The Third Roommate

*Chapter 2: The third bucket

Morning came, but the room did not feel like morning.

The sun was outside, but inside Room 17, the air was still cold. I sat up on my bed and stared at the wardrobe. It was closed. The mirror was clear and clean, reflecting my tired face. There was no fog, no writing, no damp uniform. Only my clothes and Chisom's clothes hanging neatly.

It felt like I had imagined everything.

Chisom was already dressed for lectures. Her Bible was no longer on her bed. She had packed it deep inside her bag. Her eyes were red and swollen, as if she had been crying all night.

"Chisom," I called softly. "About last night. What was that inside the wardrobe? Who is Nnenna Okoro? Why is her name on that uniform?"

She paused at the door, her hand on the handle. She didn't look back at me.

"Amaka, listen to me," she said quietly. "In this lodge, some rooms are just for sleeping. You don't ask questions. You don't investigate. If you want to stay here peacefully, just stay. Don't search for what is not looking for you."

Then she opened the door and left, closing it hard behind her.

I was alone in Room 17.

For the first time, I truly looked around. The room felt heavier in daylight. The bathroom curtain was moving slightly, even though the window was closed. I could hear water dripping steadily, like a tap was open.

I walked to the wardrobe and opened it. Our clothes were there, but there was a strange empty space in the middle, as if something had been hanging there and was just removed. The wooden floor inside the wardrobe was wet. There was a small puddle of dark water that was slowly dripping onto the main floor.

I went to the bathroom. The three buckets were still there. Green, blue, and yellow. The green and blue buckets were completely dry and empty. But the yellow bucket in the middle was full to the brim with dark, dirty water. I had not fetched any water since I arrived yesterday. No one had.

My hands shaking, I dragged the yellow bucket out. It was very heavy. As I moved it, I saw something scratched into the cement floor beneath it. Someone had used a sharp object, like a key or a nail, to carve words into the floor over a long time. The letters were rough and deep.

_NNENNA WAS HERE - THEY LEFT ME INSIDE - ROOM 17 - 2019_

My blood ran cold. I left the bathroom immediately.

At that moment, my phone rang. It was an unknown number. I hesitated, then picked it up.

There was heavy breathing on the other side. Then a young girl's voice, crying softly.

"Please... get out of my room. You are sleeping on my bed. I want to go home. Tell them to let me go home."

The line went dead.

I threw the phone on the bed and ran out of the block. I went straight to the caretaker's small office by the main gate. He was sitting alone, eating bread.

"Sir, please," I said, out of breath. "I need to know about Room 17. Who lived there before me? Who is Nnenna Okoro?"

He stopped eating and stared at me. His face turned pale.

"What did you see? Did you see the uniform? Did you see the bucket?"

"Tell me the truth," I said.

He stood up and locked his small office door.

"In 2019, Room 17 was given to two girls, but three girls lived there," he whispered. "The third girl was a squatter, her name was Nnenna. One Saturday night, her two roommates went to a party and left her locked in the bathroom because they were quarreling. She slipped and hit her head on one of the buckets. She died there. The girls were scared, so they carried her body and dumped it in the bush behind the lodge. They told everyone she traveled home and never came back. The police case was closed."

He looked at me with fear.

"Since then, no girl stays in Room 17 more than three nights. On the third night, she comes to collect her bed. Today is your second night. If I were you, I would not sleep here tonight."

That night, I tried to stay awake. I sat on my bed with my lamp on, watching the clock tick.

At exactly 2:13 AM, the light went off by itself. The wardrobe opened.