After meeting Folake, Amaka ran back to the hostel. Rain was starting to fall, cold and light.  

When she got to Room 8, Kemi was there.  

Sitting on her bed. Brushing her hair. Fine. No claw marks. No black veins. Just… normal.  

Tolu was on her phone. Fatima was packing her bag. Adaeze was praying.  

Amaka didn’t notice the empty bed. She didn’t count heads. Her mind was still at Butterfly Park. _Ijeoma. Her name was Ijeoma. She pushed her. Room 12._  

“Kemi?” Amaka stopped at the door, breathing hard. “You’re okay?”  

Kemi looked up and gave a small smile. “Doctors said my body just reacted to the water. Allergy. They gave me cream. I’m fine now.”  

Amaka nodded, but she didn’t sit. She couldn’t. She didn’t tell the girls about Folake. There wasn’t time. And Zainab’s bed was made, her slippers by the door. Amaka figured she was in the bathroom. She didn’t ask.  

*10:00 PM*  

Keys jangled down the corridor. Mrs. Ijeoma’s rounds. Time to lock the gate.  

The door to Room 8 was open. Mrs. Ijeoma stepped in, her face tired. “All girls present? Good. Lights out in—”  

“Mrs. Ijeoma,” Amaka said.  

Everyone turned.  

Amaka’s voice didn’t shake. “We need to talk. About 1973. About Room 12. About Kemi Bankole.”  

The name hit the room like thunder.  

Mrs. Ijeoma went white. The keys fell from her hand. _Clang._  

Kemi frowned. “Kemi who? Amaka, what are you—”  

“You killed her,” Amaka said, looking straight at Ijeoma. “Folake Ajayi told me everything. You were jealous over Mr. Ade. You bullied her. You fought her in Room 12. You pushed her. She hit her head on the bedpost and died.”  

Tolu gasped. Fatima covered her mouth. Kemi just stared, confused and scared.  

Mrs. Ijeoma was shaking. “You don’t understand. I didn’t mean to—”  

“You didn’t mean to get cursed either,” Amaka cut in. “But you did. No peace. No marriage. No children. Growing old in these halls. Watching.”  

Mrs. Ijeoma collapsed to her knees. And she broke. Years of it, all at once. “I regret everything!” she sobbed into the floor. “Every single day! I was young! I was stupid! I loved him! Please forgive me!”  

The second she said it, the lights flickered.  

Once. Twice.  

Then the whole hostel went black.  

Eerie sounds filled the air. Whispering. Humming. That same off-key piano tune. Girls in Room 3, Room 5, Room 10 — the whole hostel — screamed and ran into the corridor.  

_GBAM! GBAM! GBAM!_  

Loud bangs came from the end of the hall. Room 12.  

Then — _creeeak_ — the door opened.  

A girl stepped out.  

It was from Room 8.  

Zainab.  

But it wasn’t Zainab anymore. She was taller. Back bent wrong. Limbs too long. Eyes completely black. Skin grey like ash. When she smiled, her mouth stretched too wide.  

Amaka’s blood ran cold. _Zainab. She wasn’t in the bathroom. She was gone when I got back and I didn’t even notice._  

“All this while, it was me,” the thing that was Zainab said. Its voice was broken glass and chalkboards. “I just waited for her to confess. The day she confessed, I gained my freedom.”  

Tolu screamed. “Zainab?!”  

The thing turned its black eyes to Amaka. “Amaka, you helped me gain vengeance. Thank you.”  

Then it looked at Mrs. Ijeoma, still crying on the floor. “You. Stay.”  

It raised one long, clawed finger and pointed at every girl packed in the corridor. From SS1 to SS3. Room 3. Room 5. Room 8. Room 10. Every single girl in Elegance Hostel.  

“This is my domain. Every living thing should get out. Now.”  

As if on command, the sealed hostel doors burst open. Wind tore through the corridor.  

“RUN!” someone shrieked.  

All the girls in Elegance Hostel burst out at once. Not just Room 8 — every room. Screaming, barefoot, pushing. Some fainted from fear and had to be dragged out by their friends. Wrappers flying, Bibles dropping. They ran into the rain and didn’t stop until they hit the main school gate.  

Behind them, the hostel doors slammed shut and sealed themselves.  

Inside, Mrs. Ijeoma was still on her knees. “Please,” she begged. “Have mercy.”  

The last thing Amaka heard before they got too far was the thing’s voice, using Zainab’s mouth:  

“Mercy died in Room 12.”  

Then the sounds started. Screams that weren’t human. Crashing. Dragging. The wet thud of a head hitting a bedpost over and over and over.  

It rained all night. 

The End