Nightmare

"I am not lucky. They will do it because they are head over heels for my cousin, especially the dining prefect." Stacy whispered.

I covered my mouth as I just heard a piece of unbelievable news. Stacy knew how to hold good conversations, should I say she is a gossip just like Katie? I had gotten another gist partner.

"Finally!" I shouted as the bell rang signalling the end of prep.

I had spent the whole prep time chatting and loitering around but I was happy that I had made a friend.

After a brief night prayer, we went back to the hostel with Stacy and I walking hand in hand.

                        *****************

Stacy's bed was just two corners away from mine. Her corner mates had all resumed and she seemed to get along well with them.

I changed into my nightwear and dashed off with my thermos flask to get hot water from the bathroom. I didn't want what happened this morning to repeat itself.

"Elsie, where are you going to?" Stacy called out to me when I passed her corner.

"I'm going to get hot water downstairs for tomorrow morning," I replied.

"Why? The water heater will still be on in the morning." Stacy asked me with a puzzled look on her face.

"Yes, but it takes time to heat up plus the queue and I don't want to shower with cold water."

"Ok, wait for me, let's go together."

Stacy wasted a little time looking for her thermos flask as she had not yet finished unpacking her stuff.

"Stacy, hurry up!"

"I am here. Let's go."

Stacy and I rushed downstairs and as I expected, there was a long queue. It seemed like the cold got to everybody in the morning.

While we waited in line, some students started talking about the "white man and "miss stiletto" again. I was fed up with all these stories.

"Have you seen anything? You guys are just spreading rumours." A student rebuffed them.

I secretly agreed with the girl that rejected their claims, I had forgotten so soon what happened yesternight.

It got to our turn and we filled up our flask.

We had just left the bathroom and were going upstairs when suddenly all the lights went off. Only a few of us came downstairs with their torchlight and we started running helter-skelter till we rallied round those with torchlights and we all started walking together.

Just as we arrived at our floor, we saw a white ghost from a distance at the end of the hallway and we all started screaming and running, some even fell while running. Our fears increased when we got to the door and saw a pair of red shoes in front of the door and we started screaming.

It took the courage of one person for us to approach the door and knock. We all ran inside the moment the door was opened.

I sat down on the bed and tried to catch my breath. The only thing going through my mind was all Uncle Sam had told me and I became more scared.

I was petrified and glad that nobody asked me any questions.

As we did last night, we slept with our torchlights on and our eyes half open. By midnight we began to hear a woman laughing and the sound of stilettos on the floor.

It continued for a very long time as the sound came on and off with the wind making a very loud noise.

I barely managed to sleep when I dreamt that miss stiletto came back to get her shoes and woke up immediately.

"It's just a dream." I placed my hand on my chest as I tried to calm myself down. I felt thirsty but I was too scared to get down from my bed and drink water from my bottle.

In two nights, I have already had two bad experiences.

                            ********************

I woke up the next day to the voices of other students discussing what happened last night and how the shoes had disappeared in the morning.

I woke up Stacy and left to shower. She didn't wake up immediately because she was a deep sleeper.

"I better be going so I won't be late. The prefects will spare her because of her cousin but not me."

When I came back, the matron was addressing us. She urged everyone to remain calm that such things don't exist in the school and that all the acts are being perpetrated by miscreants whom she promised would be severely punished once they are caught.

The matron only addressed us because some people had already laid complaints to the principal and requested for their parents to withdraw them from the school.

We had the normal breakfast meal and left for our orientation program. Stacy had received an extra loaf of bread from the dining prefect which she shared with me.

We learnt the school anthem and the history of the school during the day's orientation and I came to realise that the school was very old and only expanded to our state ten years ago.

I enjoyed learning the school anthem and other songs used during the General assembly.

At midday, we had soft drinks and biscuits for snacks and returned for the singing lessons. It was necessary as our throats had dried up from singing too much.

It was fun watching the boys trying to form bass voices and the girls trying to sing with soprano voices but I wasn't bothered as I didn't want to lose my voice. All in all, it was fun because the Assembly prefect was funny and she had a lovely voice.