THE GHOST
As I left my house and headed towards the junction to board a tricycle,I couldn't tell why,but all I kept saying was "God please allow me to see the ghost of Mrs Udenna." I didn't care whether people would believe me if I told them I saw her ghost but I wanted to anyway. With tears streaming down my face,I began to recall memories of her.
Mrs Udenna had been the principal at Frabjous High School (F.H.S),Bende at the time of my admission into Junior Secondary 1 there. Although I knew little or nothing about her at that time,I would never forget the woman who always advised us to be good ambassadors of our school,our country and most importantly,our home. A woman who was rarely seen,but when present,was an embodiment of significance. I had not encountered her on a personal basis,until the day I was summoned to her office by the school clerk. A classmate of mine had lost five thousand naira(#5000) which was given to her by her parents to purchase textbooks with. She had called me to enquire if I knew anything about the missing money to which I honestly replied in the negative. This happened in my fourth year in high school.
A year later,I was elected the Head Girl of that prestigious school.Our relationship then became more cordial both as mother-daughter and principal-headgirl. Controversies came up just before the expiration of my tenure,over who would take my place when my tenure did expire.The major issue at that time had been that Stella,an SS2 student who was at that time the sole aspirant for the position,had just been in school a little over a year. Worse still,her records with the school were not positive. Although exceptionally brilliant,news of her fights and quarrels with both her contemporaries and seniors,was a stumbling block to her success of attaining the position. However after all said and done,she finally managed to get the position but it didn't last. Within the first four months of her leadership,she was found guilty of gross misconduct and disobedience to school rules and regulations. Mrs Udenna the principal on behalf of the Board of Students' Affairs,removed her from not only that position,but from handling any other position in all her days in Frabjous High. Her deputy,Juliet replaced her amd Stella had to live with that shame for the rest of her high school days as she remained the school even after the incident.
It was just about fourteen(14) months after I had graduated from the school that I got news of Mrs Udenna’s illness which had left her bedridden for weeks. I couldn’t bring myself to believe that someone I had seen not more than three(3) months before,had fallen so ill as to render her immobile. At that time though,I hadn’t known the course of her ailment. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was when I got the news of her demise. All I kept screaming that night was ‘It can’t be! It can’t be!’ So difficult it was to believe that the backbone of many students I had known back in school including myself;the foster mother the school system had provided for us All was gone just like that. I went to bed that night with a tear-soaked pillow hoping to wake up and realize that it was just a bad dream.
On this fateful Friday morning,I was headed towards my alma mater to visit my cousins who had come into the school at that time and it was coincidentally the day of Mrs Udenna’s burial. When I heard that,it rekindled my emotions and I began to cry all over again.’Can I please see her ghost even if only once?’,I kept praying to God. Until that day,I never believed in ghosts but I really wanted to see hers if they exists,even if no one was going to believe me.
Barely two weeks after that day,I was asleep in my room at college when I suddenly found myself in a meeting with teachers and students from my alma mater. After the meeting,everyone else dispersed save for the teachers and I who headed for an undisclosed destination. Suddenly I saw her walking towards us;Mrs Udenna was beckoning at me to come to her! I was so scared that I began to scream,pointing at her and showing the teachers to see her. Because they didn’t and couldn’t understand what I was saying,they all stopped in their tea and began to stare at me like I had just gone gaga. I tried to run away,but Mrs Udenna seemed to be everywhere before I got there.
Then I remembered a myth;harmless ghosts were said to appear to only those who could be of help to them. So I knelt down in front of her amidst the bewildered teachers who still couldn’t see her,begging that she should also permit at least one other person to see her before she could tell me whatever she was trying to. That way,there would be a ‘corroborator’ to my story of whatever she wanted to say to me. She said nothing and vanished before my eyes. Less than two minutes after that, a girl walked across the street towards me and said,’ Mrs Udenna said I should tell you that she sent me.’ I didn’t need any prophet to explain what she meant by that.
While we were trying to get to know ourselves better,Mrs Udenna re-appeared. With tears in her eyes,all she said was,’You both owe me the favor of letting the world know what happened to me.Stella is the cause of my death.’
