Death And The Girl

January 2, 2023January 2, 2023 by Babry Gernah

Wednesdays were her favourite.

The reveille rang loud for devotion. Definitive loud strikes of an iron rod on the rim of a car tyre by 5:30 every morning. The Christians amongst the girls had to fly out of bed and run out to the devotion ground for prayers. The matron, Mrs Ajayi, never missed the ringing of the reveille even by a minute and five minutes later, she would go around the dorm rooms waking with her switch those the reveille could not.

Ajoke was never a heavy sleeper. Most times, she woke up before the reveille sounded. She would say she was just wired that way but once or twice she had been awakened by the matron’s switch.

Today, she had woken up before the reveille sounded. She had had a nightmare. A hooded figure with a grim aura had tried to grab her.

When it was time for devotion, she went out with the other light sleepers in her room to the devotion ground and sat on one of the pavements on the side of the ground before Mrs Ajayi would come around with her switch.

She yawned loudly. She had not slept enough. It was a Wednesday and she couldn’t possibly go to Physical Education class feeling tired. She needed a cool bath.

Worship songs were led by two girls from SS2. Ajoke thought their singing was beautiful. Why not? They were both in the school choir. She sang along. Worship songs were the best thing about being a Christian in her opinion. She however needed to pee. Her bladder was burning, but the thought of leaving the singing behind was saddening. She left anyway.

The bathroom was dark and eerily quiet. The sound of her urine hitting the floor was like that of water gushing from a broken tap. Ajoke kept looking downwards, her eyes following the trail of her urine flowing into the hole of the latrine. This kept the dream off her mind for a while. Strangely, she felt like she was being watched. She looked up quickly. Ajoke could swear she saw the hem of a cloak float past the open door of the bathroom. She got up quickly to see whatever or whomever it was, but she saw nothing.

Back at the devotion ground, Ajoke was able to catch up with the last of the worship songs. Mrs Ajayi then climbed the podium to pray. After the prayer, the reveille was struck again to signal that the few Muslim girls and those of other religions who would be through with their morning prayers by now, could join the others for announcements. All the girls would stand to face her to listen.

Mrs Ajayi’s announcement started with the usual “Girls of Imole Ayo Girls School, welcome to a new day. I hope you have all slept well? Today…”

The matron’s voice droned on and on until it became dim to Ajoke’s ears. She quickly bent to slap a mosquito sucking blood from her calf and as she rose back up, she felt the urge to turn and look behind her. In the darkness, Ajoke saw a figure with a cloak that reached down to the ankles and a hood over its head, going into her dorm room. It looked very much like a human being, but she could not be sure.

Ajoke squeezed her way through the gathering, unnoticed by Mrs Ajayi and headed to her dorm room. “What could that be?” she said out loud to herself. “Is it the same thing I saw in the toilet?”

She entered the room; the pounding of her scared heart, audible to her ears. Or was it just to her ears? The hooded figure was gone. Nowhere to be found.

She made the sign of the cross and began to pray. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil. For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me…” As she turned to go back to the gathering of the girls, she heard her name. She turned sharply like a springbuck taking a bend to escape an approaching cheetah. No one was there but she could swear she had heard her name. It was like whomever or whatever had called her name had put it on a zephyr and pushed it past her ear.

“Ajoke”. She heard her name again. This time around, it was louder than the first and she could swear the voice came from her corner of the room. She walked quickly towards her bed and saw a person seated on it. The cloak the figure had on appeared like it was floating and the hood also appeared the same way, but it covered the figure’s face completely.

“Excuse me”, She said with uncertainty in her voice. The figure turned to face her but there was no face underneath the hood. Where there was supposed to be a face, there was an empty pitch-black space like a moonless midnight sky. It did not talk, it did not move anymore and the hooded cloak on it kept rippling on its human-shaped body like it had its own wind around it. From beneath the hood shone two bright lights the size of human eyeballs, in the place where eyes should have been.

Her roommates returned to the room noisily. Startled by their chatter, she turned for a second to see her classmates come in. Almost immediately, Ajoke turned back to face her bed but the figure was gone.

Where had it gone to? What was it? Had anyone else seen it? Why did it vanish when others came into the room? The question ran courses in her head as her confusion tripled.

Ajoke wore her sportswear shirt while gyrating her hips and singing along to Angelique Kidjo’s “Agolo” with her roommates on top of her voice. Her red and silver sportswear complemented her espresso-brown skin perfectly. Her head was clear. Music was her best medicine.

She was always the last to leave the room. She was the room head and had the key in her possession so she had to leave last to lock the door.

At 7:25, she was the only person left in the room. Ajoke sat on one of the beds in the middle of the room to tie the lace of her sneakers. As she bent to stretch her fingers to the laces, from thin air appeared ten mangled skeleton fingers which grabbed them before she could. She was jolted by the sudden appearance and when she looked up, it was the figure again.

