https://penastory.com/2016/08/26/to-kill-a-rapist-chiebuka-ojukwu/

The blood dripped down his body onto the floor, I was shaking. Smoke still came out of the gun. He called out my name twice, I didn’t know what to do. All I could think of in that moment was I killed him, I shot him, I killed him, I am a killer.

I ran out of his room through the back window as some of his neighbors were knocking at the door. They must have heard the sound of the gun, the gun I had gotten from a cultist. His hostel was a walking distance from mine. I locked the door as I entered my room. I put my hand at my back belt holder to take the gun but it wasn’t there. It must have fallen off while I ran. I panicked. I couldn’t retrace my footsteps to look for it because I was scared of being seen even though no one really saw me. I picked out a spider-man shirt from the wardrobe and took my laptop and threw them in my school bag. I was locking the door when I saw blood on my shirt; I ran back inside and changed it. What have I done? What will I do? My mind raced.

I knocked at Nneka’s door, her hostel was deserted, I looked at my watch it was 2 P.M, and they must have gone to classes I concluded.

“Ugonna what’s wrong?” she pulled me into her room, “why are you like this?”

“I killed him…I didn’t mean to…I was…”

“Who did you kill?”

I lowered my head; I could feel her eyes burning fire behind my head.

“I kill the man who raped you.” I raised my head, her mouth was open, and she didn’t blink for what could have been two minutes.

“What?” she placed her hand on her chest like she was having a heart attack.

“But it wasn’t him, it was his roommate.”

“What?” this time, her eyes blinked faster than usual, “how?”

“I was angry when I got to his hostel, I held up the gun and when he opened the door I pulled the trigger and that was when I found out that it wasn’t him,” I gasped, “it was his roommate Nnanna.”

I looked at my watch; the time was almost 4 P.M. I was standing under a mango tree at Umunze, a mini market at the school. Nneka had asked me to wait for her here after answering a call from her roommate, who was returning from lectures. You see, Nneka was my girlfriend, we started dating two weeks ago and she was arguably the most beautiful girl on campus.

I looked at my watch again, this time it was 5 P.M, I decided to go back to her hostel to know if something had happened to her. I met her roommate who told me she left with Arinze, the man who raped her, the man who I had planned on killing. He must have coerced her I concluded. I decided to go to the police to give a report about Arinze. I knew it was the only way even if it meant turning me in. I boarded a bike to the police station and almost immediately saw Arinze. I stopped the bike man and began trailing him on foot with thoughts that he would lead me to Nneka. It took a lot of strength to keep me from attacking him.

We kept walking for about ten minutes and he suddenly stopped, he started kissing a girl by the roadside, I couldn’t see her clearly because he was obstructing her. Nneka! It was Nneka! It couldn’t be true. They both entered a house. It took me a while to regain my sanity, as my brain temporarily shut down.

I knew what I had to do, I had to speak with Nneka, I was sure there was a sensible explanation for all this. I stayed hidden in a nearby bush with hopes she would come out and she did. I looked at my phone it was 7.30 P.M. I pulled her into the bush as she walked by. I bound her mouth with my palm as she struggled and muffled.

“It’s me. You didn’t show up.” She stopped screaming.

“I saw you. With him” I continued, “he never raped you, did he?”

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t my idea. He asked me to date you for the money.” I left her there and went to the police station

“My name is Ugonna Anyasi son of Senator Madu Anyasi and I would like to report the murder of Nnanna.”

“We already know about that, boy”

“He was killed by Nneka Obi and her boyfriend Arinze.”

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