As I left my house and headed towards the junction to board a tricycle,I couldn't tell why,but all I kept saying was "God please allow me to see the ghost of Mrs Udenna." I didn't care whether people would believe me if I told them I saw her ghost but I wanted to anyway. With tears streaming down my face,I began to recall memories of her.
Mrs Udenna had been the principal at Frabjous High School (F.H.S),Bende at the time of my admission into Junior Secondary 1 there. Although I knew little or nothing about her at that time,I would never forget the woman who always advised us to be good ambassadors of our school,our country and most importantly,our home. A woman who was rarely seen,but when present,was an embodiment of significance. I had not encountered her on a personal basis,until the day I was summoned to her office by the school clerk. A classmate of mine had lost five thousand naira(#5000) which was given to her by her parents to purchase textbooks with. She had called me to enquire if I knew anything about the missing money to which I honestly replied in the negative. This happened in my fourth year in high school.
A year later,I was elected the Head Girl of that prestigious school.Our relationship then became more cordial both as mother-daughter and principal-headgirl. Controversies came up just before the expiration of my tenure,over who would take my place when my tenure did expire.The major issue at that time had been that Stella,an SS2 student who was at that time the sole aspirant for the position,had just been in school a little over a year. Worse still,her records with the school were not positive. Although exceptionally brilliant,news of her fights and quarrels with both her contemporaries and seniors,was a stumbling block to her success of attaining the position. However after all said and done,she finally managed to get the position but it didn't last. Within the first four months of her leadership,she was found guilty of gross misconduct and disobedience to school rules and regulations. Mrs Udenna the principal on behalf of the Board of Students' Affairs,removed her from not only that position,but from handling any other position in all her days in Frabjous High. Her deputy,Juliet replaced her amd Stella had to live with that shame for the rest of her high school days as she remained the school even after the incident.
It was just about fourteen(14) months after I had graduated from the school that I got news of Mrs Udenna’s illness which had left her bedridden for weeks. I couldn’t bring myself to believe that someone I had seen not more than three(3) months before,had fallen so ill as to render her immobile. At that time though,I hadn’t known the course of her ailment. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was when I got the news of her demise. All I kept screaming that night was ‘It can’t be! It can’t be!’ So difficult it was to believe that the backbone of many students I had known back in school including myself;the foster mother the school system had provided for us All was gone just like that. I went to bed that night with a tear-soaked pillow hoping to wake up and realize that it was just a bad dream.
On this fateful Friday morning,I was headed towards my alma mater to visit my cousins who had come into the school at that time and it was coincidentally the day of Mrs Udenna’s burial. When I heard that,it rekindled my emotions and I began to cry all over again.’Can I please see her ghost even if only once?’,I kept praying to God. Until that day,I never believed in ghosts but I really wanted to see hers if they exists,even if no one was going to believe me.
Barely two weeks after that day,I was asleep in my room at college when I suddenly found myself in a meeting with teachers and students from my alma mater. After the meeting,everyone else dispersed save for the teachers and I who headed for an undisclosed destination. Suddenly I saw her walking towards us;Mrs Udenna was beckoning at me to come to her! I was so scared that I began to scream,pointing at her and showing the teachers to see her. Because they didn’t and couldn’t understand what I was saying,they all stopped in their tea and began to stare at me like I had just gone gaga. I tried to run away,but Mrs Udenna seemed to be everywhere before I got there.
Then I remembered a myth;harmless ghosts were said to appear to only those who could be of help to them. So I knelt down in front of her amidst the bewildered teachers who still couldn’t see her,begging that she should also permit at least one other person to see her before she could tell me whatever she was trying to. That way,there would be a ‘corroborator’ to my story of whatever she wanted to say to me. She said nothing and vanished before my eyes. Less than two minutes after that, a girl walked across the street towards me and said,’ Mrs Udenna said I should tell you that she sent me.’ I didn’t need any prophet to explain what she meant by that.
While we were trying to get to know ourselves better,Mrs Udenna re-appeared. With tears in her eyes,all she said was,’You both owe me the favor of letting the world know what happened to me.Stella is the cause of my death.’
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