GHOSTLY GHOST!

Third year. Legon. University of Ghana campus. Commonwealth Hall. F Block. Room 13. We had lost a roommate. 

Ten roommates we were. We all were down. Very! The late, affable Kofi Dade Snr. had shared everything of his with whoever was willing to ask. Malaria had betrayed him to death.

That week had been a hard one for all nine of us. Some of us had that unquenchable faith that he was going to be back sooner or later. One of us had even dreamt that he had been revived from dead. Another had been prophesied to in church that he was going to see with his bare eyes someone rise from the dead that week!

Our hopes had been raised. 

It had only been three days since our Archaeology pal passed away. 10 pm. ECG had done what it loved doing best- lights out. Most students had retired to their beds.

Someone banged ferociously at the door. 

“Who the hell is that!? Can’t you see it’s late?” one of us chided.   

   

“I am coming for my mattress! I can’t sleep very well where I am.”

“Who are you?” we all chorused.

“Kofi Dade!”

We looked into each other’s faces. Our hearts thumped in our chests. There was dead silence in the room. 

“Eeeh? Come again. Please, who did you just say you were?” I quivered.

“You heard me right. You think I’m kidding? Kofi Dade the archaeologist I was and am!” 

Everyone started screaming; most of us dashing into the inner room to seek refuge. No one was man enough to dare go near the door. 

“I am damn tired. Don’t waste my time. I want to go back to sleep. Do you want me to break this door?” he threatened.

“No. No. Just a minute,” we prayed.

The same religious ones who believed in the biblical Lazarus miracle had already started chanting in tongues, rebuking the devil at the door. 

The one who had dreamt a day earlier inched closer to the window and shiveringly peeped through, with the aid of his phone’s torch. 

He flinched. The figure he saw was exactly what he had expected. 

“Chaley. It’s true oo. It’s him!” He bolted.

Two friends immediately passed out.

The figure at the door, probably running out of time, forced the door open, amidst our echoic screams. Suddenly, the lights came on. We froze.

“I am Kofi Dade Jnr.”  I passed out, too.