Chapter 19

• In any moment, the decision you make can change the course of your life forever, choose now, choose well! T.R Japheth's POV If they continued this way, I was afraid that we would be found out any time soon. They were not cautious enough nor were they acting as if we had already pulled through with our initial plan. If we got caught, I swore to myself that whatever I'd do to them, only God knew what it was. Fred squinted his eyes on the phone's screen as if he wasn't seeing whatever was written on the phone clearly. I was curious to know what the message said and being patient now was needed. "She says that they've locked the security men up, the matron, principal and discipline master are all taken care of" Fred whispered to which I nodded my head to get my point across that I had heard him. "If they've done all of these, then why are going? What do they need us for?" I questioned to which the guys hummed in agreement as if they all had the same nagging question in their minds. "They want us to help them in.... burning the dorms!" Declared Fred hesitating a little on the last sentence to which Stanley and George gasped in surprise. I huffed, "They want us to get our hands dirty by killing the sleeping girls in the dorms?" "Japhe..." Fred trailed off as if whatever he wanted to say had evaporated from his mind. "No, tell her to burn the classes instead!" I snapped to which Fred shook his head in disagreement. "She won't listen. Ruth is one hardheaded girl and does not take no for an answer". He said. "There's a first for everything. I'm sure she'll take it for an answer now!" I replied. "Why do you think we burnt the classes instead? Because we did not want innocent lives lost. If she burns the dorms, how many girls do you think will survive and escape alive?" Why couldn't they get the point? Whether they burnt the classes or not, their point would still be passed across to the school's management and the government as well since the government was now taking note of all the school's that striked and got burnt as well. "Japheth it's a strike!" Henry exclaimed in a duh tone. This guy couldn't be serious?! Was he siding with them? I couldn't agree with this idea of theirs. It made me regret on why I had agreed on helping the girls out on the first place. Remind me next time, never to poke my nose into other people's businesses because I poked my nose into this business and it was biting me back in an ungrateful way. "So what if it's a strike? A strike does not mean that you go around burning people to death. Perhaps this is all a trap, she just wants us to go in there and for us to get caught. Who knows? Perhaps she's siding with the school management!" I said. "Japheth just drop the negative thoughts. We all know that you hate Ruth and who knows? Perhaps you don't want us to help her!" Henry cut in. Say what? "Hate or not, there's no way I'm helping out someone to set the dorms ablaze. If it's the classes, fine! but not the dorms. I thought she said she has her own gang, why don't they help each other in setting the dorms ablaze without involving us?" I questioned. "They just want to relax and make our hands dirty and soiled with blood of those who'll have died in the fire" Stanley remarked. At least he was in his right senses unlike Fred and Henry. "We have to be cautious. One small trip and we all end up in jail. If you insist on going on to help her, go ahead! I'll be here waiting for you". I remarked and took a step away from them. Stanley and George did the same, coming to stand by my side as we looked at Henry and Fred. "Fine. We'll go help them out and meet you out here when we are done". Fred commented sizing me up and down with his eyes as if what I had just done was not what he had expected from me. I couldn't do it. Being a bad boy was one thing. Setting a dorm full of sleeping girls and two or more ending up dead was another, that would make me out as a murderer and the last thing I wanted was to soil my hands with the blood of strangers. If he didn't want us to be friends after this, well and good. I couldn't go around killing people just to make him and Ruth happy. "We'll be waiting" I replied before they turned and left for the back gate which I was sure that it was already open. "Henry thinks that we're not men enough fit for the job". George spat, pocketing his hands in his pants pockets. "If being man enough means going around arsoning dorms then let him be the man. Let's see if he will be rewarded a trophy after this". I commented watching the two dark figures drift away in a distance. Fred's POV I couldn't believe this. My best friend refused to do these with me. I had always thought of him highly, I always thought that nothing, absolutely nothing scared him off but now, all those thoughts were erased away leaving me blank like an empty book. Or had he disagreed to do this because of my cousin? Did he hate her that much? If he knew from the beginning that she was from this school, would he have come here on the first place? Why did he even hate her? All these questions ran through my mind but there was no one to answer them and put my restless soul and hyper mind into peace. Only Japheth could perfectly answer my questions but no! I couldn't face him and even if I did, his unpredicted volcanic anger would erupt on me. His anger was what I was afraid of the most because when he was angry, he was capable of anything. I remember when we were just but little boys, one of the bullies on the field took his ball away which we were already used to but the bully went ahead to insult Japheth and talked about his mother in a negative way. Japheth didn't mind him being insulted, bit when it came to his mother, he never wanted to hear anyone speak ill of her. Japheth's eyes turned red, his body shook with anger and his small hands clenched into fists. He was breathing heavily as if he had just come out of a race. In a blink of an eye, he had launched on the bully and stack on him like glue whilst all we heard were the screams of the bully. The grownups were the ones who were able to separate him from the bully because we couldn't, little Japheth was so strong for us. When he was set back on the ground after calming down which took almost forever, he spat something full of blood out of his mouth. The bully was still screaming in pain. Japheth spat out some more blood from his mouth only for us to realize that he had bitten off the bully's ear. Everyone was shocked. The bully's parents pressed charges against him but since he was a small boy, he was taken to the sub county's chief where he was mercilessly flogged. That was the beginning of Japheth's corrupted heart and cold feelings towards anyone and everything. I exhaled sharply at the memory. If he hated Ruth, then he had his own reasons. He was an enigma that I never could solve and I doubted if anyone else could. The school's back gate came into view. Henry let out a breathe as well. "We just go in?" He questioned to which I gave a curt nod when he looked at me. "Okay then" He answered as we lessened our walking speed towards the gate. The gate suddenly yanked open and we gasped by surprise. A part of me shook with fear because there was no place to hide not even a single bush. At that moment, my heart drummed fast and hard against my chest such that I could feel it on my temples. My feet were transfixed on the ground and for a minute I thought that I couldn't move. I hated this feeling. I suddenly wished that I had listened to Japheth earlier on when he had said that this could be a trap set for us to get caught. If we turned and ran back to the others, that would be betraying them if we all got caught. Japheth would hate me for eternity, that I was sure of for selling them out. If we stood here like this, we'd get caught as well.