. Their feelings started then. But Agatha was not having any of it, she subdued her feelings, denied it, ignored it and pursued her dream. Up till now, I still wonder why she tortured herself that much.
"As for Ekene, he didn't want to have a life without her, he followed us to convent school. Up till now, I wonder why he tortures himself this much. He plans on convincing her to leave and so far it's futile."
"He couldn't convince her not to join the faith, how can he convince her to leave?" Despite that she was shocked by the discovery, that was the first thought that crossed her mind.
Father Chibuike flicked her forehead. "It's harder to stop people from doing something than it is to discontinue them from it. Well, in some cases, like this one. Why? You may ask, it's because of the word 'experience'. You can really know that you don't love me only after you've known what it feels like to love me."
He placed a hand on his chest and pouted his lips. "These are valuable life lessons that I'm teaching you, if you were to pay a naira for every of them so far, I'll be raking in millions."
Itohan ignored him and returned her gaze back to the duo. They weren't really on her black list, but it doesn't hurt to know. Who would have imagined? The priest had such a twisted fate, no wonder he was such a dick.
"How many times do I have to remind you not to curse around me?" Father Chibuike said, making her realize she had said that aloud. "You don't like him very much do you?" He nodded to Father Ekene.
"You need to see the way he behaves in detention."
He chuckled. "That's his territory. No wonder there's so much hate in your eyes when you look at him, but—" he moved to stand in front of her, completely blocking her view. "—I'm jealous. It should be me you look at with such disdain, it should be me you're looking at, disdain or not."
Itohan didn't have to try, Ivie's roll of eyes came natural to her.
"Why did you refuse to bury Sister Omo?" She asked him.
"Uh-oh, somebody said they weren't looking."
"I..it was obvious to everyone, I didn't have to look to see."
"So you closed your eyes?"
"No, I…you know what I mean."
"Do I now?" He cocked his head to the side, watching her.
"You don't want to answer the question?" Was he hiding something?
"I feel guilty, that's all."
Guilty? "Guilty?"
"I didn't ask what kind of flowers she should like at her grave before she died."
Itohan blinked. "You were with her when she died?"
Father Chibuike leaned to whisper, "We've gone through this before and I like how you're pretending not to know, but I don't want to talk about it again."
They had? Ivie knew what happened to Sister Omo? Ivie knew whether Father Chibuike had killed her or not? Ivie knew?
Daring, she asked, "Did you kill her, Father?"