“Let me help you with this,” it said in a most terrible voice. It tied the laces into a knot and two loops, exactly the way she tied her laces into bows. She could not place its voice. It sounded like a man or a woman, more like both and then neither at once. It was terrifying.

Ajoke drew back with a loud exhale. The thing she had seen in her dream, the thing in the bathroom, the thing on her bed, there it was right in front of her.

She stood up and the figure straightened up from its bent position. It looked a little over six feet tall and the cloak and hood it wore rippled around it gently. Its feet were not touching the floor, they were floating about six inches above it and when Ajoke looked closely, she saw mangled skeleton feet where flesh was supposed to be. It still had the pitch-black space under the hood and two bright dots she assumed were its eyes.

It hovered in front of her like a helicopter performing a drop-off of soldiers. She tried to speak but the words seized in her chest, held tight by invisible hands. Her mind was swirling and working as fast as it could to try to understand what was going on. Nothing was clicking.

“What is this thing? Why have I been seeing it?” she asked in her mind, which seemed like the only place at the moment where her voice could function. Her throat was dry and itchy and no matter how much she tried, no sound came forth from it.

“I get that most times,” said the figure to her. Her face looked even more bewildered to hear the unplaceable voice once again. “Yes, that look on your face, I always get that wherever I go. I guess the Creator made me like this to highlight the situation of my appearance”.

Ajoke’s mystified face deepened and her eyes began to water from the effort to force her throat to create sound. “Oh! Your voice. I can handle that”.

The figure raised its hand, making its cloak drop to its elbow. Where there would have been an arm, she saw bones wearing oddly grey and badly decayed flesh which kept falling off from the bones. The skin however fell off but hovered close to the bones, then reattached itself back and continued the cycle. It stretched the decaying hand which surprisingly had no smell at all, towards her throat and did a gentle wave.

Ajoke felt a rush of wind in her chest which rose quickly to her throat, forcibly escaping through her open mouth. Her chest was hot and she felt what seemed like steam flowing up through her throat. She coughed to test her voice and sound finally came forth loud and clear.

What are you?” she asked. It was the first question she could bring herself to ask after vigorously searching her brain for something to say.

“It is a question of what or who,” it said, making one of the dots beneath its hood seem to go a little bit higher and grow slightly bigger than the other. She had the feeling that this thing, whatever it was, had raised its eyebrow at her – if it had any.

“Who are you?” she then asked.

“I am a personification. I am who people of your tribe and culture call Iku. I am the personification of death.”

Ajoke’s eyes rolled furiously in their sockets. She felt like her brain was short-circuiting at hearing such an incredulous claim. She had read myths and legends of various cultures and loved them all. From reading these myths, she had come across several mythical beings in whose existence she believed and marvelled about. But why was a figure that matched the description of the creature that she had read of called the grim reaper – except that this one did not have a scythe, a face and smooth bare bones under its cloak – doing in her dorm room?

She remembered the stories her father told her and her siblings whenever they asked for folktales. He never read all those Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty things to them. No. He told them stories about Yemoja, Ogun, Oya, and several of the various Orisas in the Yoruba culture.

Ajoke’s mind was still racing. So, the story about death being a being that went to people to take their souls was not just a story? Her father had told her stories about sightings of Iku and said it would make sense to a person who is an initiate to the secrets of the worship of the Orisas or, to a person who has seen Iku and lived to tell the tale.

She drew back from the figure once more and this time, it did not bother to close the gap. She looked at it and saw that the place where a head would have been was slightly bent to the side like that of a person having deep thoughts. She tried to think of what this thing in her presence could be thinking of – if it had a mind at all. She just could not let herself understand that it was Iku right in front of her.

“Have a seat, Ajoke Boluwatife Oluwadamida.” The figure said gently and it sounded like the voice of a lover, whispering entreaties to his lover. Ajoke sat on the bed closest to her and stared intently at the figure floating toward her. It floated closer and then bent to sit on the bed opposite hers. It however did not touch the bed but appeared to be in a sitting position, still hovering.

Ajoke opened her mouth to speak, but “I know you have questions. It’s almost time so now is the only opportunity you have to ask” the figure said before she could say anything. Its voice was soft and friendly and had a great effect on Ajoke’s tense body, making her calm even if she was unwilling.

She drew a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again. “Tell me the truth of whom or what you are. Who are you? What are you?”

“I am death. The personification of the entire idea of death you humans hold in fearful sentiment.” It said in its still gentle voice, unmoved.

“But how? How are you that?”

“Ajoke why do I taste fear and a little disbelief in your voice? How have you loved listening to the myths and legends of this world and now try hard to disbelief when the truth has appeared before you?”

