It had decided to rain that Saturday, spreading its gloom not only on the environment, but on the students. The girls had been looking forward to their Saturday games with St. Vera boys. As was the tradition, the students of both schools would mix up every Saturday and Sunday. With only a fence dividing both schools and a side gate, the boys would come to St. Benedict on Saturday for games, while on Sunday, the girls would go to St. Vera for church.
The students of both schools looked forward to these days; especially the senior students. Aro on the other hand was glad it was raining. It saved her from getting repeatedly humiliated in front of the boys by Jennifer and her crew. She was enjoying the peace and freedom with her best friend and bunk mate, Bianca, on her bed. They curled up together on the lower bunk, giggling about something their maths teacher had said the previous day.
The respite did not last long though before a junior student came calling.
“Aro, Jennifer wants you in her corner right now.”
The smile froze on Aro and Bianca’s lips as they raised their heads to look at the girl who had come to deliver the message. The girl looked sympathetic, but Aro knew it wasn’t the girl’s fault that Jennifer was cruel to the bone.
She signaled for the girl to go. “Tell her I’ll be right there.”
Bianca uncurled herself from Aro’s side. “I knew today was too good to be true.” Aro did not answer as she got up from the bed and began to look for her slippers. Bianca continued. “Why do you let her do this to you? This school has a 100% no bullying policy. Go to the Principal, heck, even Madam Vera. I’m sure they’ll stop bothering you.”
Aro finally found her slippers, but she threw a glare at Bianca before wearing them. “You think I don’t know that? Or you think I haven’t tried? Bianca, you were here the day I told the house Mistress what was going on and all I got instead was even worse bullying, because she told Jennifer that I came to tattle.” Aro’s soft skin was starting to turn red as she spoke. “You think I don’t know her rich mystery parents have got everyone working here in their pockets?”
“Aro, I;m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you mad.”
“I know BiBi.” Aro sighed, but doesn’t say more as she walked away from their bunk, out of the room, passed through the common room and made her way to Jennifer’s room. Each hostel room housed six bunks and twelve students.
“Wow. How nice for her majesty to finally grace us with her presence.” Jennifer drawled, as soon as she sighted Aro.
Aro stopped in front of her side table, where she was sitting, while Zendaya and Abimbola were on the bed. “I’m sorry. I was looking for my slippers.”
“How’s that our problem?” Zendaya asked.
Aro was quiet, as her gaze trailed off to the mirror glued to the wall space beside Jennifer’s bunk. She wasn’t looking at herself anymore, rather, a woman was staring right at her with hair covering her face but her rumpled shirt covered in blood. Aro stood transfixed, but not scared, as she remained unable to look away from the mirror. Before she could say a word though, the woman raised a finger, placed it on her lips, in a gesture meant to tell Aro to be silent.
Getting shoved against the next bunk snapped Aro out of her fixation. Her right arm hit the metal bunk and pain radiated from her shoulder. She turned to look at Jennifer, who was now standing and looking at her with a quirked lip.
“Oh now you’re awake. When I was calling you repeatedly, were you deaf?”
Jennifer sneered. “And what’s so interesting in a mirror? Your extraordinary ugliness for today shocked you?”
Aro looked at the mirror again, but this time she could only see her teary eyes and rough hair in the reflection. There was no scary woman. Maybe she had imagined the whole thing.
Abimbola left the bed and stood in front of the mirror. “Perhaps she was trying to conjure the supposed spirit from yesterday’s spooky tale, to come out of the mirror and fight us.”
Zendaya laughed, snorting at the same time. A sound that made her sound and look like an unfed donkey, in Aro’s opinion. “Ha, yes. Miss KoiKoi or what did Ide call her?”
Jennifer looked at Aro and pointed towards the mirror. “By all means, conjure her.”
Aro shook her head while the girls cackled.
Jennifer moved to the mirror. “Oh please. You believe that fairy tale? This is hilarious. Well, let ME conjure her then, and see if she can eliminate your ugly self away from here.” She faced the mirror. “Miss KoiKoi.”
“Jennifer stop.” Abimbola whispered.
“Oh, Bimbo, you are scared too?” Jennifer looked amused. “Miss KoiKoi, come out oh.”
Aro could feel a hum in the background and a shift in the atmosphere.
“Miss KoiKoi” Jennifer finished.
She turned to look at her friends and Aro with an exasperated expression. “See? What did you think would happen? A woman would…..”
Jennifer was suddenly interrupted by the loud boom of thunder and the lights in the dormitory going off.
