The first four days of the punishment were exhausting. Cleaning the entire second floor which is where her office was,all by myself was a lot of work. I had to sweep and mop the floors,dust the chairs,tables and everything else in each of the offices and worst of all,clean the toilets floors and seats. By the time I was done,it was already noon. After that,I would still have to go to her office for my four hours lesson everyday. I had even skipped lunch twice just to meet up with the lesson when I couldn't finish the cleaning on time.
On the fifth day with anger boiling in my blood streams,I dusted her bookshelves that were starked with books and documents from top to bottom causing one of them to fall out,"Careful",she said to me. I picked up the book that had fallen and kept it back whether it was in the right place or not, I didn't care." Give me that", she said from behind me . I fidgeted as I didn't know how or when she walked up to me ."Why are you like this?",she asked as she took the book from me," like what?",I asked," stubborn as moose, rude, unserious with your studies, inattentive and self isolating?",she asked as she kept the book back on the shelf,"Nothing",I replied and moved away.
"Those characters won't get you anywhere. Rather,they would continue to cause a rift between you and everyone around you",she said but I wasn't listening as I started sweeping. " Emily!,Leave the sweeping ,come sit down ",she said gesturing to a chair as she sat down herself. Reluctantly,I say down,"What now?",I asked myself wearing a deep frown,"Emily,nobody hate you,not your father,not me,not anyone", I scoffed when she mentioned my Dad." We all want what's best for you and we're ready to give you if only you'll let us",(How this story again,how long am I going to hear this?),"Emily, you can do better even great ,I know you can. But I don't know why you keep stopping yourself before you even begin . Whatever your reason maybe, it's not enough reason to hinder your growth. Spread your wings, relief yourself of the burden and soar the sky to a greater height and you would be shocked how far you can fly and how high you can reach",she adviced.
While she spoke,I tried to block out the sound of her voice but it kept filling my ears and head. I wanted to stop myself from listening,from accepting them ,to tell myself they were meaningless bullshits but i couldn't help savouring every word she said. When she was done ,l stood up to continue cleaning but she told me to leave it and go rest and prepare for lesson instead and meditate on what she had just said. I left after nodding weakly.
All the way to my hostel,her words kept replaying in my head and I tried to shake it off but couldn't. It stubbornly remained filling my head with questions I dare not answer. I felt angry but couldn't pinpoint why and couldn't stop the feeling either. My thoughts were turning rounds in circles and I couldn't stop them.
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I remember that night so clearly like the deep blue sea. I held my torch light in one hand tightly as I made my way to the garden. Daring to do what I feared to do for such a long time. Everything seemed to stand still as though time had frozen. I trailed the path like before trying to convince myself it was okay as I needed to know after all. I couldn't understand why I was afraid in the first place.
Arriving there, I sat down under the tree and waited for her more anxiously than ever. The few minutes I say in wait felt like hours to me as I looked around impatiently." Got ya",she said startling me we laughed but mine was a nervous one." You never miss any of our night hang outs,do you?",I asked ", Nah, won't miss it for the world",she replied and giggled. I sat there thinking about how to go about this,my heart was racing in my chest and I could feel my hand getting sweaty.
"Umm, Oliver can I see something?",I asked,"What?",she asked ," Your face ",I said and turned on the touch light on full on her.
I let out a heart piercing scream as I saw her face,'How could she... Could she be...",I tired to think but couldn't. I stared at her pale face with eyeballs that were pure white with two dark pupils at the middle,she looked a year or two younger than me and she was sitting just few meters away from me. I moved away from her panicking with my touch light still on her." Emily wait, don't go,I need... please don't leave",she called after me but I was already running back to my hostel." She was a ghost...a ghost,the school's ghost,she was...I made friends with a freaking ghost",I thought as I ran like never before.
Collapsing on my bed,I tired to catch my breathe. The image,her image ,the image of her face was stuck to my mind like glue and I couldn't shake it off. I couldn't believe what I seen. I pinched myself to be sure I wasn't dreaming or hoped I was dreaming and would wake up from it. In the darkness,I could see her face everywhere staring at me and I had to shut my eyes in fright. I held my eyelids together tightly hoping to fall asleep,I didn't open them not even once ,not even when i heard the room's door open and closed and heard footsteps and heard the door open and closed again. I tried to remain still as much as possible and close my eyes.