Senior Achilefu Uchenna, Unity house Prefect for the junior boys had
woken us personally. My body was seated erect on the mattress where I
had slept on the floor, supposedly awake, but my mind was still asleep
would take two more minutes to catch up. It must have been 2:30 am or
so, the dormitory was dark, the only light source being his second
rechargeable lantern and it was playing an acappela gospel music on
mellow. It was the model of rechargeable lanterns popular then; they had
compartment for playing audio cassettes, a torch and florescent tube
parts. Some even had mini fan compartments. It added points to your
'rep', as an SS3 boy, to have one of those, back then.
It wasn't strange for him to wake us at night -he frequently did so. We, being a few junior boys numbering roughly eight or so. Whenever he woke us, we usually went outside the dorms to the hostel quadrangle to pray and later returned to read. He was preparing for SSCE while we were preparing for JSCE. I can't recall if Tobby, Memé or Miracle actually read during those nights but I didn't, I mainly looked forward to the 'shackings' that usually followed the prayers before reading. The milk-milo-cabin biscuit combination actually went down our throats in peace without anyone begging us -everyone else was usually asleep. It was hard, almost impossible to eat anything in the hostel and not be begged. Especially at the boys hostel. No matter how small it was, some heartless fellow would still beg you.Some boys even spat into their bowl of beverage in full view of potential partakers to kill their urge to beg, that worked most of the time except when you met a really hungry fellow. Only very few people had the courage to eat in full view of others and not give even a piece to another. These guys had good self esteem: they were not bothered by the fact that they would be unpopular amongst colleagues. Prominent in this class of fearless boys was Duruigbo Ugochukwu, JSS 3b, aka La-dum. He propounded a law which he recited whenever he was eating and was approached by anyone begging to share his meal. It was usually recited as: "La-Dum's law says NO SOUL!" He said it with a mild smile, but he meant it! Sometimes, he wrote it out on paper which he kept nearby and pointed to those who begged for a share, as he would be unable to talk because his mouth was full!
'ManChi-Le', as senior Achilefu was fondly called, was very kind and one of the Christian fellowship leaders in school - he was the kind of fellow, in whose care, parents wanted to leave their children.
He didn't just become my school father though, in fact, I doubt he considered me a school son. I craved for a school parent, especially for a school mother. A school mother was of more use than a school father. School mothers actually gave you stuff from time to time and you could run to them at perilous times of hunger. School fathers, on the other hand mainly protected you -that is, if your school father wasn't a ju-man! Besides, you had to pass service charge, lanwu, to sustain their concern over you. But ManChi-le was different: he both protected and provided for us. We did give to him too but it was from our hearts not by compulsion. I guess for some reason, I wasn't what one might call a school-son material, I just didn't have anybody interested in school father-ing me. ManChi-le, actually became my school father by proxy. He was fond of my then best friends, Osigwe Tobby and Chinaemerem Ude (Memé). He was a generous and helpful school father, I wasn't gonna miss the opportunity so I engrafted myself into his small boys fold sneakily! It was school son by force, if you know what I mean.
On this night though, there was something particularly eerie about the night; an evil foreboding ambience, seemed to rest heavy over the hostel. It added to the thickness of the already polluted air from the crammed up lifestyle of the hostel.
ManChi-Le had heard a voice laughing loudly and continuously that night. The sound which he thought had come from the road in between the unity house boys annex and the girls hostels, continued for a few minutes echoing over a large area. Knowing that no one student, senior or junior, would be out by then, he had snuck up to the window, jammed it open and flashed his other torch in the direction of the laughter to see who it was. The laughter ceased and the torch got burnt instantly! After he related the story to us, he asked us move out for prayers. I shall never forget that night prayers. With the scary encounter, still very fresh in memory, my brain switched into hyper creativity mode: the little bats, occasionally flying around, seemed like huge creatures from a scene in 'Lord of the Rings' swooping down to bite off our heads, even the natural chirpings of nocturnal birds and other creatures, seemed edited specially like an Enya soundtrack, that night, to heighten the horror feel. I could see multiple shapes and creatures formed by the trees a few feet away. I tried my best to focus, while we prayed and to do my binding and casting as close as possible to the only light source, the rechargeable lantern. The prayers that night, came to an end some thirty-five minutes later, I and the others hurriedly returned to the hostel.
