GRACE KLUBI

DIARY OF A COLLEGE GIRL:

WHEN EVIL LURKS

EPISODE 4

The semester’s academic work was very engaging. Being a first-class student, I wanted to study and maintain my status or even rise to the top of my class so that I would make both my fathers in heaven proud.

Sometimes, memories of my father would make me slow down but the thought of my mother’s talk kept me pushing. I also remembered my father telling me repeatedly:

“In spite of emotions, what must be done must be done.”

So, I dug in hard.

Not wanting to be an ‘all work and no play’ kind of person, my monthly outing ritual to KFC on Friday nights with my roommates continued.

On one of such outings as we were preparing to go as usual and approving and rejecting each other’s choice of outfits, there was a knock on the door.

It was Anne.

Nana Yaa immediately lost her smile and went silent.

Anne asked where we were going and we told her. She asked if she could join us because she was bored in her room and all her roommates were out. Mari happily obliged and added that she could replace Lisa since she was with her sister but Nana Yaa simply asked coldly if she could afford it.

Anne replied in the affirmative, and soon, Nana Yaa was in the front seat next to the uber driver with us three cramped in the back seat. I couldn’t help but be upset about Nana Yaa’s behaviour but Anne didn’t seem to care so I decided to give it a rest.

We arrived and as we were going to order the ususal ‘Streetwise’ meal for each person, Anne suggested we buy a chicken bucket instead since it would be cheaper.

It made sense, but Nana Yaa refused to eat with us and ordered her own meal. I really didn’t understand her behaviour. The three of us ate together and Anne as usual seemed to be chanting while she chewed.

I guessed that was just her way.

After the meal we went back to campus, and Anne left to her room.

Soon after, Mari began to complain of tummy aches. She visited the washroom a couple of times and said she was feeling better so we all fell asleep.

I was in the forest again.

This time, the snake lady had her legs wrapped around my waist but she was behind me. As her hand reached out to press my neck from behind, I screamed “Jesus!” and woke up.

Nana Yaa, on hearing my screams, jumped down.

She asked me what the matter was and I told her of the dream and both previous ones. She nodded knowingly and asked us to pray. As we prayed, Mari woke up and joined us.

We prayed till five o’clock in the morning.

Nana Yaa and I decided to continue our sleep whilst Mari said she had left her purse in Anne’s bag the previous night and wanted to retrieve it.

She left the room and we fell asleep.

Nana Yaa and I woke up at ten in the morning, freshened up and decided to go buy some koko for breakfast.

Knowing it was Mari’s favourite, we decided to call her to ask if she would like some. As the phone rang, we realized she had left her phone in the room when she was going to Anne’s.

I decided to go there to find out from her and on getting to the room, I was told by Anne’s roommates that Mari had gone with Anne to her aunt’s in Kumasi.

I wondered what Mari would want to do at another person’s aunt’s but shrugged it off. Nana Yaa and I had our breakfast, and since it was a Saturday, we watched some movies, played several rounds of Ludo and finally ended up falling asleep on my bed.

I woke up around 5pm and Nana Yaa was still asleep.

Lisa had returned and was scrolling through her phone. I checked and Mari’s phone was still there. I found it really strange because the Marquette I knew couldn’t last one hour without her phone.

She was constantly ranting on some social media platform.

I decided to go up again to Anne’s to check.

I heard loud laughter coming from the room when I got there and a voice that was unmistakably Anne’s. Since I was acquainted with all her roommates, I let myself in without knocking.

It was something I usually did.

Anne’s look of displeasure was quite obvious.

“Yes? Why would you just barge into someone’s room without knocking?” she asked.

Her roommates stared at her obviously shocked because it certainly wasn’t the first time I had walked in without knocking. I shrugged off my disbelief and asked her where Mari was because she had left in the morning to see her and hadn’t been back since.

Anne immediately took a defensive position.

“And so?” she retorted. “She came here in the morning but I haven’t seen her since.”

I opened my mouth to speak when one of her roommates chipped in.

“Ah, Anne. Aren’t you the one who was praising your aunt’s big house this morning and took Mari to see it?”

Anne immediately looked apologetic and asked to see me privately.

We stepped outside.

“I’m sorry Princess, Mari had so much fun at my aunt’s,” she said. “I tried to convince her to come back but she refused. I left her there because I had to come back to campus for a group meeting but I was just about leaving to go get her when you came. Maybe we could go together so you can convince her that her parents brought her here to study.”

I processed the thought for a while and asked to go inform Nana Yaa and Lisa of my whereabouts but Anne mentioned that the uber was already waiting and her charge would be higher. Well, I thought to myself, we’ll just go, get Mari and be back.

My Name is Grace Klubi

An old student of Achimota School (Akora), currently studying Computer Science at Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science and Technology (KNUST).

I love to write and sing as hobbies. I enjoy writing, and I have a vivid imagination of what life could be like if it were perfect.