“No. I just… But I…”

“You do not have to answer Ajoke. Your fear, your fight or flight response to try to disbelief, is all part of your being human. You, humans, find peace in the unbelievable to find an escape. But when faced with the truth and you find the truth scary and hard, you try so hard not to believe. I do not blame you Ajoke”. It said in a reassuring voice, surprisingly even more gentle than how it had been speaking.

“I just can’t bring myself to believe that you are real, that this, is real. It’s unnerving.”

“I understand Ajoke, I do.”

“What exactly are you even? A man? A woman? Just a soulless being?” She asked, feeling surprisingly freer as the minutes passed.

“I am without a soul, both a male and a female and neither of both. Even I cannot explain how this works to you. Only the Creator can. He made me.”

“So, the Creator. When you say Creator do you mean God?”

“Yes! The Creator is the God and maker of this universe. You Yorubas refer to Him as Olodumare, the supreme God. He made me, you, and all things here, therein and without.”

“So, you are a being without a soul, made by the Creator and given form to what? Harvest souls? Announce death dates? Transport the dead to the hereafter?”

“Well, that sums it up when you say it like that.”

She wiped her forehead dripping with sweat, with the back of her hand. This information she was getting was too much for her to take in. Why would death come to visit her now? She was just sixteen. She had not lived life yet. She had had sex only twice. Why now? Why this early? Life was not supposed to be this cruel. Was this why her mother named her Boluwatife; was that God’s will?

“What are you thinking?” the figure’s genteel voice spoke and snapped her from her thought.

“Let me ask you this then. You are here to take me aren’t you?” she asked in a voice that sounded calm but still showed obvious signs of terrible fear and disappointment.

“Yes.”

“Is that why my family named me Boluwatife? They knew I wouldn’t last long?”

“Yes. Boluwatife, meaning ‘God’s Will’ or ‘It is how God wants It’ when you translate it literally. It was a very brave thing for your parents to do. At your birth, there was speculation that you would die before you become an adult. They were distraught. They hated it. But when they tried their best to change it and the prophets and diviners kept saying the same thing, they accepted their fate and gave you that name. Very brave people I tell you, even if they secretly hope that it won’t stand.”

“And now, here you are ready to take my soul, isn’t it?

“Yes.”

“But I could almost swear that you sound disappointed to take me. The way you talk about how brave my parents have been, your gentle disposition, do you really want to take me?”

“This is the hardest part of my being; taking the young. It’s never easy taking a child’s soul. They haven’t had a life yet and their time is already up. I may be death in person but taking the life of children, children who haven’t even lived life at all is hard. Taking any life at all is a pain. But taking children’s lives hurt more.”

It was definitely pain Ajoke heard in its voice. The heat in her chest cooled down almost immediately. It didn’t mean to come for her. It wasn’t its choice. It had come because it had to. Because fate, nature and the Creator had made it so. She would die at sixteen, die without having lived a life, die a child, die without having had a real orgasm from sex with a handsome boy.

There was no turning back. Except by some heavenly intervention, her time was up. She had to accept this. Had her parents not accepted her fate from the beginning? Nothing could be done. Not now. This was how it had been written that she’d go. Visited by death and told straight to her face ‘you die now’. The only thing that could be done now was to accept. To go without resistance.

She drew a long deep breath and closed her eyes. “So, I die now. I die today. Will it at least be painless? Will it be quick?”

“Yours will be like a long long sleep. You would not even notice.”

“I feel at peace. Am I already dead?”

“Not yet, but soon.”

“Alright then.”

The bed was white and soft like fresh bread from the oven. The window was slightly open and the curtain fluttered noiselessly on the wall. The sun had risen and a few rays fell on her face through the window. If this was the afterlife, it seemed peaceful enough. Dying was not too bad after all.

“How is she now Nurse Chisom?”

That was unmistakably Mrs Ajayi’s voice. What was she doing here too? Had she been visited by death and brought to the afterlife too? Did the afterlife need matrons to watch over the younger dead?

“She’ll be fine. She has stopped muttering incoherently in her sleep for now at least. She should be up any moment from now. But we should give her time” She heard Nurse Chisom say and then heard feet leaving the room or wherever it was that she was.

What was happening? That was the school nurse’s voice. What was she also doing here? Dead too? Did the afterlife also need nurses? Weren’t they all supposed to be dead and unable to be injured or feel pain here? How would the school handle three deaths in a single day? But she had heard Nurse Chisom say she was muttering in her sleep. Sleep? She could not have been sleeping. She was dead. Visited by death and…

Wait! What had happened after her conversation with Death? Everything went black and she didn’t feel a thing. It had promised her that dying would be painless and she wouldn’t even notice. But she truly didn’t notice anything from the moment their conversation ended. It felt strange. This afterlife felt strange.

