Chapter 1
Theresa stared outside her window feeling all giddy inside. She stared at travelling bag and the huge black plastic box that was supposed to be her chop box. She looked outside absentmindedly as she imagined how life was going to be like in the boarding school.
The place was pitch black given that it was already 10:30 pm and her parents and little sister were already asleep. She had tried for several minutes to fall asleep but the anticipation was killing her.
It wasn’t like she didn’t like it at home, she loved being at home but she wanted to experience what life would be like without anyone telling her what to do and when to do it.
Her mind drifted off to all the stories she had heard about boarding schools and boarding houses being haunted by ghosts and spirit.
She remembered a story one of her classmates tell her about a girl who woke up in the middle of the night to find one of her dorm mates missing. Curiosity took the best of her when she heard humming sounds coming from outside.
Cautiously, she walked through the veranda to the bathroom only to be met with the most frightening sight of her life.
Her dorm mate had her head on her laps and was braiding her hair whiles humming. Unable to hold her fear, she left out a scream that grabbed that dorm mates attention.
Theresa remembered asking her classmate about the out come of the situation but her classmate didn’t know either.
She questioned her about the source of the story and she said it was from her sister.
At that time, Theresa thought it was stupid to believe the story. If it really did happen why didn’t her sister know what happened to the two girls at the end but now thinking of it, Theresa couldn’t stop herself from putting herself in the poor girl’s shoes, imagining how she must have reacted when she saw whatever she saw in the bathroom.
But then again, it was just a story made up, right? Nothing of that sort happens because if it did, no parent would just ship off their child to the boarding house, knowing that their death awaits them.
Taking in a deep breath, Theresa closed her window and after making sure it was locked, she went to bed.
The night passed by swiftly and soon it was morning.
“We have a long ride ahead of us,” she heard her mother say as she came into her room for the thousandth time.
“Do you think you can sleep till this time at the boarding house? I don’t think your lazy self will survive a weak there because you’re supposed to be up before the sun rises. I even doubt you’ll be able to hear the rising bell,” her mother’s nagging continued making Theresa sigh.
This was one thing she hated about home, her mother’s constant nagging which even he father couldn’t escape.
Theresa walked half asleep to the bathroom and took a quick shower after brushing her teeth. She was greeted by her annoying little sister who was now in primary five, sitting on her bed.
“What is it? “ Theresa asked, already annoyed.
“How long will you be away?” Tina, her little sister asked.
“I don’t know, now get out and lemme get ready.”
Theresa’s attempt to get her little sister out of her room was met with other question.
“Can I sleep in your room while you’re away?”
“No.” Theresa replied firmly, as she went around her room to grab the necessary items to need to get dressed.
“Well I’m still going to sleep here anyway,” she heard her little sister say.
Having heard enough, she grabbed Tina by the arm and started dragging the girl, who was now laughing towards the door, all this time, warning her not to step into her room when she was gone .
Theresa knew the warning meant nothing to her sister but she at least had to try.
After dressing up, she went downstairs to have her breakfast whiles her elder brother and her cousin packed her stuff into the car. By the time she was done eating, her parents were ready and the family set off.
The ride wasn’t really boring, except for the part where her parents and big brother all took turn to advice her. It was a really long and boring lecture and she didn’t even remember half of what they said.
Four hours later, they entered the huge gates of the school and drove up the small hill, where the buildings slowly came to view. She saw students walking in batches towards a large building which she guessed was the dining hall. It was right opposite to the boys dormitory, which she was able to tell because the boy were walking around freely as they passed.
The car pulled up in front of the administration and her things were brought out for inspection.
She saw a girl slightly older than her holding a paper, she had something pinned to her attire.
“ Anna Sowah, senior house prefect,” it read.
After checking on the item and making sure they were the right ones she had in her list, Anna informed Theresa’s parents that they could leave and that Anna would assign her to her dormitory.
Theresa who didn’t know she would cry felt tears sting her eyes as she hugged her family goodbye.
“Is that tears I see,” her big brother teased as she hugged him .
“ You wish,” Theresa chuckled, the tears disappearing as fast as they came.
Tina proved a little stubborn when Theresa went to hug her but she gave in immediately, causing the rest of the family to laugh.
After her parents had left, two girls came to take Theresa’s things and the senior house mistress asked her to follow them.
They walked into a gate that wasn’t far from the administration . There was three different three storey buildings, two were very close and one at the far end.
They walked to the building at the far end and took the stairs to the last floor.
When they arrived her stuff were taken to this huge dormitory, which she later learned was called “The Common Room,” she found it weird but chose to not say a word.
Her things were place in the floor besides one of the bunk beds and she was asked to sit on the neatly laid one, to wait for her school mother.
