Koshie, the clever girl had a great idea to help Odartey and herself to take a few well-deserved breaks so Odartey would be able to recuperate. He just loved the way she came up with new ideas every time. This one seemed so harmless and inviting that she herself was thrilled when she babbled loudly about it. Odartey bought it sooner than she thought without asking too many questions just to make her happy. He trusted that she knew what she was doing. Had her mother been around, she would have stopped her in her tracks. Sometimes, she wished she could read her daughter's mind before she did something childish, thinking it was a great idea. It was expedient to keep an eye on her sometimes.
Koshie took Odartey by surprise by suggesting that the two of them played hide and seek on the premises of the ongoing construction works. Their favourite poem came to mind:
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All play and no work makes Jack a lazy boy.
She seemed to understand his situation. His weariness might have made him short sighted. He could no longer foretell the future and he made several errors in judgment. These, he thought, were negligible, but not for Koshie. She noticed it faster than he thought she would. She even went to the extent of trying to think for him sometimes. She was capable of anything.
The hide and seek seemed like a harmless idea at the onset. He and Koshie hid in some of the empty rooms which the masons were in the process of plastering with cement. The smell of it was all over the place. It was so overwhelming that Odartey avoided those rooms and hid outside to get himself some bursts of fresh air. Sometimes, he would fear that he might have an asthmatic attack. One or two of the workers warned them to stay away from some designated areas. However, they could not help but add those areas to their newly found hiding places. They would be careful, or so they thought. Koshie ran in and out of a few of her innovative hiding places until she found herself behind a part of the building which had not seen much activity lately, perhaps by reasons such as oversight or it was being preserved that way for a purpose. She tried hiding behind the wall at first but thought it might be easier for Odartey to find her so she kept on looking for an appropriate spot, unabated. Suddenly, she saw someone beckoning her to take a few more steps forward.
"Come," he said. Was it one of the workers? If it was so, why would he warn her and suddenly encourage her to do the same thing he had warned her against? The man resembled her father though. She stepped further to have a clearer view of him. Why would her late father encourage her to take such a dangerous step? That was very much unlike him. She tried to see his face clearly but the more she did so, the further she went, the figure also moving backwards as she stepped forward trustingly. Suddenly, she tripped on her left foot. Plop! There she was in a deep pit filled with muddy water. The mud covered her whole body, from head to toe. She could hardly breathe. It also covered her eyes and filled her throat.
"Come…" her father still beckoning. "Keep coming." Where did he expect her to move to after falling into such a dangerous pit? She was so petrified that she took quick breaths to help her stay afloat pulling herself out with all her might. Her head stayed afloat with every effort.
It was such a terrifying moment. She thought death was at her doorstep. Would she also die as the owner of the house did? Did he disapprove of what they were doing even as he lay in his grave? Her deep, measured breaths did not seem to be helping anymore. She felt like she was in quick sand, sinking with every passing minute.
"Daddy! Help me!" she cried. It seemed he was just waiting for her to sink further, his arms wide open to receive her.
"Daaaaaddddyyyyy!" she cried all the more.
Thoughts of death ran through her mind repeatedly. Was this the end? Would she be able to hang on to life? What if Odartey could not figure out the place where she had chosen to hide in time to rescue her? That was the morale behind her father moving her farther away from safety anyway. Her father must be very miserable wherever he was to want to have her by his side. Her thoughts caused her to sink faster. She gathered all the strength she had left even if it would cause any further harm.
"Odaaaartey! I….. am….. here! H…..e….l….p me!"
The darkness seemed to be winning. She could not rid herself of the fear of finding herself in another world soon. Suddenly, Odartey mentioned her name. "Kooooshiieeeee!" he yelled. "Where are you?" Odartey saw someone standing before Koshie with his back turned towards him.
"You again?" he said. "I told you to leave her alone!"
"Odartey!" she cried. "Who are you talking to?" Odartey refused to answer her question and kept on being stern on her father's spirit. Her head sunk completely in the mud as the two were engaged in their discourse.
"I will make her happy! I will marry her! Just leave her alone! It's not her time yet." Just when he said that, the spirit of Koshie's father let out a loud and eerie shriek and disappeared.
"Kooooshie!" he screamed again. "Hang on! I'll be with you soon!" He could not hear her voice again. He was petrified.
"Hold on! I don't want to lose you!" Odartey managed to figure out her location by the last faint sound he heard from her. It was now impossible to let out even the slightest sigh of relief. It would allow more mud into her throat. She struggled with the sand so he might feel some movement, then said inaudibly. "I'm here!"
"Help! Help!" yelled Odartey. The workers stopped in their tracks and rallied around promptly to help them.
"We told you to stay away from this site, didn't we? It's too dangerous for you!"
She closed her eyes voluntarily now and swallowed some more mud into her throat. The workers pulled her out with something that looked like a huge basket. She looked like a fish out of muddy water.
Koshie's eyes were wide open with shock. Odartey looked at her empathetically as they carried her on to a stretcher, then into an ambulance. It soon sped off with her to the hospital. He felt guilty for allowing her to play such a risky game, yet he was not to blame. He was equally as young as Koshie and could not envision danger even when it was looming. However, the workers were right. They should have listened to their warnings.
When Odartey visited Koshie in the hospital, her eyes were bloodshot and had a bandage all around it. She must have hurt them severely.
"I'm so sorry about what happened. It won't happen again. I promise." Koshie nodded. On his way back home with his mother, he felt someone tugging at his shirt. The person gave him a heavy blow that landed him on the ground.
"Odartey!" screamed his mother. "Are you alright?" She thought her son was having a seizure.
"Yes Mum," he replied
"Are you ill?"
"Not at all, Mum." He could feel Koshie's father hanging around. He still wanted to fight for his daughter.
"I'm not give to give up on her," he said aloud.
"Pardon me, Odartey?"
"I was talking about Koshie, Mum," he said.
"Let's see where your stubbornness will land you," said the spirit .With that warning, it disappeared.