The friendly ghost

When I was still in the University, my hostel wasn’t so far from my grandma’s house so I could always barge in unannounced. I even had a spare key to let myself in anytime.

There had been rumours of an impending strike by the Academic Staff of Universities and lectures had become epileptic. So I packed up my bags and headed for grandma’s.

Ann, my roommate and bestie tagged along with me. She had experienced grandma’s pampering several times in the past so she knew best to come along.

Grandma wasn’t at home, which was quite typical of her because she always had one thing or the other to do with her friend or she would be at her church. I tried to reach a couple of times but her number was not connecting so I sent her a text message. Then I called her closest friend, grandma Tata otherwise known as Sisi. Sisi was a sweet old woman who loved to look good and smell nice. She was a ball of energy and I like her a lot. She had interesting stories about her young days and one could tell that she came with a lot of drama. So I asked her if she was with my grandma and she said yes. They were both attending to something really important and they were running late.

It had been raining all day and the constant pelting of rain on the roof was both annoying and unbearable. The power was out and there was no fuel in the generator. The sound of the wind was unusually eerie as it hit the windows and made it vibrate loudly. The barking of dogs from a distance did not help matters and there was movement at the front door but there was nobody there.

I tip-toed my way to the kitchen to pick up a wooden spatula, then I walked to the front door to try and find out who was there but the shriek cry I heard from the other side of the door sent my flying across the room. I ran back to my bedroom and crept under the blankets with Ann. I couldn’t wait for the lights to come back on or for my grandma to return. It was already 9pm and the ghostly silence in the neighbourhood did nothing to calm us down. The night was getting darker by the minute: from dusky, to a deep blue and now to a jet black. There wasn’t a single star in the sky, and even though we lived in the city, it felt like we could hear wolves howl in the distance. It had stopped raining and grandma was still nowhere in sight. I tried to sing calming songs but the only words that came to mind were the lyrics from Michael Jackson’s Thriller (it’s close to midnight and something evil’s lurking in the dark).

Suddenly, we heard a loud thud come from the window, Ann and I screamed, hiding further under the blankets as if that would protect us from whatever was happening. One more countless times that night, I phoned my grandma but she didn’t answer. Ann was in tears, I tried to console her but to no avail. She was inconsolable.

In between the tears and arguments, I heard my name. It was a familiar voice, it sounded like Sisi’s voice but I wasn’t so sure. For some reason, my frustration had taken over fear. I just wanted to confront the killer or whatever it was and put an end to this whole thing. Clearly, that was not the case with Ann but she buried her sweaty self under the covers.

I mustered courage and walked downstairs towards. Another loud knock on the door made me flinch and break out into a cold sweat. Before I could scream and run, I heard Sisi call out, “Ufuoma, open the door! It’s me!.

Oh, the relief that I felt at that instant was indescribable.

The pin-drop silence that followed was almost chaotic; I could hear my heartbeat. I almost tripped on my own feet as I scrambled towards the main door. Despite my disorientation, I somehow managed to fling it open. Thankfully it was Sisi right.

“You have no idea how scared Ann and I have been!” I screeched, narrating the events of the whole night to her before I even remembered to ask of my grandma.

Her scent filled up the house and in an unusually calm demeanour, she stroked my hair and gave me her signature mischievous smile. “Your grandma will soon join us, she’s on her way”.

Sisi’s smile was glowing and peaceful. I noticed that she looked quite different but I was still engrossed with telling her
everything that happened and how someone was throwing stones at our house. I was interrupted by the electricity coming back and the movement of grandma at the door.

At that exact moment, Ann came dashing down the stairs into the living room as if to hug Sisi but that was where the whole story changed and got even more complicated.

Everything happened so fast. As grandma walked into the house, the lights flickered. Grandma screamed when she saw Sisi and before we could blink twice Sisi disappeared just as Ann was about to hug her.

We were mortified. The three of us were screaming and running towards different directions. In the flickering lights and almost blinding darkness, I could still hear Sisi’s footsteps going up the stairs as I almost passed out. Then all of a sudden, there was silence. I was clinging unto grandma for dear life. And when I turned to touch Ann, she was shaking so badly that I genuinely thought she was going to faint.

Slowly, we tip-toed towards the bedroom upstairs and everything seemed calm in there. We sat on the bed and listened to grandma as she told us how Sisi had passed on a few hours earlier. It had been a really long day for her as she had to be by her friend’s bed side until she drew her last breath. She watched as her dear friend was wheeled into the morgue that’s why she was petrified when she saw her standing in the middle of the living room. This was so hard to take it but Ann and I knew that my grandma was telling a true story.

A few minutes later, we could hear movement downstairs and this time I was really angry.
I screamed. “If you want to kill us, why don’t you just go ahead and do so, why are you doing this to us?” I cried.

The wind blew again but this time it was more gentle. The curtains swayed against the wind and the sound of the hinges in the door announced the opening of the front door then it closed quietly. Grandma stood in the middle of the living room while a stricken-looking Ann starred into space.

Suddenly she started to laugh. Grandma laughed so hard that she began to cry. Then she walked to the door, opened it and called out into the dark to no one in particular, “Sisi, Sisi my friend. You will be sorely missed”

Ann looked as confused as I was. One minute we were all scampering for life and here was grandma giggling at a ghost. This was so confusing.

Grandma’s big arms enveloped my back in a tight grip. I couldn’t deny that it was comforting. I really needed that hug.
I was still shivering from the visit of Sisi’s ghost and all the drama that ensued later. In a low whisper I asked grandma to tell me everything without leaving anything out.

So, grandma told Ann and I the story of how Sisi would always tell her that she had no plans of leaving this earth without putting up a show stopping performance. In her exact words, she threatened to “scare the shit out of grandma” if she were to die first. So this was just Sisi being Sisi and keeping her word.

A few weeks later, we all gathered at her funeral to celebrate the enigma called Sisi. Almost everyone had a story to tell because Sisi made sure she gave them a scare. She didn’t mince words when she said she was going to leave the earth without putting up a show. We could all laugh as we compared our Sisi ghost stories but it definitely wasn’t a joke when it happened.

In life and in death, Sisi was a enigma and we all celebrate the life she lived.