I went to class from ManChi-le's dorm. It had become my dorm. Though I was in Peace House, I resumed my third term JSS 3 in his Unity house dorm. Usually students who were hostel truants were called gypsies, they were said to have had 'jeeps' with which they roved around school but my truancy was at another level -the astronaut level -I had a spaceship! An average gypsy could be seen once in a while at his hostel but seeing an astronaut was on rare solemn occasions like a few minutes after last assembly at the end of a term. It was a fugitive's lifestyle. With the school work of class occupying me, the incidence of the mysterious laughter, was forgotten but Pandora's box had already been opened with that night's encounter. We were to have more strange encounters in the coming weeks. Including horror reports from girls' hostel.
I returned one night, just an hour into prep, from class to the dorm. As usual, hostel was busy, planless boys running here and there, stingy boys, smuggling what beverage they had to classified locations for consumption. I made straight for Man Chi-le's box-room (Prefect's cubicle). There was a small group gathered inside with one JSS 1 boy squatting in the middle of the room. It wasn't that big a room, it was longer than it was wide and not so well lit. There was a double deck bunk in the room placed closer to the room's nether end. Some boys were seated on the top bunk and others just clustered around. ManChi-le sat alone on the lower bunk.
If I wasn't in that room myself, the things that JSS 1 boy said, would have sounded like one of those Uche Agu's stories -made up tales, if someone had reported the events to me. Whatever it was about the room, I cannot say but the boy confessed freely.
He claimed to have been initiated into occultism by his grandma some years back during a Christmas holiday at his village. Since then, he had had regular visits from a lady from whom he took instructions. She was seen by no one else. I remember him telling us how that she appeared often times when he was in church back at home. So while the sermon went on, she kept him company such that he never did listen to or hear what was said in church. He spoke quietly, you could pick the regret in his voice, like one trapped in some 'necessary evil.' At some point he stretched out his right hand and dropped some information that chilled us.
'I have two rings on this fingers' he said coyly, indicating his right fore and mid fingers, 'it was given me by the lady, anything I want done to any senior who harasses me, I simply say it to the ring and it will happen...'
His voice tapered off. At this point, the room was in absolute silence, we all could see the hand but not the ring!
ManChi-le spoke quietly to the boy about Jesus. It was obvious the boy, though possessing these powers was a victim. He was told, he would die if he shared any of the things he had told us. I had less knowledge of God then than and how power worked in the spirit realm. A few seniors had crossed his path but he was reluctant to deal with them accordingly. He wanted out. In that little room, he was made to say the sinners' prayer then brought out into the main dorm for prayers.
Using his position as house prefect, ManChi-le chased all the other boys from dorm one and dorm two. It was time for the deliverance! All the doors and windows in the two Connecting dorms were shut to prevent intrusion. Chibuike Okoro aka Father Okoro was among us, the junior students, to join in the prayers. He wasn't called father Okoro as per priesthood but because he was rumoured to have entered JSS 1 at 16 or was it 17 years: that was his age till our graduation in SS 3. However, he was intelligent, prudent and had an outrageously eccentric sense of humour. He had his fat green Revised Standard Version Bible firmly under his armpit. He looked every inch ready, even if the battle ahead was to turn physical. The other boys present didn't look so sure of themselves; they cut a sorry sight! I too. I was remembering all my sins. What if the lady jumped out of the boy and pounced on me. I didn't know any better. I needed to confess my sins, I thought. I began to do so under my breath while the little group prepared for the exorcism.
In FGC Okigwe, it seemed every junior student had to lie to thrive. You lied about the provisions, about the water you fetched. You 'played deaf' when you were called by seniors from a distance to avoid obvious work, you jum-played to take revenge at those you hated at dinning hall....I concluded my prayers.
'Amen.'
