EPISODE ONE

MY STRANGE NEIGHBOR by Nicholas Stephen

We had a neighbor that had stayed in our compound for two years. She seemed so quiet. The woman would leave her house early in the morning without greeting anyone including my parents and none of us had seen her going to church.

The compound was fenced and the houses were spacious with each having their own flats(one bedroom flat). The flats were up to eight in total.

People call her different names of which they said she gave herself.

Regardless of the number of times people preached for her, they all fell on deaf ears. The day I tried sharing the word of God to her she drove me off adding that I should better distance myself from her hence, deáth would be my calling.

That word alone got me thinking.

With the way the woman was behaving, everyone became so curious about her, seeing a grown up woman like that staying all alone wasn’t normal at all except if something was hidden underground. She barely had visitors.

Some person’s thoughts were

“Is she childless? Could she be barren? What about her friends and family members?”

Others were murmuring and gossiping about her. Seeing her weird behaviours, my parents warned me to stay away from her. Of course I told them I would heed their advice.

I was the type of person that always loves to dig into something that I found suspicious.

“There’s something fishy about this woman. I’ll get to the bottom of it. I’ll look for a way to enter that her house that no one has entered.” I told myself.

The day officially came. That day I closed from church on time because of her. The compound was scanty except for the woman that I sighted from our window sitting down on her verandah with hands placed on her cheeks. She was soliloquizing and smiling at the same time.

They restored power and I abruptly went to turn on the pump so that the two tanks could get filled up with water.

Not long, I saw her dressed on a red gown and leaving the house with her bag. I noticed she didn’t lock the door. She just shut it and left, I decided to grip hold of that opportunity to dig out what she was hiding.

I trailed her till she left the gate before turning back. I observed the whole place and everyone was absent and majority of them were still in church.

I rushed to our verandah, pulled my palms and crept to her room door. I observed and no one was watching so I opened it, entered inside and shut the door behind me.

Inside the room was filled with sands giving the impression that it hadn’t been swept for years.

I trailed it to her room. Everywhere was filled with cobwebs and on top of her bed was a human skull tied with a dark material. I got frightened till my legs began to shake like a leaf. About five red candles were lit they were already half burned. The mattress was so filthy.

The smell oozing out from her room wasn’t friendly at all.

I abruptly heard someone’s sound and my heàrt flown out. Immediately I turned, I saw her standing there looking at me and speaking in a weird tongue. She had a visage that threatened more than a charging bull.

I retreated and accidentally slipped off, collapsing on the ground.

“What are you doing in my room!” She thundered furiously while drawing close.

EPISODE TWO

MY STRANGE NEIGHBOR ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? by Nicholas Stephen

“I…. I…. I…. I…. I… I…” I kept stuttering scratching my head and gazing at the candles.

Fear had engulfed me. I wasn’t expecting any of that.

She faced up, glancing left and right at the ceiling as if she was looking for something, soliloquised for minutes then turned back to me.

Hahahahahahahaha… You’ve seen my secrets and you think I’d allow you go Scott free?”

“Ma please..”

I pleaded while trying to get up.

She drew the curtains, shut the door behind me, locked it and left.

She returned a short while, she was wearing a red long wrapper with white chalk painted on her chest and shoulders.

On her left hand was a small bowl filled with some strange dark water. She began incãntating while pouring powder on it.

She turned and asked me to drink it…

I was taken aback.

“Ma please..” I pleaded with a heavy heart.

“I said drink it!”

She shouted, making it apparent that she was totally annoyed with me just by the way she looked.

“Okay okay please please. I’ll drink it.. I’ll drink it please….”

I got down on my knees and begged.

She gave me an evîl smile as she handed it to me.

I clung it with both hands trembling like someone that was being electrocuted.

I almost passed out when I tasted it, but I had no option.

“I said drink it!” She repeated herself, but this time I could only see her white balls on her eyes.

I drank everything and gave her the bowl.

She chuckled.

“See you at night… And if a word of this gets to anyone, you’re going to join him” She remarked, while holding the human skull and losing the dark material..

“Please I… I.. I sweãr. I won’t tell… I won’t tell anyone…” I stuttered while grasping for air..

“Hahahahahahahaha….”

She grinned, pulled back the curtain a bit, and motioned for me to go.

Ever since I sighted her in the room I had been craving on how to leave. On hearing that, I didn’t waste time before racing out.

When I arrived at the house, I hurried to the parlour and collãpsed in one of the furniture’s

My Tommy was grumbling seriously

I became so weak.

When my parents returned from church, they were astonished at the way I looked.

Mum rushed to meet me in the parlour looking so inquisitive.

“Shedrack are you okay?” Mum questioned me.

“Mummy I’m fine it’s just a little stress.”

“You didn’t even wait till the end of the service before you sneaked out… Or you thought I didn’t see you?”

“Emmm…. Emmm… I…”

“It’s okay.. Come let me pray with you..”

Mum prayed with me for a short time and left.

The weird things I saw at the woman’s house got me thinking. I was terrified at the same time.

Who even asked me to enter her house in the first place?

That woman is not an ordinary woman.

How do I explain this to mum?

The woman also made a statement of seeing me at night… I still couldn’t comprehend.

That night due to curiosity I locked the doors, closed the windows and curtains to avoid anything from coming in.

When time was approximately 11:30pm I heard some knocks from outside.

I knew that wasn’t mum, and my junior sister was sleeping in the same parlour with me.

Fear didn’t allow me to get up. I stood still on the furniture ignoring the knocks while hugging my pillow.