THE WARNING ⚠️
820 Words
📖 CHAPTER 2: The Warning
The rain didn’t stop.
By the time we reached the camp gate, it was pouring heavily, drenching everything in sight.
“Welcome to NYSC camp!” someone shouted from the front of the bus, forcing excitement into their voice.
But no one responded.
Because something about the place felt… off.
The gate stood tall, painted in fading green and white.
Soldiers moved around lazily, their boots splashing through muddy water.
A loud whistle pierced the air.
“Everybody come down! Fast, fast!”
The bus door opened.
Cold air rushed in.
I hesitated.
Just for a second.
Then—
“Amara, move!” Chioma nudged me.
I grabbed my bag and stepped down into the rain.
The moment my feet touched the ground…
A strange chill ran through my body.
Not from the rain.
Something else.
Something deeper.
“Line up there!” a soldier barked, pointing toward a crowded shed.
We joined the others, dragging our bags through the mud.
People complained loudly.
“Why this place come look like this?”
“This camp no dey encouraging at all o!”
“I swear, I regret this already.”
Normally, I would have laughed.
But I couldn’t.
Because my eyes kept scanning the surroundings.
Like I was searching for something…
Or someone.
“Stop looking around like that,” Chioma whispered. “You’re scaring me.”
“I just feel like…” I paused. “Like someone is watching.”
She scoffed. “Of course people are watching. We just arrived.”
“No… not like that.”
I couldn’t explain it.
But I felt it clearly.
Eyes.
On me.
“Next!” a camp official called.
We moved forward slowly for registration.
One by one, corps members stepped up, submitted their documents, and moved on.
Everything seemed normal.
Too normal.
Then it was my turn.
I stepped forward, handing over my papers.
The woman behind the desk barely looked up.
“Name?”
“Amara Okeke.”
She flipped through my documents lazily.
Then suddenly…
She stopped.
Her hand froze.
Slowly, she raised her head and looked at me.
Really looked at me.
Her expression changed.
From bored…
To something else.
Something I couldn’t read.
“Where did you say your name is?” she asked again, her voice lower now.
My heart skipped.
“Amara… Okeke.”
Silence.
The rain outside seemed louder suddenly.
Then she leaned closer.
Too close.
And whispered—
“You need to be careful here.”
I blinked.
“Ma?”
But she had already leaned back, her face blank again.
Like nothing happened.
“Take your slip and move,” she said coldly, stamping my paper.
I stood there for a second.
Confused.
“What did you mean—”
“Next!”
I was pushed aside by the next person in line.
My mind spinning.
“Guy, what happened?” Chioma asked as I joined her.
I shook my head slowly. “Nothing… I think.”
But it wasn’t nothing.
I knew it wasn’t.
We were assigned to our hostel shortly after.
The building looked old.
Too old.
The walls were cracked.
The windows slightly broken.
“This place get ghost, I swear,” someone muttered behind us.
A few people laughed nervously.
Inside, the room was crowded.
Metal bunk beds lined the walls.
Girls were already settling in, unpacking their things, arguing over space.
Normal.
Everything looked normal.
But then…
I noticed her.
A girl sitting quietly on one of the top bunks.
She wasn’t talking.
Wasn’t unpacking.
Wasn’t even moving.
She was just…
Watching.
Watching me.
Our eyes met.
And for a moment, everything else faded.
The noise.
The movement.
The voices.
Gone.
Then she spoke.
Softly.
But clearly.
“You heard her, didn’t you?”
My throat went dry.
“Heard… who?”
“The woman at registration,” she said.
“She warned you.”
A cold wave washed over me.
“How do you know that?”
She tilted her head slightly.
A faint smile forming on her lips.
“Because…” she said slowly,
“You’re not the first.”
My heart slammed against my chest.
“What do you mean?”
She leaned forward slightly.
Her voice dropping to almost a whisper.
“Girls like you come here every year.”
A pause.
“And most of them…”
She smiled wider now.
“…don’t leave the same.”
A loud bang from the door made me jump.
Someone had slammed it shut.
The room filled with noise again.
Laughter.
Voices.
Movement.
I looked back up at the bunk.
But the girl was no longer smiling.
She was serious now.
Dead serious.
“Stay away from him,” she added quietly.
My breath caught.
“Who?”
But she didn’t answer.
She just turned away.
Like the conversation was over.
And somehow…
That scared me even more.
- Writer