Zendaya yelped while Abimbola moved away from Jennifer. For a moment, no one said a word, until Jennifer cleared her throat and broke the silence.
“Look, it’s a thunderstorm and light outages aren’t uncommon then.” She looked at Aro. “You, shoo. Your presence here is making me unsettled. I’ll send for you later.”
Aro did not wait to be told twice before running away from them.
The dormitories were agog with buzzes and scintillating gossip that Sunday morning. Each story, as it got to another sharer, had a slight addition to it, with each sharer adding their own spice and twist to the original story. By the time the wind blew the details to the Senior Boarding House Mistress, even she could not decipher the head nor the tail of the whole sordid affair. She knew though, that she had to go see the girls, lest the embers of the rumour flame turn into a full fledged arson.
As she approached the common room of the Venice house dormitory, girls from the other three houses; Sicily, Roma, and Florence, started peeking from the safety of their own dormitories. Mrs Anselm could see girls peering at her from windows on the ground floor, first floor, second floor, and third floor. Each house occupied a floor, with Florence on the ground level and Venice on the last floor. She had quite the climb ahead of her.
Entering the general lobby, she moved towards the stairwell and began the climb, amidst the curious stares of excited students. By the time she got to the Venice dorm, she was panting and her menopausal knees were beginning to ache. Not one to give in to weakness though, she quickly straightened her ramrod back, wiped the beads of sweat from her face, and began her walk to the speculated hostel room. Girls in towels, going and coming from the bathrooms passed her and she smiled a bit, grateful that some students were at least preparing for church at St. Vera. When she got to the room, she could immediately identify which bunk it was when she saw all four house mistresses and Ide, the Head Girl, gathered together. When they saw her, murmurs of Good morning followed, and she returned their greetings as she stopped by the bunk.
There, on the lower bunk was Bianca Odeh, lying on her back, stiff but jittery, as her eyes interchanged between white and black.
“Oh my God.” Mrs. Anselm whispered, covering her mouth with her palms as she looked at the twitching girl. “Is she possessed or something?”
Ide shook her head, while a teary Aro held Ide’s hand as she stared at her only friend. “We don’t know Ma’am. Aro found her like this early this morning.”
“Why is she still up here then? Why haven’t you moved her to the infirmary? What if she’s epileptic or having a seizure or something worse?”
“We did not want to touch her Ma because she was saying some strange things.” The Venice house mistress answered.
Mrs. Anselm looked away from the girl for a moment. “She’s talking?”
Ide nodded. “Yes ma.”
Mrs. Anselm moved closer to Bianca and bent over her. “Bianca, can you hear me?”
Bianca made no sign that she could hear anything as she continued twitching and rolling her eyeballs. Mrs. Anselm turned to Ide instead. “The strange things she was saying, what are they?”
Ide looked at the House Mistresses first, but none of them were willing to speak up.
“Will somebody say something?” Mrs. Anselm snapped.
“Miss KoiKoi, she’s here.” Ide responded.
Silence descended on the hostel room as the other girls at their respective bunks suddenly stopped their whispers and began to peer at Bianca.
“Excuse me?” Mrs. Anselm asked.
Ide cleared her throat. “That was what she was saying Ma’am.”
“And who or what is this Miss KoiKoi?”
“She’s a spirit Ma’am.” Ide began. “The spirit of that teacher that was killed here at St. Benedict.”
“You mean Miss Akingbade that went missing as a result of some students’ mob justice?” Mrs. Anselm began with incredulity. “What makes you think she’s a ghost or demon or whatever you’re implying? Her body was never found, she was only declared missing.”
“Students died Ma’am.” One of the house Mistresses voiced out.
Turning back to Bianca, Mrs. Anselm waved a dismissive hand. “Hysteria. Guilty conscience from what they had done, and they started harming themselves.” She turned towards the house Mistresses and Ide again. “Mass hysteria is a powerful and dangerous tool. It can bring down the strongest of men. It is a spirit that once unleashed, you can not control or take back. So, I warn you Mistresses, do not set one loose in my dormitories. That is the only spirit at play here and not some Miss Kokoro or whatever you’re calling it.”
She looked at Bianca one last time before turning around and began her exit from the room. “Now, take that girl to the school Nurse and do not let me hear anything more of this superstitious nonsense.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Aro wiped the tears from her eyes as she watched Mrs. Anselm walk away, while her friend continued twitching on the bed.
“Miss KoiKoi…She’s the…” Bianca muttered, attracting Aro’s attention.
“Move away from her please.” Ide called to Aro as they converged around Bianca, ready to move her.
