"True gold passes through fire"- Andria
It was very early in the morning when my door was flung open.
"Amanda, Amanda, wake up, wake up", the voice screamed alongside a tap at my legs.
I was so sleepy that I thought it was all a dream. The tap became so painful that I jumped up.
It was Racheal, she looked like she just saw a ghost, her eyes were scary and she still had her blanket wrapped around her body.
"What happened, what's going on", I asked.
I didn't even think she heard me, she just kept saying "Stand up, come, follow me" repeatedly.
Her voice was shaky and she was trembling, sweating, and tears rolling down her cheeks at the same time.
Before I could utter another word, she drew me up from my bed and was dragging me to the door, I was able to put on my flip flops before we went through the door.
Getting to the passage, I saw all my wingmates, they all looked shocked the same way Rachael was when she came to my room.
They stood in front of Rebecca's room, then I noticed Rebecca was missing, she wasn't among them!
At this point, I loosened my hand from Racheal's grip and ran towards them.
"Where is Rebecca?", I asked.
" She's gone, she passed away last night", Charissa said.
"We slept together last night and this morning when I tried waking her up, I got no response, I called the nurses, and they confirmed her death, the nurse said it looked like she gave up the ghost hours ago", Charissa added.
"Do you have any idea where Rebecca keeps her belongings", one of the nurses asked us.
"It should be in her wardrobe", we replied.
"We didn't see anything there, not even a pin, the wardrobe looks cleared, do you have any idea where else she must have kept her belongings?" the nurse asked.
We all went into the room, opened the wardrobe, it was empty, not even a pin just as the nurse said.
We searched the bathroom, there was no towel or sponge, only her mattress that was dressed with the hospital's bed sheet.
"Was her wardrobe always empty", I asked Charissa.
Charissa was her closest friend, they were known for always spending the night together in each other's room after chitchat, their loud voices and laughter will echo in the late hours of the night and early hours of the morning.
"Never, Rebecca has lots of clothes and shoes that filled up her wardrobe, her wardrobe gas never been empty, she even kept lots of novels, pictures and her calendar on her table, even her cosmetics were not on her dressing table any longer ", Charissa replied pointing to the empty table on the other side of the bed.
"Maybe the other nurses have already packed her belongings", Cyril suggested.
"No, her belongings haven't been packed, I was sent to come to pack them and clear the room for a new patient ", the nurse added and took her to leave.
We were all confused. Charissa added that she was sure her belongings were still intact last night before they slept.
"She changed into her nightgown after she had her bath and she got the nightgown from her wardrobe, she even applied her night lotion which was on this table", Charissa said to the hearing of everyone.
Everyone understood she was trying to convince us that Rebecca had all her belongings intact last night and there was no way it was all gone this morning.
The fact that Charissa was the one who called the nurses to check up on Rebecca when she refused to wake up this morning made her story believable.
She also added not noticing Rebecca's belongings on the table or in the wardrobe when she woke up this morning because of the shock when Rebecca refused to wake up this morning.
Could it be that Rebecca packed all her belongings elsewhere last night before passing out?
Or her ghost was the one that packed it?
Or the nurses had packed it?
There were lots of questions on our minds?_________________________________________________________
The Midnight Club
It was almost 11 pm and everyone was gathered around the table with their pajamas and bottles of water, the evening breeze was cool while the trees swayed in harmony, the crickets could be heard in the background.
There was a long silence till Josh broke it, "Can't believe Rebecca has died".
It seemed like his words brought more silence than breaking it. Everyone was in a solemn state, more like we were terrified than shocked. It was incredible.
"Rebecca can't be gone, it must be some sort of prank", I said.
" She was so full of energy", Roger said.
"I'm sure she didn't expect it too", Rachael added.
Rebecca was so filled with energy, always in a happy mood, and brought laughter wherever she went.
Her beauty was astonishing with her kinky hard hair she never combed. She was a little above six feet and had a slender body not forgetting her ever flat stomach that never protruded no matter how enormous she ate.
She was a victim of deadly low blood pressure and had a lot of other illnesses she never mentioned to anyone.
Low blood pressure is surely one of the deadliest diseases that kills slowly but either way, Rebecca's death was a surprise to everyone.
During the last midnight club we had, we discussed death, we talked about who will be the first to die, stories we heard about ghosts, land of the dead, reincarnation, and all other stuff relating to death.
" What if the first persons to die gives us a sign", Cyril suggested.
"Something like a letter or appear to one of us if ghosts are real", he added.
At the end of the day, we all agreed that anyone who does first should give us a sign of how that part of life is.
" I found this statue under Rebecca's bed", Charissa said showing us the little statue of a couple who were holding each other.
"Y'all come take a look at the statue", she added as everyone gathered around her.
Rebecca told us the story behind that statue way before now.
Rebecca was good at sculpture and she had a boyfriend she loved so much that she made that statue of both of them.
She told us how her boyfriend was so excited to see the statue cos he always asked her to make a statue of them.
She explained that she made two different statue, and gave one to her boyfriend, Jaydan.
However, she also mentioned that her parents were never in support of her relationship because they thought she was too young for that and that Jaydan looked irresponsible.
Out of rebellion, she went ahead to live with her boyfriend while in the university.
She said that several times her parents will call and advise her to leave her boyfriend's house but she never gave them a listening ear.
Due to this, her parents didn't speak to her for a long time.
She and her boyfriend, Jaydan had a heated argument one day because she suspected he was cheating on her with another man.
In a fit of rage, she took the statue and smashed it on the ground, and the lady's leg broke out from the body.
It wasn't up to a month after that incident, she had an accident that led to the amputation of her leg, her leg got infected which took years to treat but she hasn't recovered from it yet.
Rebecca once borrowed my glue to repair the statue but always complained that the glue wasn't strong enough to hold the leg.
" No matter how many glues I use it will still end up breaking off again", she always complained.
But today when we all gathered to see the statue Charissa was holding, the statue was whole, there wasn't any broken leg.
The leg was well bound to the statue and there was not even a sign of crack or traces of repair on the statue.
The statue looked as new as ever, there was no speck of dust on it too!
The statue has never been that neat!
Why is everything strange?
What is happening?
"Is this some sort of sign?", Stephen asked.
"Maybe Becky is trying to send a message to us with all of this", I added.
I have never been a fan of weird things, Everything became scary to me. I needed an explanation.
Except for all the weird stuff happening, it dawned on us that one of us has died!
Death has snatched Rebecca away from the world, from us, and to a place where we knew nothing about.
Who's next?
If there is anything I need the scientists to explain it would be the mystery behind death, ghosts, and every other thing that worked hand in hand with death.
Rebecca's loud contactable laughter will no longer be heard anymore, her jokes and tiny voice have also gone along with her.
Her determination was on another level, she used crutches but never asked anyone for help to do anything.
Even when you requested to render help to get, she would always decline.
I remembered once when she was climbing the stairs and Alfred requested to carry her down the stairs, she declined the offer saying she could do it on her own.
However, she ended up falling down the stairs and obtained bruises on her body.
If there was one this I learned from Rebecca, it would be taking life as it is.
Her condition never bothered her, she would always snap at you whenever you try to show her sympathy, telling you it's her life and that everyone had challenges in life just that hers was physical.
It was the first death and there's still more to go!