The fifteenth day of January 2021 is a day I will never forget in my life. In fact, I never knew I would be alive to tell this story.
Everyone in Tender Care International School knew the'boss' that I was called. The junior students as well as the senior students respected and feared me for I was a terror, the greatest bully in the school. I enjoyed my 'popularity' until I learned my lesson- a very hard one indeed.
My victims were usually the quiet, naive and cowardly type of students. They could be junior students or the senior ones. It didn't matter to me who they were. What mattered was that I needed something of theirs and I had to get it. Teachers were already getting tired of punishing me every time. The principal had given his last warning but I still continued to bully.
On this particular day,a day God had set aside to teach me a hard lesson, I had my supper and I attended prep as usual. Then at my appointed time, that is 2.00am, I went back to my dormitory for my target, a naive frail-looking JSS2 student who was in the same dormitory as I. He was fast asleep and it seemed like hours before I could wake him up.
Rain was pouring heavily outside as if heaven had been let loose. It was only the 'boss' that could be up at this unholy hour of the night. My target finally woke up, drowsy and confused. I whispered into his ears 'it's the "boss". Don't wake anybody up!' He got the message immediately. His drowsy eyes opened. I dragged him quickly to his dormitory locker at one end of the room and ordered him to open it. He hesitated and finally opened it. For wasting my time and for not having enough provisions in his locker, he had to suffer. I ordered him to go and sit in the rain and not to get up until he heard from me. He was scared to death but obeyed like a lamb.
I must have slept heavily for I didn't hear the noise made by the house master, Mr Jerry, who usually come to the dormitory at 5:30a.m. I learned later that he had shouted when he saw the lifeless body of Matthew in the rain. Matthew's limp body was carried to the nearby hospital by the school's ambulance driver. His condition was too serious to be handled by nurses at the school clinic. Everyone including I thought he was dead. I started sweating even though the weather was cold. Matthew's parents were invited while the doctors battled to save his life. I was later arrested by the school's security men.
I was told told that the principal had invited the police to come and lock me up in their guardroom. I was tortured almost to death. My parents refused to come to see me. They were really tried of me, I suspected.
After a whole day of torture in the police cell, I was relieved to hear that Matthew had been revived. For the first time, I knelt down and thanked my God. I also made a promise to myself never to indulge in evil again. Matthew survived and I begged him and his parents to forgive me. The principal had pity on my parents and recalled me after my suspension for a whole term. Indeed, I had learned my lesson and I was happy to turn over a new leaf.
