The Ghost of the Hundred-Room Compound

 

A picture of the compound with a sign at the entrance THE COMPOUND OF GHOST

The Unclean Mouth

It was a nice environment; the compound was big, with more than a hundred families calling the place home. It had single rooms and double one-bedroom apartments. It had a public washroom, and you had to wake very early to use it or you would be in line for a very long time. This kind of situation is called "face me I face you"; it is a kind of home the poor dwell in in Nigeria.

There is no day you will not experience a fight or drama in such a compound. Sometimes you don't need an entertainment system to have fun; all you need is a portable chair you can sit in to watch the drama unfolding. But mind you, that chair you sat down on could even be the cause of a fight.

Early one Sunday morning, many people were just relaxing indoors since it was a weekend and not the rush hour to bathe or relieve yourself. Mrs. Evelyn wasn’t happy. She had a row with her husband that morning, and everyone was out watching the drama.

"How can you call yourself a man and yet you can’t provide for your family?" she fumed, holding the pants of her husband.

"You’re embarrassing me, woman. Let go, please."

"How are we going to have breakfast?" she asked him.

"How would I know?" he exclaimed. "I’m broke and starving too."

"Then be a man and provide, just like your mates are doing in this compound."

"Haven’t I been providing?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

She laughed a bitter laugh. "You’re funny. Don’t make me expose you more."

He looked around and could see that all eyes were on him. He frowned when his neighbor, Mr. Bobby, gave him the hand signal that it was time to play draft. Unfortunately, his wife caught the subtle movement and this provoked her.

"You!" she hissed, pointing at Mr. Bobby.

"What is it, my good woman?" he asked, pretending innocence.

"So you are the one dragging my husband to play draft while his children are hungry!"

"Madam, you wouldn’t understand," he said. As he saw the fire in her eyes, he took a step back, but a hand blocked him. He turned around to see his own wife glaring at him.

"What is it, woman?"

"I never knew why I married you," she said with a frown. "You hardly do anything worthwhile; all you do is play draft."

"You married me for my money," he said with a raised chin.

At this, the people watching burst into laughter.

"What money?" his wife asked him. "Do you mean the keys you put in your pocket to trick me into thinking it was coins?"

The laughter doubled at this, and his face reddened. Just then, Mrs. Evelyn’s son appeared. She had been looking for him before she held her husband. When he saw the drama unfolding, he tried to hide, but it was too late; she had already spotted him.

"You better come here, or you will regret the day you were born!"

Her son was twenty-five years old, but he was afraid of his mother because she had a temper. He knew there was no food at home, so he had sold his shoes and used part of the money to eat in a restaurant that morning. One thing he had done was make sure his mother didn't notice. He had looked in the mirror provided by the restaurant to make sure everything was clean from his mouth. He had wiped his mouth, but he never knew his mouth wasn’t cleaned properly. When he stood in front of his mother, she asked him, "Where are you coming from?"

"I was out with my guys," he lied.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, mother. I could call them so you can verify."

While he talked, his father was giving him a subtle shake of his head, while the neighbors gathered around were laughing because they could see his unclean mouth. They could see the crumbs of food at the corner of his mouth.

"So, what is that at your mouth?" his mother asked him.

He hurriedly wiped his mouth and his palm came away sticky with the crumbs. He tried to grin, but a hot slap landed on his mouth.

"So while we were starving, you were enjoying yourself!" she fumed.

"It was a mistake," he said, rubbing his cheek.

"Get inside and wait for me. After I deal with your useless father, it will be your turn!"

The Rich Man

Things like that happen in the compound; the story of Mrs. Evelyn is not the only one. Everyone there watching knows that when it is their turn, people will also watch.

The owner of the compound is a very wealthy man, and no one knows his source of living. You can never catch him wearing any color except white—even his shoes, all are white. He had a special room in his home that no one entered except him, and there are rumors or speculation that he is an occultic man and he made his money through blood.

One day, there was a wailing coming from his home and people hurried there to know what was the cause. Like I said, it is a compound of drama and everyone wants to be entertained. When they got there, they met the shock of their lives; they were told the landlord of the building with more than a hundred families is dead.

"How did it happen?" a tenant asked.

"He was in his special room for long, and he asked me to check him by 10 AM. As you can see, the time is already 1 PM, so I decided to check him, only to see him lying down like that," the house help explained.

