CHAPTER TEN — The Second Toilet
1045 Words
CHAPTER TEN — The Second Toilet
Lights-out always came too fast in Victory Girls.
One moment the hostel was full of noise, girls laughing under their blankets, whispering secrets across bunks… and the next, the corridor went silent like someone had switched off the world.
I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling, waiting.
Rita had already fallen asleep below me, her breathing slow and steady. I envied how easily she could do that—sleep like nothing in the world was pressing on her chest.
But my chest felt like it was carrying bricks.
Tomi’s words kept repeating in my head.
Meet me after lights out. Second toilet. Alone.
I turned slightly on my bunk. The wooden frame creaked softly. I froze, listening.
Nothing.
Still… I waited a few more minutes.
Then I slowly sat up.
My legs felt heavy as I climbed down from the bunk ladder. The floor was cold against my feet. Every step I took toward the door felt louder than it should have been.
The hostel corridor was dimly lit by a single bulb at the far end. Shadows stretched across the floor like long fingers.
I moved carefully.
The “second toilet” was at the far end of the hostel, past two corners and a section of lockers that always smelled like disinfectant and old soap. No one liked going there at night. Even seniors avoided it unless they absolutely had to.
The closer I got, the colder the air became.
My skin prickled.
I paused outside the toilet door.
It looked normal.
Too normal.
White tiles. Slightly cracked paint. A small faded sign that said GIRLS TOILET 2.
I pushed the door slowly.
It creaked open.
Inside, it was empty.
My heart sank slightly.
“Tomi?” I whispered.
No answer.
I stepped in carefully, my fingers brushing the wall for balance. The fluorescent light above flickered once… twice… then steadied.
The sinks were lined neatly. Mirrors above them reflected nothing strange.
For a moment, I thought I had been tricked.
Then—
A stall door at the far end moved.
Just slightly.
I froze.
“Tomi,” I whispered again, sharper this time. “This is not funny.”
The stall door creaked open.
And Tomilore stepped out.
She wasn’t smiling.
That alone told me something was wrong.
“You came,” she said quietly.
“I almost didn’t,” I replied.
She nodded like she understood. “Good. That means you’re starting to take things seriously.”
“What is this place?” I asked, glancing around the empty toilet. “Why here?”
“Because no one listens to toilets,” she said simply. “Especially not this one.”
I frowned. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“It will.”
She moved toward the mirror above the sinks and tapped it gently.
“Look at this.”
I stepped closer reluctantly.
At first, I saw only my reflection.
Then I noticed something strange.
The mirror had faint scratches near the bottom. Like someone had been writing on it repeatedly over time and cleaning it off badly.
Tomi traced one of the scratches with her finger.
“This toilet,” she said softly, “was part of Dorm 7 before they rebuilt the hostel.”
My stomach tightened.
“They moved it?”
“They tried to erase it,” she corrected. “But places remember things even when people pretend they don’t.”
I swallowed hard.
“What happened here?” I asked.
Tomi didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, she pulled out her notebook. The same battered notebook she always carried like it was her life.
She flipped it open to a page I hadn’t seen before.
Drawings.
A girl standing in a toilet.
A girl crying.
A girl looking at a mirror.
And a date written boldly at the top:
2014
My breath caught.
“That’s her,” Tomi said quietly. “The original Halima.”
I stared at the page.
“She was in this exact school?”
Tomi nodded. “Dorm 7. Same block. Same system. Same everything.”
My hands felt cold.
“What happened to her?” I whispered.
Tomi hesitated. For the first time since I met her, she looked unsure.
“She started noticing things,” she said slowly. “At first small things. Then bigger things. Just like you.”
My throat tightened.
“And then?”
“She started asking questions,” Tomi continued. “Too many questions. About missing girls. About rules that didn’t make sense. About things the staff refused to explain.”
I leaned closer without realizing it.
“She told someone she saw a girl in the toilet mirrors at night.”
My stomach dropped.
Tomi looked up at me.
“And then she disappeared.”
Silence filled the toilet.
Even the buzzing light above seemed quieter.
I stepped back slowly. “You think… I’m like her?”
Tomi shook her head quickly. “I don’t think. I know you are being pulled into the same pattern.”
My voice shook. “But I haven’t seen anything like that.”
“Not yet,” she said.
That “yet” made my skin crawl.
A loud bang suddenly echoed from outside the toilet.
We both jumped.
Tomi closed her notebook instantly.
Footsteps.
Someone walking down the corridor.
Slow.
Deliberate.
We froze.
The toilet door handle twisted slightly.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
Tomi grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind the sink counter just as the door creaked open.
A beam of torchlight swept inside.
We held our breath.
A staff voice muttered, “Nothing here.”
The door closed again.
Footsteps faded.
Only then did I exhale shakily.
Tomi let go of my wrist slowly.
“That,” she whispered, “is why we don’t get caught.”
My legs felt weak.
I looked at her. “This is dangerous.”
“Yes,” she said simply.
“And you still want to continue?”
She met my eyes.
“I have no choice,” she replied. “Neither do you anymore.”
I didn’t respond.
Because deep down, I knew she was right.
Something had already started.
And stopping it wasn’t optional.
It was survival.
- Writer
