“Faster, you lazy numbskull.” Aro heard one of the senior girls shout.
She had a lot of colourful retorts waiting to unleash themselves from her lips but she held them back. It didn’t particularly take a lot of restraint on her part, because she knew the repercussions if she dared talk back at the three most popular senior girls in St. Benedict’s Girls’ College.
Unlike the name would suggest, their school was not owned by Missionaries, neither was it a particularly religious one. It was ran by the wife of Benedict Bankole, who thought it would be a good idea to name the school after her husband. The man himself ran the male equivalent of the college, and it was no surprise that it was named after the wife; St. Vera’s Boys’ College.
It was Friday evening, and as was the custom back then at St. Benedict’s, every second Friday of the month, the girls would gather under the well lit Mango tree, smack in the center of the school compound, to listen to two different spooky stories from two speakers. One from a senior class and one from a junior class. Those Fridays were called spooky Fridays. Some of the stories were usually more funny than spooky, while some downright made them unable to walk in the dark for days.
Not paying attention to her surrounding, Aro tripped on the root of a tree that had extended to the walkway. She lurched forward but managed to catch herself before she went tumbling to the ground while gripping three plastic chairs piled on one another.
“Break that chair and you’ll regret it for the rest of your stay here in SBGC.” Another voice threatened, while the other two snickered.
Without having to look back, Aro knew that was the voice of Jennifer Ikot. She was the prettiest girl in school, and it did not hurt that her father was rumoured to be a very rich man around. Zendaya Ibu and Abimbola Arole were her flankers and they were also considered beautiful, although everyone knew Abimbola’s rich socialite mother. Aro herself used to be seen as beautiful and smart in her previous school, but that all changed when her uncle transferred her to St. Benedict’s. Since her first week in the school, Jennifer and her friends had made it their mission to frustrate and torture her. Initially, she had reported to the house mistress, and nothing had been done. Rather, the bullying got worse. Since then, she had learned to simply do as they told her while keeping her mouth shut.
“I’m sorry.” She apologized to the girls.
She was carrying their chairs for them as they all made their way to the mango tree for that month’s edition of spooky Friday. Others carried theirs themselves, but not the trio.
“What sort of name is Aro sef.” Bimbo asked Aro.
Aro kept quiet, grateful as she sighted the mango tree and the crowd converging beneath it.
A sharp and audible slap from behind halted her, as she dropped the chairs while her arm involuntarily went to her back. Tears smarted in her eyes but she refused to let them drop. Her back was hot and stinging. She turned to look at the girls with all the venom she could muster but unable to do anything.
Jennifer smirked. “What? Were you deaf? We asked you a question.”
“I don’t know. That was the name my mother said before she died after labour.” Aro’s voice broke as she answered them
.
Zendaya looked mortified. “Oh, I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Zen.” Jennifer snapped, without looking away from a pitiful Aro.
“Sorry.” Zendaya whispered before hardening her expression. “ I mean, you couldn’t have simply said that instead of ignoring us?”
“Can we go please? I can see Ide in front of the others. The story is about to start.” Bimbo whined.
Aro did not need to be told twice before picking up the chairs to resume her walk to the mango tree.
***
“It was rumoured that this story I am about to tell you, happened right here at SBGC, a few years ago.” Ide, the senior story teller for the night began her tale.
“There used to be a very beautiful teacher here at St. Benedict’s. She was always shabbily dressed and unlike most teachers, she did not have an impeccable accent. She was beautiful, but not as classy and sexy as the other female teachers. Students and Staff alike loved laughing at her. She had no friends and was always lonely.”
“One day, one of the girls in SS3 slapped her in a hot exchange and she retaliated, finally unleashing all her pent up anger on the girl. The girl was badly bruised and had to be hospitalized. The next day, her parents came to the school angry and ready to fight this teacher, but when the teacher was summoned, to everyone’s surprise, she had transformed. Gone were the shabby clothes and local accent. She was dressed in a beautiful gown, her face was made up and her lips were blood red. Her red heels could be heard making the koi koi sound as she walked the corridor that led to the Principal’s office. When she spoke, everyone was shocked.”
“It was as if she enchanted everyone because even the parents of the girl ended up apologizing for their daughter’s rudeness while the Principal let her go. Angered by this seeming injustice, the SS3 girls planned and decided to mete out their own version of justice against this teacher. That evening, they accosted her in the staff restroom and beat her. The girl’s best friend removed her red heels and bashed her face with it. They only stopped when they realized she was no longer breathing. Scared of what they had done, they fled the scene and agreed to keep quiet.”
“To their utmost surprise, there was no uproar in the school about the death of this teacher. They checked and discovered her body was not there anymore. In fact, other staff members believed she simply stopped coming to work. The girls did not know whether to be relieved or concerned, but this was later answered when one by one, they started getting killed. Each time, their faces were bashed in by the sole of a pair of stilettos. The one who used the shoe to kill her reported to the authorities that each night, they always hear a koi koi sound on the corridor and she believed it was the ghost of the dead teacher.”
“Of course no one believed her, but even she was killed. When other parents could not handle it anymore, they all withdrew their kids and St. Benedict’s was shut down. Now, it is believed that if you call out the name “Miss Koi Koi” three times while looking at a mirror, she will appear and bash the person’s face in with her red heels.”
“The end.”
As Ide ended her story and murmurs and questions followed, Aro was quiet while the gentle night breeze caressed her long hair. Suddenly, the voices appeared to be coming from afar while a hum coming from the direction of the staff toilet caught her attention.
Staring at her from the shrouds of darkness, was a slim woman with a covered face, wearing a bright pair of red heels.