"Wow, this is strange. He was just fine yesterday," another tenant said, doing the sign of the cross.

"What can we do?" a tenant asked.

"I have informed his brother," the house help said as she sobbed.

A few days later, the tenants got a letter of eviction. It stated that the compound had been sold by his brother. There was anguish; everyone was sad and angry because they weren’t informed. It just fell on them that they should pack out of the house with immediate effect.

The Twist

Opposite this compound, there is a gas station—a Total gas station that serves the environs. Soon, they started seeing things that were impossible. As you can tell, gas stations close very late, and at 12 midnight, those who were still on duty started seeing strange things, like a group of ghosts wailing around a man who sat in their circle, all wearing white.

The manager of the gas station swore he heard a voice that said, "Tell my brother to give me back my house; I'm not dead."

Soon, the compound people could see rain falling, but it never ever hit the roof of the landlord. Every other place would be wet, but his house was as dry as a sunny day. Then, white clothes started missing from the compound, even those that were stored in boxes. At first, people thought it was a thief who stole them, but when everyone started reporting it, they knew it was not a natural thing.

Then they started hearing the cry of a man at night; they would hear him wail an anguish that touched the heart. But rumors had it that if you came out to comfort the spirit, you would drop dead.

Then one day, everyone woke up to see a notice on the gas station that read: CLOSED TILL FURTHER NOTICE.

A security guard who worked there claimed they couldn't handle the inflow of spirits and that most of the workers were losing their minds. "Have you seen a ghost before?" he asked them with wide eyes.

"No," they replied in unison.

"Pray you don't stumble upon one; pray you live a life not seeing one."

"What happened?" a voice at the back asked him.

"They were angry, and they made us do things. They were even mad when they noticed our feet touch the ground. As you may know, ghosts' feet don't touch the ground; they walk on their toes."

"What did they make you do?" a man asked him.

He started shaking as he looked around. Everyone thought he had gone mad; his eyes were frantic and his movement erratic. "They put nightmares in my mind and made me see horror that will make you wonder if it was worth it to live. The manager had to close business over the madness, and the ghost of that landlord keeps saying, 'I'm not dead.'"

The Search for a Solution

When the tenants heard the testimony from the guard, they knew something was fishy and they decided they needed a solution. Most of them didn't have anywhere to go; if the selling of the compound took effect, it would be a big blow to them.

"How do we end this madness?" Mr. Bobby asked.

"We need to call his brother and see what we can do from there," Mrs. Evelyn said, slapping her husband on the back of his head when she noticed his hand moving as if he were playing draft. "Cut that habit; we’ve got bigger fish to fry."

"Why do you always use food as a metaphor?" he complained. "You could just say a bigger problem."

"That is to remind you—you don't provide the food you eat. All you do is flick your finger like you are playing draft." She glared at Mr. Bobby.

"Don't look at me like that; it was not my fault," Mr. Bobby said.

"Can we focus on the matter?" a tenant asked.

"And do what?" Mrs. Evelyn asked. She narrowed her eyes as she saw her son whispering excitedly to a girl. She hissed. "He will pay," she thought.

"What is it?" her husband asked, sensing her mood.

"That fool of a son you have—better make sure he doesn't put a kid in that girl."

"I will handle him," he said, looking at his son with a small grin.

"Just as you handle the food, eh?"

That wiped the grin from his face. They agreed to find a solution, and soon they went to a witch doctor who told them that the man had not died. He told them his spirit had left his physical body for a meeting in the spirit world and that he had a month, or he would die permanently.

THE COMPOUND MEETING

"How do we bring his spirit back?" Mrs. Evelyn asked the compound people as they all sat in the common area they used for meetings.

"Is that our problem?" Mr. Bobby asked.

"What sort of fool did I marry?" his wife commented. "Where do you intend to live if this compound is taken over by those the landlord's brother sold it to?" she asked him.

"I never thought that far," he said with a frown.

"Obviously," his wife retorted.

"So, how do we bring his spirit back?" Mrs. Evelyn asked again.

"None of us is a witch; we need to go back to that witch doctor to get the solution on how to bring his spirit back," a tenant said.

Just then, Mr. Bobby’s young son came to him. "Papa, I’m hungry."

Mr. Bobby frowned and glared at his son. "You think only of your stomach and not where you are going to lay your head!"

