THE GHOST IN AFRICA

A GIRL NAMED SULIYAT

I stopped dead in my tracks.

“I said don’t come any closer”

There could be no mistaking this time, I heard the voice loud and clear. It was a female voice with an unmistakable northern accent. If the conditions had been different, maybe I would have been tempted to turn around immediately and catch a glimpse of whoever it was that spoke.

“It’s okay, I’m a friendly” I said, taking a step forward in the direction I was facing. I have watched lots of Hollywood thriller movies where the villain always finds a way to come out of hiding one the hero turns back. I wasn’t going to make that mistake here.

Something cold suddenly went into my chest from behind, trapping me. It felt like a fork of sorts, with long moveable prongs on it. My ghost mind was torn between the near rigidity I now felt and the fear that now spread through my entire being.

“What are you doing? I’m on your side” I managed. I did not know who it was that pronged me from behind, but I was sure that whoever it was, they would be somehow related to Usman.

“I don’t have a side.” The voice barked again, sounding even hoarser this time. “For the last time, who are you?” She wasn’t joking around. I felt my essence starting to fade as I began to phase out.

“I am Elias”

“Wrong answer, doesn’t ring a bell.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I ask the questions around here. How did you find me?”

“Hello! You found me. I’m the one phasing, remember?” 

“No”

Even for a talkative kid like me, I was quickly running out of things to say. The cold prongs in my chest seemed to grow bigger by the second. How was I even able to feel cold? This ghost thing was really making me lose my mind already. I racked my brain for a reply that would guarantee my existence in this building at this very moment.

“I’m a new kid. Usman says I’m the ninth kid, whatever that means.”

That seemed to do the trick. I felt the cold prongs in my chest weaken and pull out.

“You can’t be” She said. I turned, finally getting to look at her. She was as Usman; Dark skinned, pouty cheeks and puffy hands and an expression that said they could kill you if you stepped on their bad side. She didn’t seem scared of anything. She didn’t appear capable of fear at all.

She eyed me from head to toe, like a man about to purchase a goat, only she didn’t seem interested in the particular goat she was observing. Shaking her head slightly, she turned and floated away without saying another word. It seemed she was going to be worse than G

“Please, I don’t know a thing about how or why I’m here. I need your help if I’m to survive being dead.” Well that came out weird, yet she kept on moving, so I took a gamble. There was so much resemblance between her and Usman I decided that she could only be Suliyat. Adaeze had said earlier on that Suliyat had been taken by the thing in the darkness, but here she was before me – I think.

“Please, Suliyat” I called her name carefully. I wasn’t sure how she would react to hearing her name from a stranger. Most people got very uncomfortable. The rest got immediately aggressive. She stopped and turned to face me. For a moment she looked like she would finally listen to me, or complete the second killing she had already began seconds into our meeting.

“I don’t think there will be any need for that, Aboki. There is no way in the world that you’re the ninth kid, Elias, or whatever you said your name was.” She said, and she was floating off again. “You could easily be another one of the ghosts sent to help harvest our essence for the brotherhood.”

“I don’t understand”. I said, tagging behind her like a stray puppy. So did my dying forebode death even for the dead? How come no one wants to share any details with me?

“Suliyat, I need answers.” She just kept moving on. “This is serious. How do I know what to do and what not to do?”

Still no response. I took a deep breath. Being an only child, I was used to undivided attention from both parents. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t the typically spoilt kid

“You don’t”

“But… but…”

She stopped as abruptly as she had done earlier, only this time, her impatience glowered brighter than the first time. She sized me up again, slowly this time. I surrendered myself to be manhandled by her piercing gaze, stripping me entirely of whatsoever pride I once had as the son of a father who was well off his mates.

When she was done, I moved slowly towards the point where she stood. She immediately raised her finger, restricting my movement altogether. Her gaze now burned on to my face even as I stared back. I felt the brunt of being a ghost being stared down by yet another ghost.

“You can’t be the ninth kid…” she looked at me as if she expected me to complete the sentence for her.

“Elias” I did. Clearly, she had forgotten my name again.

“Whatever. I have studied every single jot in the book. I know every single title by heart. I even plotted my own demise to give myself enough time to study the book. At least I would be away from Usman’s commanding attitude and free from that pesky Adaeze always looking over my shoulder and second guessing my every move.”

“What book are you talking about?”

“This”

Out of nowhere, a stack of papers dropped on the floor. Before I could wrap my head around what just happened, she was already down, sorting through the papers and nursing a mild panic. She was muttering sounded that sounded like

‘No no no no no no no… It’s in here somewhere.”

“You can touch stuff?” I almost flew out of my skin.

“We can all touch THIS stuff. It’s nothing special”. I doubt. As I reached for the papers, hoping to see if I could touch them too, she shoved a paper in my face.

“Here, see this”

I would have held her hands and adjusted the paper a little away from my eyes so I could read it.

It was a child’s imitation of a clock. Two clocks. Each one of the clocks was bounded by triangles. The first was drawn with black, with tiny black stars drawn around it. Both hands of the clock sat at twelve. The ‘hands’ of the clock were not just hands; they were keys of two different sizes. The kind with a round handle and two short horizontal protrusions at the tip. The second clock was plainer than the first. It was drawn in red and read eleven o’clock. As I stared at the clocks, a strange sensation came over me. Warmth. De ja vu? That was impossible.

I reached out and took the drawing from Suliyat, hoping to take a closer look at the creepy drawings.

The moment my hand made contact with the paper, I felt a jolt of electricity zap right through me.

Suliyat must have felt it too. The light in the house flickered momentarily.

“What did you do?” she asked, not making any effort to hide the panic in her voice. It was beginning to drizzle outside. Perfect. Now I’m the evil kid that breeds a curse wherever he goes. Just perfect. As the lights flickered, I spied someone at the other end of the hallway. She was dressed in white with long black hair flowing down a side of her face. She disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared.

“Dammit! We’re out of time already” Suliyat’s ghost face turned a little pale.

My eyes riveted to her face. She was bent on the drawings. I looked at them too.

“I think we have barely an hour left.” Suliyat said. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. I merely stared at the sheet of paper I held in disbelief.