As I wrapped up my prayers and looked up from the corner of the dorm I was standing in, the possessed boy was kneeling in the middle of the dorm, his head slightly tilted forward in a reverent bow. The other boys on the prayer team were walking to and fro the dorm space, muttering inaudibly. We needed to rid the boy of that foul Spirit. I felt like Wesley Snipes Blade character as I walked towards the kneeling boy...
It wasn't strange for him to wake us at night -he frequently did so. We, being a few junior boys numbering roughly eight or so. Whenever he woke us, we usually went outside the dorms to the hostel quadrangle to pray and later returned to read. He was preparing for SSCE while we were preparing for JSCE. I can't recall if Tobby, Memé or Miracle actually read during those nights but I didn't, I mainly looked forward to the 'shackings' that usually followed the prayers before reading. The milk-milo-cabin biscuit combination actually went down our throats in peace without anyone begging us -everyone else was usually asleep. It was hard, almost impossible to eat anything in the hostel and not be begged. Especially at the boys hostel. No matter how small it was, some heartless fellow would still beg you.Some boys even spat into their bowl of beverage in full view of potential partakers to kill their urge to beg, that worked most of the time except when you met a really hungry fellow. Only very few people had the courage to eat in full view of others and not give even a piece to another. These guys had good self esteem: they were not bothered by the fact that they would be unpopular amongst colleagues. Prominent in this class of fearless boys was Duruigbo Ugochukwu, JSS 3b, aka La-dum. He propounded a law which he recited whenever he was eating and was approached by anyone begging to share his meal. It was usually recited as: "La-Dum's law says NO SOUL!" He said it with a mild smile, but he meant it! Sometimes, he wrote it out on paper which he kept nearby and pointed to those who begged for a share, as he would be unable to talk because his mouth was full!
'ManChi-Le', as senior Achilefu was fondly called, was very kind and one of the Christian fellowship leaders in school - he was the kind of fellow, in whose care, parents wanted to leave their children.
He didn't just become my school father though, in fact, I doubt he considered me a school son. I craved for a school parent, especially for a school mother. A school mother was of more use than a school father. School mothers actually gave you stuff from time to time and you could run to them at perilous times of hunger. School fathers, on the other hand mainly protected you -that is, if your school father wasn't a ju-man! Besides, you had to pass service charge, lanwu, to sustain their concern over you. But ManChi-le was different: he both protected and provided for us. We did give to him too but it was from our hearts not by compulsion. I guess for some reason, I wasn't what one might call a school-son material, I just didn't have anybody interested in school father-ing me. ManChi-le, actually became my school father by proxy. He was fond of my then best friends, Osigwe Tobby and Chinaemerem Ude (Memé). He was a generous and helpful school father, I wasn't gonna miss the opportunity so I engrafted myself into his small boys fold sneakily! It was school son by force, if you know what I mean.
On this night though, there was something particularly eerie about the night; an evil foreboding ambience, seemed to rest heavy over the hostel. It added to the thickness of the already polluted air from the crammed up lifestyle of the hostel.
ManChi-Le had heard a voice laughing loudly and continuously that night. The sound which he thought had come from the road in between the unity house boys annex and the girls hostels, continued for a few minutes echoing over a large area. Knowing that no one student, senior or junior, would be out by then, he had snuck up to the window, jammed it open and flashed his other torch in the direction of the laughter to see who it was. The laughter ceased and the torch got burnt instantly! After he related the story to us, he asked us move out for prayers. I shall never forget that night prayers. With the scary encounter, still very fresh in memory, my brain switched into hyper creativity mode: the little bats, occasionally flying around, seemed like huge creatures from a scene in 'Lord of the Rings' swooping down to bite off our heads, even the natural chirpings of nocturnal birds and other creatures, seemed edited specially like an Enya soundtrack, that night, to heighten the horror feel. I could see multiple shapes and creatures formed by the trees a few feet away. I tried my best to focus, while we prayed and to do my binding and casting as close as possible to the only light source, the rechargeable lantern. The prayers that night, came to an end some thirty-five minutes later, I and the others hurriedly returned to the hostel.
