Encounter with someone or something that frightened you
“Class is over, please submit your homework to me as you leave.” ordered Mrs. Tetteh with a stern look like that of a prison warden. Her ram-rod demeanour was enough to scare the living daylights out of anyone but me.
At that moment, I surreptitiously made my way towards the door .Suddenly I was drawn back, I turned my head and much to my dismay it was her.
“I haven’t received your homework, so where are you going to?” she asked earnestly.
I snapped back, “To get my bag, it has my homework.”
“Well, if you haven’t noticed your bag is under your table so please hurry up and submit your homework, I haven’t got all day!” she gruffly replied. I shuffled to my chair thinking of an excuse to give to her, I then emptied the contents of my bag on to my desk.
“Oh! Mrs. Tetteh I forgot my homework at home.”
“Well it is sad to say that you will be detained today and you will do the homework you forgot” she sardonically replied. She then continued but in a much lower tone, “I would have given you a good beating to knock some sense into you and perhaps the rest of your rotten classmates; however the government has made capital punishment illegal”. She sighed “Ahh, back in my day, beating was the order of the day, any mistake you get one, but this modern generation and all their child rights nonsense, after all spare the rod spoil the child.”
I vehemently protested, “I swear I did it!”
“You will be detained from 2:30-3:30.”
I sat down and watched everyone leave the class. Ahh now I had to stay in this stinking class for another hour and see her face. She tartly said, “Its 2:30, here’s the homework you were supposed to do and you should be done by 3:30”as she dumped the work on my table. She then went back to her desk.
The next hour was hell! I was done with the homework within thirty minutes and I had to look at the class and her for the next half an hour. To be honest, I think the feelings about the detention were mutual-I hated, being here, having to stay late, doing the homework and seeing her. She equally dreaded staying late and having to see me for another hour. It was conspicuously shown by the askance looks she gave me as she adjusted her outmoded, brick like glasses which complemented her worn out and creased face .I felt the urge to throw my pocket knife at her then on second thought I refrained from it because she was not worth it.
Finally it was half-past three and I was free to go. She came to my desk, took my work and announced that detention was over. She then gave me a grin which revealed her grimy wheat-brown teeth. I believe the smile showed how happy for she would have to see me until the next day. I dashed out of the class with my bag dangling from my right arm. I decided to walk back home. I could swear that throughout my entire life I had never hated anyone from the human species as much as I detested Mrs. Tetteh, however there I was one thing I hated more than her and that was this village.
A week ago I moved into this dump with my parents, dad got transferred here. I have no idea why he would come to work here as a doctor. There is nothing here. I finally understood why government workers refuse to be transferred here despite assurances of higher salaries and allowances. Ruddy brown roads went throughout the village even to what was called its centre which was an amalgamation of shacks with a decrepit bus station adjacent to it. The roads reminded me of the roads which the tour bus I was sitting in had to go through at Masai Mara during my recent holiday in Kenya. The unconventional electricity supply in the village ensured that a day with constant electricity was one to be cherished for it would come with the same frequency as that of a solar eclipse. Well for the water supply the same could be said, therefore every household had some form of a water storage facility ranging from an array of clay pots to a fully-fledged water tank. The water supply was so erratic that polytank, a water tank maker, had recently announced plans to build a manufacturing plant to cater for the village’s water storage needs. Over here all you need for an institution to be labeled by the government as an educational one or a school is: any form of shelter whether it be a tree or umbrella, one or two desks, a few chairs and a scanty collection of reading and writing material.
During the walk back home I witnessed the most eerie scene I had seen throughout my life. While ambling back home I caught sight of a stocky man behind a copse of trees. His puckered face indicated he was in great pain. The constant convulsions of his body suggested he was trying to escape from some sort of fiend, queerly during his convulsions his arms seemed to be plastered to sides’ .At that moment, I noticed what he was frightened by. There was a bare-chested hale old man who looked like he had fought in both world wars and most probably fight in the event of a third one and he held a dagger in his right hand. He was about my height. There was some white substance smeared on his face and he had ominous tattoos on his chest. As he went towards the man to stab the man he made a series of incantations. He then plunged the dagger into the man and proceeded to remove the now dead man’s innards starting with his heart, then his lungs followed by his stomach and his guts. Much to my discomfort while scooting from the gory scene the murderer noticed me behind the trees and gave me a leering look followed by an outré gesture.
Suddenly the man started chasing me. Adrenalin shot through my body and I began to bolt as fast as my diminutive legs could carry me. Bizarrely the old man ran with the vigour of twenty year old man, at the rate he ran at he could have given Usain Bolt a good run for his money. In a few minutes the man caught up with me, bundled me with a rope and placed me on his broad right shoulder. He definitely exhibited the power of sorcery. He then walked back with me firmly pinned to his shoulder by his robust arm to the place he had killed the stocky man.
Back at the once bloody scene, oddly enough the dead man’s body seemed to have vanished with no trace and the pool of blood which he lay in was now gone .He then placed me on the tree trunk which he had killed the stocky man. I managed to reach into my pocket and get the pocket knife I had. I began to slowly cut the rope around me. All of a sudden the man noticed me and charged at me with his dagger and it caught my right arm causing blood to gash out. I winced in pain as the man gave me an evil smile which exhibited his mottled teeth. He began to place his boulder like arms across my neck in an attempt to asphyxiate me. I frantically jabbed the man’s arms with my pocket knife as my air supply reached a fatal level which caused my eyes to slowly close. The grip of the man on my neck reduced and I managed to wrench myself free. I then forced my pocket knife in to the man’s right eye leaving it in while the man screamed in agony as his blood came down in streams. I dashed home as my life depended on it.