Gabriel was seven years old at the time and was raised by his father, Mr. Elias who was a lecturer at a promising university in the States and was liked by 80% of his students. He lived in the staff quarters.
A few days earlier, Gabriel had gotten into a fight with Mark, a boy five years older than him and in the same class as him. The fight was so intense that Gabriel ended up injuring Mark's left eye with his pen. Mark was rushed to the hospital by the school authorities. Both sets of parents were invited to the school, where some students who had witnessed the incident claimed that Mark was at fault and that Gabriel had acted in self-defense. This confession cleared Gabriel of all allegations made by Mark.
Mark’s parents were furious. In their anger, they tried everything they could to have Gabriel detained, but it seemed impossible.
A few months later, Mark returned to school. He was much better, but his eye was out of shape, and he could barely see. That explained the sunglasses he wore when he entered the classroom. Majority of the students mocked him. One particular comment hit him like a stray bullet, Tunde called him an “one-eyed fallen Goliath.”
After that day, Mark never came to school again. Rumor had it that he had transferred to another school. But what nobody knew to this day was that Mark’s father had threatened to harm Gabriel. His exact words were, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, someday.” He had said those words like a parable directly to Mr. Elias.
Mr. Elias reported the threat to the PTA chairman. After much deliberation and confrontation, the board asked Mark’s father to withdraw his child from the school or they would expel him. Gabriel was neither the first nor the last person Mark had picked a fight with. The decision was made for the safety of the other students.
