Bed 27 - by Jhaymkay🖤

Part One By the time I entered SS1, I had already heard every boarding school horror story in Nigeria. Don't whistle after lights out. Don't walk alone behind the dining hall. Don't answer your name if someone calls you after midnight. I believed none of them. Until I got Bed 27. "You're sleeping there?" The girl folding her clothes paused. She looked at my bed. Then at me. Then quietly continued packing. Nobody answered my question. Nobody welcomed me. Nobody even offered to help arrange my box. They just... watched. Like people watching someone walk into traffic. The matron noticed the silence. "What's wrong with all of you?" No one spoke. She sighed impatiently. "Keep your superstitions to yourselves." She handed me a thin mattress. "Bed 27." That was all. --- Queen Mary Hostel had thirty-six girls. Eighteen bunk beds. Mine was the last bunk by the far wall. Right beside the hostel toilet. The only toilet nobody ever used after lights out. During the day, it was perfectly normal. Clean. Bright. Nothing unusual. At night... Even the seniors walked to the toilet in the next hostel. I noticed. But I said nothing. --- That evening, while everyone was preparing for prep, a girl named Ifeoma suddenly grabbed my wrist. Her hand was freezing. "If you wake up tonight..." She looked around to make sure no senior was listening. "...don't check the time." I laughed. "What?" "Promise me." "Ifeoma..." "Promise." I rolled my eyes. "I promise." She let go. Then whispered something so softly I almost missed it. "And whatever you hear..." "...don't open the last cubicle." At exactly 10:00 p.m., the lights went out. The hostel became silent. Girls whispered prayers beneath their blankets. Someone cried quietly. A senior hissed. "Sleep!" Within minutes... The room fell still. --- I don't know what woke me. Maybe the cold. Maybe the silence. Maybe... The crying. Soft. Broken. Like someone trying very hard not to be heard. It was coming from the toilet. I shut my eyes. Ignore it. That's what Ifeoma had said. Then I remembered. She'd told me not to check the time. Without thinking... I reached for my phone. The screen lit up. 3:14 a.m. My stomach dropped. At that exact moment... The crying stopped. Complete silence. Then... A slow knock echoed from inside the toilet. Once. Twice. Three times. Not on the door. From inside the last cubicle. I pulled my blanket over my head. Someone climbed down from the bunk above me. Their footsteps were slow. Careful. They walked toward the toilet. The cubicle door creaked open. Then shut. Silence. A full minute passed. Then I heard water running. Like someone washing their hands. Then their face. Then... A voice. Soft. Gentle. Almost motherly. "Come and help me." I squeezed my eyes shut. The voice came again. Closer this time. "I know you're awake." My heart slammed against my chest. It knew. It knew I was awake. Then I heard another sound. Bare feet. Walking across the hostel floor. Not toward the door. Toward my bed. The footsteps stopped beside me. I could hear breathing. Slow. Wet. Patient. Something leaned over my blanket. I stopped breathing. Seconds passed. Then... Very quietly... A girl whispered into my ear. «"You're not supposed to be in Bed 27."» The footsteps walked away. I waited. One minute. Five. Ten. Finally... I gathered enough courage to look. Every girl was asleep. The hostel was silent. The toilet door was wide open. The last cubicle stood open too. Empty. I looked at the bunk above mine. It was empty. The girl who slept there... Was gone. The next morning, I asked where she was. The girls stared at me. Confused. "What girl?" "The one above me." Silence. Then the Head Girl frowned. "There has never been anyone sleeping above Bed 27." I laughed. "I spoke to her yesterday." No one laughed back. The Head Girl slowly reached into her locker. She pulled out an old photograph of the hostel. Thirty-six girls. Eighteen bunk beds. She pointed at the bunk above mine. It was empty. Then she looked me straight in the eye and whispered— «"Every girl who sleeps in Bed 27 says the same thing on her first morning."» To be continued...

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