Dark Night in Room 4

It was a beautiful Friday afternoon, students were excited that the weekend had finally come. Some girls roamed around the dormitory, while others went to the tuck shop to hang out with their male friends. Chika, Cynthia, and Hajiya were standing at the entrance of the gate of their dormitory gisting about their day and other people’s private business. Hajiya began to crave popcorn and beckoned to a junior girl to come. ‘What’s your name?’ Hajiya asked. Looking slightly reluctant, the girl replied ‘Yemi’. Okay take this 50 naira, run to the tuck shop and get me two packs of popcorn. ‘Hurry up oh’, she said as she handed Yemi the money.

While they conversed, Rachel, a classmate of theirs came pushing them off the entrance playfully. ‘Move jare, why are you blocking the entrance’ she laughed as they pulled her hands and hair as if punishing her for the unexpected push and interruption. Rachel who had now joined in their conversation, noticed another classmate of theirs asking a junior girl to get something from the tuck shop for her. ‘Don’t send her oh’ she said. ‘Why nau?’ her friend asked. Most of the Js1 girls are demon possessed at the moment. One of them is a witch and has initiated a couple of others, they all turn into birds at night. I am just coming from their dorm. ‘Ehn! In that case, let me go on my own’ her friend said.

‘Ah! I just sent one of them oh’, Hajiya said, ‘I am not collecting the popcorn again’. Chika and Cynthia laughed at her calling her “fear fear”. ‘We will eat it for you don’t worry’ they mocked. When Yemi arrived with the popcorn, Rachel recognized her as one of the ones they said were possessed. When she handed the popcorn to Hajiya, she rejected it saying she didn’t want it anymore. Chika beckoned to Yemi to give it to her, she took one and passed the other to Cynthia. They both ate it still amused that Hajiya would reject the popcorn because of what she had heard.

It was now night time and everyone was in bed. Suddenly there was a flock of big black birds flying around and making very loud piercing sounds. Most people had heard the story of the JS1 girls but no one took it seriously until the bird noises pierced through the windows of the room. Cynthia, who had had a pack of the popcorn was in room 4 of the SS2 girl’s dormitory. She was muttering something under her breath. The sound of the birds got louder and with it came the fear that enveloped the room.

A sudden gust of wind blew through the window knocking down plastic bowls stored on top of the wooden lockers in the room. At that moment, Cynthia began to pray out loud. Rachel, who was two bunk beds away from Cynthia, lay stiffly, paralysed with fear. The noise increased, not from the birds this time but from the girls in room four. Another one had joined Cynthia speaking in a different language that no one could understand. Rachel had wondered if she was speaking in tongues like the Pentecostal Christians, but when another girl from across the room began to rant in an entirely different language, she concluded they were calling their gods.

By now many more girls had started blurting out words from their mouths that sounded like prayers or fearful screams. There was complete pandemonium; everyone freaking out uncontrollably. The girl next to Rachel crawled into her bed holding her tight and shivering profusely. Rachel had never witnessed that kind of fear before. Then there was Clara who started screaming ‘Blood of Jesus’ so close to Rachel’s bed that it increased the fear in Rachel and the girl who had crawled in. When asked later why she was screaming blood of Jesus so loudly, she said she initially muttered ‘blood of scissors’ and in reaction to the abomination that had just come out of her mouth, she began to shout blood of Jesus.

The whole drama went on throughout the night until early hours of the morning when the birds had dispersed and the day was slightly beginning to break. Then most of the girls gathered in the middle of the room. They began to pray and thank God, some still crying and calling out for their moms, horrified by the incident that they had just witnessed. Some used it as an opportunity to act as prophets. One girl came crying and saying ‘let us pray for Cynthia, they have surrounded her and they plan to kill her’. So they prayed harder. Some other girls watched in amazement, it all seemed like a huge joke to them. “Since when did flying birds transform into witches” they mocked.

Rachel felt bad for Cynthia realising that after she ate the popcorn she was gripped with fear, unlike Chika who ate it too but slept like a baby. Rachel wasn’t shocked that Chika slept peacefully, she had witnessed her beat-up boys before, what were black birds to her? She would have flogged the witches out of them and cut off their heads.

On Saturday night, Cynthia had another episode battling nonexistent witches. The other girls slept better but were still disturbed. It affected some of the girls in the other rooms too.

The Principal got involved and talked with the girls, telling them to calm down and counseling them with comforting words. Things went back to normal and room four girls were back to being happy kids again. But not Cynthia.

She became a strong Born Again sister. The fear of death rested on her chest every night, she was in bondage. She no longer chatted or played around with the other girls. She was always on her own and in constant fellowship with God. Rachel noticed and went to her one day. ‘Cynthia’, she said, ‘you don’t have to lose your life because you ate popcorn. God will always protect you, everything that happened was born out of fear. After all, Chika ate it too and had no problems at all, she is still playing, gossiping, and eating more forbidden popcorns. Get your life back okay’. This meant a lot to Cynthia as the realisation of Chika being normal finally brought her back to reality.  There was peace at last. ‘Next time don’t eat something that scares you’, Rachel teased.