It was a full moon night, it has become a tradition for the family to sit out together at night and tell folktales. Once everyone is seated, the oldest who is believed to be the wisest and experienced begins to tell the others things that have happened in the past before the younger ones were born.
It was June 24th, the moon was full and bright that one could pick an office pin on the ground without any need for touch light. The Hillary's family having their grandfather around was something of joy. He began the story telling that night.
"Back then in my youthful days, Oku community and our community had a dispute over a boundary wall which demarcated our community from theirs. They claimed the land was theirs while our community refused to affirm that. After series of disagreements, the two communities went to the deities who summoned evil spirits to guard the land. This action led the Oku community and our community to let go of the land. The chief priest instructed the Oku clan and ours to build a house for the spirits as a sign of our peaceful resolution. We did as the chief priest instructed and the house was left unvisited for countless years. During then and even now, strange things happen there at night and kids were instructed not to go into the house for any reason to avoid being haunted by the spirits dwelling in there. I'm telling this story tonight because I don't want any of you, I mean Mariam and Christine, to go close to that old abandoned house for any reason."
Source
After he finished the story, the two girls nodded their heads in agreement that they have heard what their grandfather said.
"Thanks a lot father for this insightful story of ancient history. I believe you girls heard your grandfather, don't be tempted to visit that house. Is that clear? "
"Yes daddy." Mariam and Christine responded together.
Weeks after they had been instructed not to make an attempt to get close to the house, Christine urged her sister that they should sneak into the house to see if the story their grandfather told was true. It was 12PM in the afternoon, everyone had gone to his or her different businesses and the two girls were at home as it was the holiday season.
They reached the house, sneaked in making sure no one sighted them. As they crept through the building covered with dust and cobwebs, suddenly they heard a loud scream from the house. They both turned cold and the scream became louder accompanied with an invisible banging foot on the floor. They looked at each other in terror and wondered what could be making such sounds. Immediately, they remembered their grandfather's story about the house again.
Just when they tried to run, they saw a ghostly apparition of a woman in a long white gown with long nails and White flowing hair. She looked at them and screamed loudly and began approaching the girls. While they tried to run, the ghostly woman dragged Marian the junior and held her on her neck trying to strangle her.
Christine who didn't know what to do as she saw how Mariam was struggling to catch her breath. Fell down and began to beg the ghostly figure to let her sister go. Looking pitiful at how her sister was going through pain and finding out she was not shaking any longer. She ran to her sister not minding if the figure is a human or not, touching her sister's legs and staring at the ghostly figure. She began to cry and immediately the ghost saw tears rolling
out of Christine's eyelids, she let go of Mariam and disappeared into the thin air.
Christine ran back to her sister but she saw Mariam was already lifelessly. She ran out of the building to seek help. She ran back home and luckily for her their mother was back from work. She told her mother everything and mrs Hillary immediately ran to the chief priest who accompanied the Hillary's family to the sacred house. The building was purified by the chief priest before any of them could get in.
They all entered and the chief priest was able to perform incantations which brought Mariam back to life. After the incident, the two villagers through the town criers made a public announcement that the house is sacred and should not be entered by any villager. The chief priest who knew that the things that go bump anytime of the day were still in there, waiting for their next victim. To prevent human access to the building in order for the spirits to be free from tormenting its victim, the abandoned house was sealed with chains and padlocks which helped prevent anyone from having access to the house.
The villagers who heard the story of what happened to Mariam came to the Hillary to pay their homage and express their sincere sympathy. All the villagers learnt a lesson from the experience of Christine and Mariam.
THE END
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