Theresa frowned, hesitating for a while because she felt the owner of the bed wouldn’t be happy to see a stranger just chilling on her bed, so instead, she just decided to stand and wait.
It didn’t take long for a girl with an afro and glasses to walk to her.
“She was wearing the same attire the senior house prefect was wearing, just that hers was a pink fabric instead of white .
“What’s your name?” The girl asked her.
“Theresa,” she replied shyly.
“Ok…sit on my bed, while I lay your bed and pack your things,” the girl told her and Theresa obliged.
Things went smoothly after and soon it was even.
Theresa was just chilling on her bed when she heard all the first years being called. She joined the rest of her dorm mates and they went outside, where they were welcomed by the senior house prefect who later laid out the rules to them.
The time they were supposed to wake up, bath and leave the dormitory. She also added that since they were in their grace period, no duty would be assigned to them.
After a lengthy talk, she dismissed them and they all went to their various rooms and beds.
A month passed by in a flash and now Theresa was more than familiar with the school surroundings and had even made lots of friends.
This particular evening, the air outside was cool and the slight breeze was howling outside. Student huddled outside in groups, each talking about their own stuff.
Theresa walked out of the dorm and moved towards her friends. They seemed to be in the middle of a conversation when Theresa sat down.
“Yeah…that’s what my school mother told me,” the girl speaking said and the rest of the ground were silent for a while.
“Well, I don’t think I’ll be able to survive seeing my school mother remove her head from her neck in front of me. School mothers are supposed to teach you good stuff not scare the life out of you,” she said, with a frown.
“
“Well my brother also told me something that happened in their school,” Another girl in the group said, gaining everyone’s attention.
“It was about this strict teacher in their school. It was said that she was so strict the boys didn’t like her. One day, the boys planned to beat and sexually harass her and they actually carried out with their plan. He said that the beat her so badly that she looked lifeless. So that carried her body and his it in a cupboard…..” she paused, observing everyone’s facial expressions. Feeling satisfied that she had their attention, she continued.
“But in the process of carrying her body one of her red heels slipped off her foot which they didn’t notice. They placed her in the cupboard and shut the door with one of her foot peaking out but I guess they were in such a hurry that they didn’t notice all this. After this….it is said that the woman’s spirit haunts the school, searching for the other pair of heel she lost.”
“But how would they know if she’s coming?” another girl cut her off.
“You know the sound a heels make when they touch the floor right?”
We all nodded.
“Exactly, so you hear one “ko” she said imitating the sound. “ Followed by dragging of her feet, because remember her foot was poking out when they tried to close that cupboard….that caused the other foot to be injured. “
Theresa felt shivers ran down her spine and she knew she couldn’t listen to them anymore so she got up and left.
Her school mother was sound asleep and for a moment she just imagined the own school mother detaching her head from her neck.
“This is stupid,” Theresa mumbled, climbing up her bed. She wrapped herself in her blanket and soon sleep took over.
Something cold dropped on her face, causing her to frown. It was like there was water above her that was dripping.
This is just the seniors playing their stupid pranks on me With that thought in mind, Theresa rolled to the other side.
“Come to my child……mother is here,” she heard a raspy voice say, followed by a cold finger stroking her cheek.
Her heartbeat increased as all the creepy stories she heard came flooding into her mind. At this point she was wild awake but she refused to open her eyes for the fear of what was awaiting her.
The dripping continued as well and the stroking on her cheek.
The hand slowly moved down her neck and she felt those cold fingers wrap around her neck and before she could register what was going on, she was being choked.
She struggled to get the hand off her without opening her eyes but it seems the person or thing loved her pain so it’s grip only tightened.
Left with no other option, she opened her eyes and gasped at what she saw.
Sitting up abruptly, Theresa looked around her to realize she was only dreaming and everyone was asleep in her dorm.
She placed an arm on her racing heart and tried to study her breathing, cursing herself for listening to all her friends’ crazy story.
Now here she was unable to sleep when the next day was Monday.
Feeling the sudden urge to pee, Theresa got down from her bed and walked towards the door.
For a while her hand was just on the doorknob as she stood with her eyes glued to the pitch black darkness that had engulfed the compound. She felt like holding the liquid that had filled her bladder back in and going back to sleep.
But to her it didn’t make any sense, why would she be scared when there was nothing out there? These stories are really starting to get in her head.
Taking in a deep breath, she unlocked the door and walked outside slowly making sure there was nothing lurking in the dark. When she was satisfied, she began making her way to the bathroom.
At first all was silent….and then it started.
“Ring around the Rosie ……..” a little girl voice followed by a small giggle.
Theresa wore a frown as she walked closer to the sound.
