Tales and Fables

"Dear, you have to stop crying so Elsie can feel better. If you keep on crying it will only make things worse." Dad whispered to Mom as he passed her a handkerchief to wipe her tears.

After I had gotten Fred to stop crying, I hugged everyone and said goodbye to them.

I went back immediately as we weren't allowed to cross the gate.

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I changed into my sports attire which came in two versions, a blue Jersey bearing the school's logo and house name. The second was a blue shirt and black shorts with blue stripes by the side. I finished putting on my canvas and ran off to the field with other students.

I sat all by myself in the field because I hadn't made any friends and I was too shy to speak to anyone.

Within an hour, the bell rang signalling the end of the game's time and we all went inside.

The prefects announced to us that we have to shower, have dinner by 7 pm and move to the assembly ground to meet with the principal.

I got into my corner and was disappointed that I was still the only one there. I didn't like staying alone but I had no time to think about that for now.

I quickly carried my bucket and toiletries and went downstairs to the bathroom to have my shower. It was separate from the hostel because we were using the old building.  It had five bathroom cubicles and we had to wait in turns to have our bath.

By 7 pm, we moved to the dining hall which was on the ground floor of the building for our dinner. We had jollof rice and beans with fried fish for dinner. It was a tussle as the prefects went around to make sure we were making use of our cutleries to eat.

I found it difficult at first but after a while it became easier, the food was good but it didn't compare to the meals we had at home.

We went straight to the assembly ground after dinner where  Mr.Marcus, the principal addressed us. I got to see what the male day wears looked like, a check shirt and trousers corresponding to the colour of the houses.

Mr. Marcus started by congratulating us on getting admitted into the school and telling us to be on our best behaviour.  He informed us of our orientation program which was to start on Monday. He went on and on that, I got tired of listening to him blabber and dozed off until the prefects went round to wake us up.

A copy of the school's handbook was given to each one of us and we were encouraged to read it and memorise the rules and regulations including the school's timetable.

After a brief prayer, we all retired to our hostels.

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I changed into my nightwear and laid down on my bunk mate's bed as she hadn't resumed. I didn't want to go through the stress of climbing up to my bed and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I slept off.

I had only slept for fifteen minutes when I felt pressed and needed to go to the restroom. When I woke up, a good number of my hostel mates were still awake and conversing in low tones. They were talking about ghosts and scary creatures rumoured to be lurking around in the school. Many people believed the tales and some called it a bluff myself included. This was the same story that Uncle Sam tried to sell to me at home.

I ignored their stories and made my way to the door to go downstairs to use the restroom until a girl whose bed was by the door called me back.

"Are you really going outside by this time of the night?" She asked me with worry written on her face.

"Yes, I want to use the restroom."

"Better be careful, there's a ghost lurking around in the dark. " She advised me.

"That's superstition, things like that don't exist," I replied as I laughed at her puzzled look.

As we were talking, a group of students ran into the hostel panting and gasping for breath. One of them quickly bolted the door.

"Why are you girls running?" A student asked as everyone was worried.

"We saw the white man" One of them replied.

At this point the hostel became quiet and everybody became scared. To make matters worse, the lights went off as it was already 10 pm. Most of us started screaming and people rushed to their beds.

We all quickly went to bed and as a proactive measure, we left our torchlights on to dispel the darkness.

I covered myself with my blanket and tried to sleep. I was scared and at the same time, I needed to use the restroom.

From time to time, we would hear strange noises and the voice of a woman laughing in the distance.

I shut my eyes tightly and tried to sleep convincing myself that it was all lies. Even when I managed to fall asleep, I would wake up again because I was pressed.

I stayed awake the whole night praying for the day to break as I couldn't bear the torture again.

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I was the first to run out of the hostel the moment the lights were put on. I didn't sleep a wink last night and I was already having a headache and pains in my lower body. I also had to endure taking my shower with cold water as the water in the heater had not yet heated up at that time.