“She’s stirring. I think she’s awake.” It was Nurse Chisom’s voice still referencing that she was sleeping. Did she not know the difference between sleeping and death?

“Hello Ajoke, how are you? How are you feeling?” Nurse Chisom who now appeared beside her bed asked gently.

Ajoke turned to look at the face speaking to her. It was Nurse Chisom’s face she was looking at. Strange. Beyond the face was the replica of the school clinic; neatly laid beds, the smell of disinfectant, various charts on the walls, a cabinet that held medications, three chairs and a desk.

“Where am I? Is this the afterlife?” Ajoke asked dreamily.

“The afterlife? Child, what are you talking about? This is the school clinic my love, not the afterlife. Why would you think it’s the afterlife?” Nurse Chisom asked perplexed.

“How did I get here?”

“Your roommates rushed you here immediately after devotion this morning. They said you screamed words they couldn’t understand just before you fell to the floor and fainted. On getting here you were very still, lifeless even. If it wasn’t for a steady faint thumping of your heart in your chest, you could have passed for a dead person. Your skin later became hot like something on fire and you kept muttering incomprehensibly in your sleep. But you’re fine now. I need to go and inform the matron. She has been very worried.”

The nurse left the clinic and shut the door behind her, leaving her alone inside. This all felt wrong. If the nurse was correct, she had fainted after being interrupted by her returning roommates when she followed the figure into the room. But she had seen the figure again, talked to it even. It tied her shoelaces. It was real. It felt real without a doubt. It had said she’d die today. But if this wasn’t the afterlife, what did it all mean?

She rose to sit. As she straightened up and faced the opposite side of the bed, her heart almost failed her as shock engulfed her entire body, crippling her with fear where she sat. There it was, the figure, hovering by the bed opposite hers and the two bright dots under its hood stared at her intently. She knew it. She was dead and this was just a confirmation. The nurse was wrong.

“Hello, again Ajoke.”

“What does this mean? Is this the afterlife?”

“No, Ajoke it isn’t. This is your school clinic and no place different.”

“In the land of the living?”

“In the land of the living.”

“How is that possible?” she asked, her forehead furrowed and mind utterly confused. “We talked. You said I’d die, that my time was up. How am I still here? Did I die?”

“You will die Ajoke, just not today anymore. A day will come inevitable and irrevocable when you will surely die but for today, you are not dead and will not die. Let’s just say, your ticket to the afterlife has been revoked for now.” It spoke in a reassuring voice.

“But you sounded sure about it before. You were sure you had come for me.”

“Ajoke, the way of the Creator is that of never-ending surprises. He does what He wants, when He wants because He can. And today, He doesn’t want you to die anymore. You will have a life and die at a different time. Just not today.”

“But… but the nurse said I was brought here immediately after devotion, which was when I saw you on my bed. Wasn’t that real? Where did that talk happen then?”

“That conversation was totally real. It just didn’t happen in this realm. It happened in your dreamscape. You were too terrified when you saw me on your bed. I needed to talk to you, so I drew you into your dreamscape to do it.”

Ajoke’s body relaxed. The fear was gone. She wasn’t dead. The air she breathed in tasted like pineapples at the back of her throat. Someone had increased the quality of her vision. Now, she saw everything around her more clearly, in higher resolution. She gripped the bed and her finger sunk into its softness like a knife sliding into butter. Being alive was sweet and she was truly glad to not be dead.

“So, I was dreaming when we had that conversation? It felt so real. You tied my laces. That thing the dead flesh on your mangled skeleton has doing, it all felt real.” She finally said, breaking the silence and asking the question she wanted a final answer to.

“You were here and there, and in neither of both; the in-between. You were not merely dreaming. You were in the space between here and the hereafter.” it said matter-of-factly.

“Limbo?”

“Well, let’s call it that for today.”

“So, I get to live a life?”

“Yes, you do.”

“I’d see you later then.” She said in a thankful tone.

“Yes, we will see later.”

It floated closer to her and stretched its hand toward her. The terrible motion of falling and reattaching dead skin on its bones was still happening but she wasn’t scared this time. It put its hand on her head and ran its hand through her braids like one would do a child or a lover. Her eyes were closed while it ran its hand through her hair. It was soothing.

“I’ll see you later Ajoke.”

She felt its hand leave her head and when she opened her eyes, it was gone. She felt good. The world around her was brighter. She would die but not today. She had a chance to live a life. She would start it by accepting that strange name her parents had given her. The Creator does whatever He wants. Her day would be long and full.

The rays of the sun were even more soothing now. She could hear the ringing of the bell for assembly from a distance. When she looked to the floor to pick her shoes, it was the sneakers she saw, laced exactly how the figure had done it.

The smile on her face was as full as a clear star-studded midnight sky. Wednesdays were still her favourite, she thought. This life was her gift and she’d live it fully.