"Let him be; he is just a kid," a neighbor said.

"Go to the house and eat anything you see and don’t bother me again; I’m in a meeting."

"Can’t you give him cash to get something?" his wife asked him.

"I’m broke; I have nothing on me."

"Then let me search you?"

At this, Mrs. Evelyn’s husband’s head turned to Mr. Bobby, and he gave him an eye signal that only the two of them understood: Don’t lose that beer money.

I’m trying, Mr. Bobby signaled back.

"Why are you doing your eye like that?" his wife asked him.

"Something entered it," he lied.

At the end, they all returned to the witch doctor and asked for the solution on how to recall the landlord’s spirit.

"A married woman from the compound must lie on top of him and call his name three times: once at 12 midnight, another time at 3 AM, and the third at 6 AM."

They returned to the compound and the argument started over who among them should be the one to do the task.

"I’m not doing that," Mrs. Evelyn said; no argument.

"So this matter is in the women's hands," Mr. Bobby said, standing up. "I wish you guys good luck. I have a draft game to win." He grinned as he walked away.

THE CONTRACT

Everyone watched as Mr. Bobby left, and very soon the other men in the compound started leaving too, remaining only Mrs. Evelyn’s husband. She could see he was ready to bolt, but she had a hook on him and he wouldn’t dare leave without her say.

She looked at the common area and she could smell the public latrine from there. She noticed weeds were taking over a section. It was just a semicircle with benches arranged around a table; she saw that the benches and table had been beaten by nature and they needed changing. Her thought was distracted by a whistle, and she turned her head to see Mr. Bobby beckoning her husband, who shook his head, nodding at her.

"You can do better than that!" Mr. Bobby said angrily.

"She holds the key to my stomach," Mrs. Evelyn’s husband said.

"You can go now," she told her husband. He hesitated, but she pushed him and he hurried to Mr. Bobby as the two of them disappeared around the corner.

"Useless men," Mr. Bobby’s wife hissed.

"I will do it," Mrs. Evelyn said, "but I need a written contract that the landlord would sign if he came back. No more rent for me, and I will own a chunk of this compound."

At this, the other women started arguing that they would do it. They claimed they never said they wouldn’t, just that they were thinking about it. Mrs. Evelyn smiled internally as she had hooked them on a deal she knew the landlord would prefer to stay dead than to agree to.

So, one of the women named Agatha was picked to do it after they had drawn up a contract agreement that the landlord would sign when he came back to his body. That was how Agatha spent the night with the dead body of the landlord, face to face. At the interval times, she called his name. It was not a great experience and she had a mind to run when she saw the ghosts; they were fighting her to stop calling the landlord because they wanted him dead. They argued he couldn't leave them and return to his own body when they had already died.

But I forgot to mention, the witch doctor gave them a black stone that he told them to place on the eyes of the landlord. He said it would protect the one who agreed to do it, and that stone protected her from the angry malice of the dead. At dawn, the landlord came back to his body. With great relief, he threw a very big party to celebrate his return from the dead. At the party, the contract was given to him and his eyes bulged.

"How can I part with this? I would prefer to stay dead than to part with a large chunk of my wealth!"

"That is your fee. You owe the compound people for the effort we made in bringing you back," Mrs. Evelyn said as she glared at him. She saw her husband stuffing cans of beer into his bag and she hissed. He just shrugged his shoulders with a grin.

The landlord was coaxed, and at the end, he agreed to the deal. They could see he had a lot to say about it, but they never gave him the chance. The matter died down, and the merriment and gratitude of the landlord were all that mattered.

Conclusion

The landlord’s brother was having a blast. He thought he had made away with a huge fortune. He was throwing parties and having fun when the occultic society his brother is a member of struck. First, they took his son away, and that devastated him. He was thinking of what to do when his second son was accused of murder and sent to prison.

He couldn't hold it anymore as the spirits kept tormenting him. They appeared at any time he had a public function, and people started noticing how he would start talking to himself.

"Leave me alone! Don’t touch me!"

"What is it you want?"

Gradually, people started leaving him, and at the end, he found himself alone. He couldn't bear it anymore. He went to his brother for forgiveness but never reached him, as his car was involved in an accident that claimed his life. At the end, he was the one who died.

Moral of the story: Work for your own riches and never depend on other people's wealth.

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Next story:The Ghost Of The Hundred Room