THE GHOST IN AFRICA

TRUTHS COME TO LIGHT

We were already at my room, so there was no talk of not coming with her any longer. I slowed down nonetheless. I focused intently at Adaeze, trying to take in every single detail about her appearance. Maybe if I could spot something off, then I could understand where her interest in all these really lied. She still wore her grey floral gown – not that that could change anytime ever. Since 1942! Her parents must have been among the movers and shakers of the town back then if so. I imagined a small brat showing off her pretty clothes and jeweler to her friends with her ever present pout, nose rose in there. The kind of kid that stole pancakes when Mummy wasn’t looking, and threw tantrums if ever she were caught.

“This room wasn’t always this way you know.” She was talking to me now, going round the room with her hands behind her back, nose raised in the air and a not so nice smirk on her face.

“My own bed had been over there.” She pointed away from my bed to a spot few inches away from where I stood next to it. I didn’t bat an eye. My danger instincts were giving off high pitched warning noises and I couldn’t dare take my eyes off of Adaeze for a split second.

“I had nannies” she continued. “About nine of them employed just for my upkeep, and boy, did I weary them. I mean, what was the point of having nannies without engaging them in one way or another? They signed up for it, not so?

The Adaeze I thought I knew had faded away. Before me, stood a spoilt nine year old kid, with a glint in her eyes I had not really understood yet. She had transformed from the little tramp that could throw tantrums and steal pancakes when mummy wasn’t looking to a little evil being that could lace champagne with arsenic.

“You see, my father had always been a busy man, hence, the nannies. But there was something strange about the house. Most nights, I could hear strange voices chatting excitedly. Although I never heard the content of their discussion, I always heard the word ‘Dawn’ mentioned intermittently. I had told a number of my nannies” she smiled broadly, her smile heightening my fear already. Was this the Hollywood scene, where the villain explains the motivation behind his crime before killing the would-be hero?

“They never took me seriously. I guess I was too much of a pest for them to really care if I slept well or not.” She was right in front of me now. I steeled my nerves, trying to hide my growing fear. “Then, when I was six years old, the visits started. A woman dressed in white, always sobbing started visiting me. At first I was scared, but then, she was so beautiful, like a Disney princess, with her dark hair flowing over her shoulders and rounded lovely eyes. She said she had lost her child, about my age and that I should help her find him. Of course I obliged. After a while, her visits became more frequent and she promised me I could be her new child. Perfecto! I was being adopted to be a princess I thought. She started teaching me things, telling me stuff to draw. Painting vivid images in my head and making me put them down.”

If ghosts did sweat, I would have oozed a river buy now. Adaeze hadn’t just found the book. She had authored it. Maybe she did plan to trade us all to the woman in white after all. She was looking at me now, obviously laughing at my apparent discomfort, daring me to leave even as she hovered ominously a few inches above.

“Then one day, on my ninth birthday, I had run downstairs, scream in at my nannies as I bounded down the stairs. Nobody responded. I waited for a while. Nothing. After a few minutes, I realized I was home alone, with neither gifts nor anyone to scold.

‘Daddy! Hello! Nanna!’ I threw a tantrum, nobody was there to pet me, and so I had stopped. I raced back up to my room when I heard the parlor door creak open. I raced back down immediately. Maybe everyone merely decided to play disappearing prank on me. Wrong.

Downstairs, I saw some men in black suits waltz into the house like it was theirs. They had some weird looking boxes with them. I was terrified.”

I was beyond terrified myself. The light here had started flickering again and the rain was getting even more serious. The countdown!

Was Adaeze merely killing time with her long narrative, so we can all ‘wait out the countdown as she wanted us all to? Right now I couldn’t speak, so I listened on.

“I actually tried to shove one of them out. Zap!” she snapped her fingers. “I passed right through him. He didn’t even seem to realize that I was in the room. None of them did. It took me a while to process it all. I was dead and some people were taking great lengths to cover it up. A few months later, another couple arrived with one of the men on suit that day, the one I had shoved. The house now had new occupants, and in time, I had company. Usman”

“I could end it all you know” Adaeze added with a laugh.

“But…” I added

She chuckled. “I need that book”

“I thought… I thought you said we should outlast the countdown?”

“But Usman and Suliyat don’t know this, and as long as they have that book, all our plans are as good as useless” she stopped talking and came over to where I stood, looking me in the eye.

“See Elias” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “I’m your only hope of ever getting back to your body, or saving your parents. You need to do as I say. Just help me get that book, okay?”

She was still smiling. This girl was evil. I had gotten her threat perfectly.

“Can’t you just get it yourself?” I asked. “I mean, you’ve been here longer than me, so you should…” “Still asking questions now, are we?” she asked. “Maybe I didn’t make myself clear enough. You are going to help me get that book from Suliyat. That wouldn’t be a problem for you, would it?”

I was going to play this game with her. I am Elias after all. “How do we handle Usman then” asked. “Now that’s the sound I want to hear” She cooed. “Leave Usman to me, I’d handle him” “You don’t mean kill him do you”

“No. no.” she said amidst a rather high pitched cackle. “I won’t be killing him. Besides…” she turned toward the wardrobe. “Aren’t we all dead already?” she added.

Chei God!