I went to class from ManChi-le's dorm. It had become my dorm. Though I was in Peace House, I resumed my third term JSS 3 in his Unity house dorm. Usually students who were hostel truants were called gypsies, they were said to have had 'jeeps' with which they roved around school but my truancy was at another level -the astronaut level -I had a spaceship! An average gypsy could be seen once in a while at his hostel but seeing an astronaut was on rare solemn occasions like a few minutes after last assembly at the end of a term. It was a fugitive's lifestyle. With the school work of class occupying me, the incidence of the mysterious laughter, was forgotten but Pandora's box had already been opened with that night's encounter. We were to have more strange encounters in the coming weeks. Including horror reports from girls' hostel.
I returned one night, just an hour into prep, from class to the dorm. As usual, hostel was busy, planless boys running here and there, stingy boys, smuggling what beverage they had to classified locations for consumption. I made straight for Man Chi-le's box-room (Prefect's cubicle). There was a small group gathered inside with one JSS 1 boy squatting in the middle of the room. It wasn't that big a room, it was longer than it was wide and not so well lit. There was a double deck bunk in the room placed closer to the room's nether end. Some boys were seated on the top bunk and others just clustered around. ManChi-le sat alone on the lower bunk.
If I wasn't in that room myself, the things that JSS 1 boy said, would have sounded like one of those Uche Agu's stories -made up tales, if someone had reported the events to me. Whatever it was about the room, I cannot say but the boy confessed freely.
He claimed to have been initiated into occultism by his grandma some years back during a Christmas holiday at his village. Since then, he had had regular visits from a lady from whom he took instructions. She was seen by no one else. I remember him telling us how that she appeared often times when he was in church back at home. So while the sermon went on, she kept him company such that he never did listen to or hear what was said in church. He spoke quietly, you could pick the regret in his voice, like one trapped in some 'necessary evil.' At some point he stretched out his right hand and dropped some information that chilled us.
'I have two rings on this fingers' he said coyly, indicating his right fore and mid fingers, 'it was given me by the lady, anything I want done to any senior who harasses me, I simply say it to the ring and it will happen...'
His voice tapered off. At this point, the room was in absolute silence, we all could see the hand but not the ring!
ManChi-le spoke quietly to the boy about Jesus. It was obvious the boy, though possessing these powers was a victim. He was told, he would die if he shared any of the things he had told us. I had less knowledge of God then than and how power worked in the spirit realm. A few seniors had crossed his path but he was reluctant to deal with them accordingly. He wanted out. In that little room, he was made to say the sinners' prayer then brought out into the main dorm for prayers.
Using his position as house prefect, ManChi-le chased all the other boys from dorm one and dorm two. It was time for the deliverance! All the doors and windows in the two Connecting dorms were shut to prevent intrusion. Chibuike Okoro aka Father Okoro was among us, the junior students, to join in the prayers. He wasn't called father Okoro as per priesthood but because he was rumoured to have entered JSS 1 at 16 or was it 17 years: that was his age till our graduation in SS 3. However, he was intelligent, prudent and had an outrageously eccentric sense of humour. He had his fat green Revised Standard Version Bible firmly under his armpit. He looked every inch ready, even if the battle ahead was to turn physical. The other boys present didn't look so sure of themselves; they cut a sorry sight! I too. I was remembering all my sins. What if the lady jumped out of the boy and pounced on me. I didn't know any better. I needed to confess my sins, I thought. I began to do so under my breath while the little group prepared for the exorcism.
In FGC Okigwe, it seemed every junior student had to lie to thrive. You lied about the provisions, about the water you fetched. You 'played deaf' when you were called by seniors from a distance to avoid obvious work, you jum-played to take revenge at those you hated at dinning hall....I concluded my prayers.
'Amen.'
As I wrapped up my prayers and looked up from the corner of the dorm I was standing in, the possessed boy was kneeling in the middle of the dorm, his head slightly tilted forward in a reverent bow. The other boys on the prayer team were walking to and fro the dorm space, muttering inaudibly. We needed to rid the boy of that foul Spirit. I felt like Wesley Snipes Blade character as I walked towards the kneeling boy...
Hahahahahahaha. I don't believe the kind of graphic memory you have. Mehn! You would make a great author. You have great story telling skills. More bro!
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