The Phone Bandit

The only reason I think Lady Ibiam Hostel was the most sought-after is that it is close to the Vice chancellor’s villa and that was an assurance of constant light and Special attention.

For the first time in my three years as a medical student, I had two amazing roommates and one other that I didn’t care about compared to the former years when I wondered if the school intentionally gave me bad roommates because the constant repetition for the past two years seemed like a calculated plot against me.

 “It could have been, it was probably just my lot”

…………………………………….

  “I’m sure that I kept my phone here, right here” She said Sobbing.

    “Are you sure about that? but no one steals in this room. 

I just returned from a long lecture that afternoon and while waking up from my nap, I overheard a conversation between my roommates, Jane and Ethella.

Sliding my hands under my pillow and confirming that my phone was still there gave me relief. 

This had become a recurrence. Last year, the dean of student affairs went around the Four females and made hostels to raise awareness about stealing and threatening to expel anyone caught in the act. Yet, the act of stealing has greatly increased. 

  Memories of how my iPhone was stolen too became vivid. It was traumatizing and I was forced to conclude that the thief hypnotizes his or her victim before making away with their valuables because it seems as if no one was ever giving a clear explanation of how their valuables suddenly developed wings.

  It appeared as though that no matter how careful you were, you wouldn’t still be able to explain when the wicked thief remembered you.

 “But could it be a male or a female”?

“If it is a male, then how, because they aren’t allowed into the female hostels”

 “If it is a female, then which young female can carry out that mischievous act excellently” 

Random thoughts went through my head and I didn’t know how best to console Jane. 

Just last week before that day, Eric, the Love of her life, the former SUG president got her the beautiful and expensive phone to celebrate her birthday and the next thing is that she cannot give an account of the loss.

 “It has to be somebody close by”

  “It has to be someone that knows Jane well” 

I muttered to myself and vowed to get tangible evidence that I could submit to the dean. 

Besides being passionate about offering medical help to people, I equally dislike injustice and bad vices and I was ready to go to all lengths to find the thief.

   When the semester hadn’t begun so well with very free lectures and students still packing in, from the rear of the hostel, I had walked in slowly nodding to my best gospel music and suddenly I noticed there was someone in my room. None of my roommates were back then and it was surprising to see a human movement in my room.

My reflex action decided that I let out a loud shout to beckon others to catch the thief but I decided to feed my curiosity.

I stood for a while near the window, peeping and I saw her open my wardrobe since it wasn’t closed, applied my powder, and took one of my snacks. 

     “Hey”, your new roommate,” She said to me while I walked in angry, chewing my snacks loudly.

I waved at her and walked straight to make sure she didn’t cause more harm.

 “She was probably hungry” I made excuses for her and ensured maximum security from that day henceforth. 

That memory stuck with me and to think that she didn’t report herself made it even worse and I concluded that she was probably a thief and she shouldn’t be given any chance. 

   Anabel is her name. She was a pin on our neck, barely responded to our greetings, and always answered very long calls at night. She was a finalist in the Engineering department and she could pass for a rogue. 

She had rough hair adding to her masculine figure, she had a cracked voice and preferred to sing songs out of rhythm. She claims that she belongs to her church choir and I wondered how terrible the choir must be.

  Now that Jane’s phone went missing, it had to be Anabel. If not her, then who?

I decided to start from my “Jerusalem” and I only told Petrus, my elder brother who is a student in Criminology at another institution for tips I could use to catch a suspect red-handed.

Before then, I had placed voluntary spies in different corners of the school. Yet to no avail.

      Two months after that, I hadn’t been able to lay my hands on anything tangible, so I decided to try something more professional.

 At that time, Jane had moved on with her life. Eric got a new phone that had a tracker but I was still hellbent on putting a complete end to that vice.

Maybe I could become the school heroine.

Who knows?

  …………………………………………….

It was too heavy for me to bear and if not that I was sure that my eyes were medically healthy, I would have concluded that I had partial blindness. 

   “That was a big shock to me but even at that, I had promised to bring the culprit to book”. I said to myself while I walked into the dean’s office that fateful day. 

  Mrs. Halima is one that I never pray never to encounter whenever I visit the dean’s office. 

That day she was there too, only smiling at the influential and notable men and women, Lecturers and distinguished parents, and smirking or either giving a deadly glare to others that she considered less important.

   “The Dean is not around,” She said to me, pushing my fingers away from her desk. 

  Apart from the fact that I heard that she couldn’t get married, I believed that something else was frustrating her but what could that be?

 She had a good salary and Marriage is not an achievement, right? 

  The Dean’s office was just slightly closed and I knew that the Dean was around. She probably didn’t want me to see him and he may be slightly busy or observing his moments. 

If only she knew that I had come with the evidence that the school administration needed at that time she wouldn’t be treating me like trash.

      After a few minutes of waiting, I slipped my way into his office obstinately.

  “Good afternoon Sir, this is it, I have the evidence,” I said to him

“Which hostel are you in?”

   “Lady Ibiam, Block B”

“Thank you for this, I will get back to you”

  I left after sending the files to his flash drive.

  I felt accomplished but I wondered how long it would take me and everyone to recover from the shock on the video.

She had walked in with her best friend, Rita. Rita stayed in Kwame Nkurumah Hostel Block A, the hostel adjacent to ours. She sat down with Ethella on My bed and began to say something in low tones. 

 “Look at what I got yesterday from Lady Ibiam ‘s hostel block A’ ‘ Rita said, emptying the bag she carried. It contained power banks and mobile phones of different kinds. 

“I will tell Tony to find us buyers, ” Ethella said”

They exchanged a very unusual handshake and Eulogized how much of an excellent job they had been doing for a long time.

  Petrus gave me the idea of hiding a camera and this time, it worked perfectly.

  “Why has Ethella decided to steal”?

The cool, calm, and Collected former Hall governor is a thief! 

She was the one who consoled Jane the highest and was indeed a daring friend to her.

  “Why are people malicious”?

Justice must be served and I became suspicious of everyone in the room. If the cool Ethella could be the most wanted thief in the history of the school, then what of Anabel, the one who looked like a rogue? 

 “Or was it a case of, Don’t Judge a book by its cover”?

  Ethella was called to the school panel to her greatest shock with a friend, Rita. I was present too and that made it more shocking. 

“I  couldn’t be the one that exposed her,” she thought.

Their Revelations were shocking and at that point, I desisted from vouching for anyone other than myself. 

   Ethella and Rita went to the same secondary school and although they were both from Rich homes, they went on slipping people’s valuables away to think that they championed the notorious recurring theft that had been going on in the school was a big blow to their parents’ faces and they were notable people. 

Their reputations were put in line and Ethella and Rita were sent to the disciplinary together with the other three persons they worked with in other hostels and departments. 

 The disciplinary expelled them from the school and although I didn’t get the kind of reward that I anticipated, I was happy that we could have our phones and not be afraid of losing them unnecessarily.

  Anabel wasn’t the thief after all. I found out later that the day that I had seen her open my wardrobe, she had opened it earlier to check something and forgot her snacks there.

I only saw her when she was taking the snacks back and I assumed it was mine since it was the same I had in my wardrobe. 

  I felt bad for all the time I stereotyped her. She wasn’t the best roommate. She had her excesses but was definitely not a thief. 

Read this true life story: A Silent Matric