My strange neighbour
Chapter one
My name is Onu. I live with my parents in Olokoro, a beautiful neighborhood in Umuahia.
Our neighborhood includes a Divinity school, Out-campus of a College of Education, State Specialist Hospital and Cassava mills, so we see a different cluster of new neighbours round the year, with house rent a major source of income for families, including ours.
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We had this beautiful neighbour, light-skinned, taller than my father, probably in her early forties, that have lived in our compound since my Junior Secondary School days. She is as quiet as death. The young lady would leave early in the morning without greeting anybody, including my parents, and none of us have seen her go to church. Each time she returns, she returns noisily, greeting everything she meets on her way back – cars, people, pets, everything on sight. Her makeup, her fashion sense, nothing is consistent in her life. The safest way to describe her is strange.
Nobody actually knew her real name. Different people called her different names, all of which she would answer with a smile. On different occasions, people tried talking to her, but she would always snub them and go into her house. The only conversation you can get from her is “kee ka imere?” meaning, How are you doing? Whenever she returns from wherever she went in the morning.
No one has ever engaged her in a conversation. One day, and out of curiosity, bravery and stupidity, I engaged her in conversations till she contributed.
“Onu, stay away from me or death will call you from a distance.” Her words got me thinking while her behaviour got everyone watching her with keen interest. Seeing a woman of her age live alone and without visitors is a red flag, but considering the divinity school, the college of education, and hospital, she looked less strange. She might be deep-rooted in divinity, or a Plato and Socrates scholar with grave mental history or medically unwell.
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Chapter two
Most times, people wondered if she was thrown out of her husband’s house. Personally, I feel she is a witch. Otherwise, why is she alone? What about her friends and family? So many unanswered questions.
Seeing her weird and uncanny behaviour, my parents warned me to stay away from her. I am a curious person. I invade privacy. I ask a lot of question. Regardless of my parent’s protective efforts to keep me away from myself, from my evident trouble looming curiosity, I feel I should invade her. This strange neighbour activated the level three detector in me. I gave into the temptation and sought for an avenue to invade her privacy.
Not quite long, there came the avenue, I went home early – was sent home due to school fees drive. I met the compound, deserted and as calm as death. Halfway through the compound, I heard a giggle, a scary giggle. And there she was sitting inside her room, near her window, attending to her facials.
This is the first time I’m seeing her at home by this time of the day. I am in SSS 1 and I have never met her at home at noon since she parked in four years ago. I sneaked inside our house. We all have spare keys, so entering was not an issue.
While inside, I watched her every move with keen interest. Few minutes later, she showed up in front of her door, cheeks red, lips and eyelids painted in varying shades of pink, dressed in blue skimpy gown, adorned with heavy jewelries, she left the house with a red handbag, big enough to carry a newborn baby.
For the first time, I noticed her answer her phone. It must be a matter of urgency as she ran out of the compound with her heels in her hands, barefooted and still talking to her phone, “I am coming. I am coming. I am coming…”
As soon as she left, I had to go outside to confirm it was her that I saw. It was definitely her. Out of curiosity, I tiptoed to her door, held the handle. It opened, and I entered. It didn’t occur to me why she left her door unlocked. Of course, she must have forgotten. It’s an in-lock.
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Chapter three
I was really surprised by how furnished the apartment was. It was a sight to behold. I spent the next few minutes wondering why she was all alone in such a beautiful apartment. I decided to tour the apartment. A red door with an inscription “OUT OF BOUNDS” caught my attention. Of course, I love damning consequences. I went inside to take a look. And truly, death called.
The sight was worse than an abandoned biology lab: bones, cobwebs, pictures of missing children, school uniforms with blood stains. My body felt too heavy for my legs. I couldn’t move an inch away from this crime scene.
“I thought I locked this door? Onu!” my mother’s voice saved me from the evident hypnosis. As soon as I regained consciousness, I cried in a loud voice, still unable to move my body away from the scene.
I walked into the ever open arms of death. Thank goodness I made it out with body and soul still in one confinement. Justice for Dike, and for all the bodies the police retrieved from her apartment that night.
Items found in the apartment includes, human corpse wrapped up in clothes, bowls of blood , lighted candles, bags of skulls , some rotten, some fresh , Dike’s dead body – he was a friend of mine who went missing last week , we lived in the same compound.
While it was the police that retrieved these items above, my mother was the one that retrieved me from death’s way.
The police laid ambush for Matilda. They grabbed her as soon as she entered the compound.
After her arrest, further interrogations and trial, she pleaded guilty to child trafficking, murder, rape and diabolical rituals. She was imprisoned. Although it has been six months since Matilda the strange woman was unmasked, no one has had just enough courage to rent her apartment, not even the landlord dares to park in to the apartment.
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Bernard Amarachi Stephanie is a Nigerian author and contributor of Goals Initiative. Her works notably features characters that explore their curiosities and instincts to the core, An aspirant law student and Senior Advocate of Nigeria. An advocate for mainstreaming and prioritizing girl child education in Nigeria.
Goals Initiative aims at the actualization and localization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It is a product of General Soccer Company Limited, that practically turns ordinary people especially children, adolescents and young adults into well informed stakeholders for the actualization and localization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
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