‘ What’s a little girl doing here at this time? Where did she come from? Why was she in the bathroom? How did she get there?’
“A pocket full of posies….” This time it came from behind her but instead of a little girl it was raspy adult voice……Almost like…..the one she heard in….her dream?
Theresa turned around almost instantly but there was nobody there.
“Hello?” she said, taking a cautious step towards the bathroom where the little girl’s voice came from, but to her surprise, it was empty.
She took a second glance around and after seeing no one around, she used the washroom and went back to sleep.
The next morning, Theresa watched as her house members went about their normal activities whiles she couldn’t take her mind of last night’s dream and the bathroom incident.
After packing the books she needed for the day, she joined her other friends and they walked to class.
“Rose, can I talk to you about something ?” She asked when she was alone with Rose, her other friends had already taken their routes to their classes. She and Rose where in the same class and also shared a desk.
“Yes go on,” Rose said, kicking a small stone in her path.
“Do you believe in all the creepy stories you hear?”
Rose looked like she was contemplating for a while until she nodded.
“I mean I believe anything that has a name exists….I mean look at dinosaurs, “ she shrugged.
“Why do you ask?” Rose asked after a few seconds of silence.
Theresa proceeded to tell Rose about what she experienced the previous night while her friend listened attentively.
“Well that’s …scary. Are you sure you saw no one? I mean what if someone was trying to play a prank on you?”
“Who would play such a sick joke?” Theresa frowned.
“I think all the crazy stories you’ve been hearing are taking it’s toll over you,” Rose shrugged as they entered the classroom.
The rest of the day went by as normal as possible, although Theresa felt like something wasn’t right.
Classes were soon over and everyone went to their various dorms to prepare for supper and then preps which would start at 6:30 pm and end at 8:30 pm.
After supper, usually before preps started, students would just hang around the compound mostly talking to the opposite gender since the boys and girl prepped separately.
At exactly 6:30 pm, the teachers and prefects went round sacking students to their various classes and just like that preps started.
Theresa tried so hard to concentrate on what she was trying to study since she has a physics test the next day but it seemed impossible. Last night’s event would not stop bugging her.
Was she really just imagining things? She couldn’t stop asking herself. But everything felt so real.
Taking in a deep breath, she looked outside the window and there she was ……the woman from her dream.
She was standing in the bushes, among the tall trees and staring directly at her. Her hair looked wet and her white dress looked old, muddy and tattered. Her eyes had huge dark circles around them as she stared directly into Theresa’s soul.
Fear gripped Theresa as she stared back. As much as she wanted to look away, she couldn’t bring herself to do that. It was as if the woman was hypnotizing her with just her gaze.
The woman waved her to come but Theresa shook her head, the fear in her increasing.
The woman slowly moved her head to the side still slowly waving Theresa to come and as if she had lost all control if her body, she got up and stared walking to the door.
She walked up the veranda, still unable to take her eyes off the finger in the bushes.
Just then someone gripped her shoulder hard, causing her to stumble back to reality. Theresa looked at her feet and gasped, taking a step backwards.
“Are you ok? Watch where you’re going,” a girl she didn’t know said with a concerned look, staring at the slightly high veranda Theresa was about to just walk casually off.
“She…she was right here,” Theresa said pointing to the bushes.
“Who? Are you ok?”
“Never mind,” Theresa smiled and went back to her classroom.
Preps lasted longer than usual, or so Theresa thought but soon she was on her way to her dormitory with Rose.
At the door, she saw a small group of students, gathered around as if something has happened.
“What’s wrong?” Rose asked one girl as they squeezed their way into the small crowd.
“It’s Debbie, she didn’t go for prep and now she’s lying lifeless on her bed,” the girl told them and at the same time, two security mean walked out carrying Debbie’s lifeless body.
Theresa gasped at the sight. Goosebumps covered body as her hair stood in ends.
Debbie was drenched and her face looked green, her eyes were opened almost as if the last she saw was what scared the life out of her. Seaweeds were in her hair which looked like she had drowned for a long time, which wasn’t the case because Debbie was well and healthy before preps . She was even bullying a few juniors in the bathroom.
A strange amd eerie smile slowly crept up her lips as soon as she made eye contact with Theresa making her heart jump.
A corpse couldn’t smile, could it?
“R…R….Rose, can I talk to you alone?” Theresa whispered and Rose nodded.
The two of them went downstairs and stood where they were sure nobody would hear them.
“Remember what I told you this morning?”
Rose nodded fear evident on her face as well.
“You don’t think it’s real, do you?” Rose was the first to ask.
“I’m starting to think so as well….I mean isn’t Debbie’s death is sudden and she looked like that woman from my dreams.
