Chapter 19: The Woman in Red’s Revenge

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. I wake up to the cold creeping in through the cracks in the louvers. The older girls stuff t-shirts or underwear in between the cracks to keep the wind out but it was so sunny yesterday that there was no need for it. The dark clouds stay around all morning. I don’t think I’ve ever prayed so much for a winter chill to last all day.

Khadija leaves tomorrow so we have to do it tonight. Temwa and I have been caught three times sneaking into each other’s room at prep time to plan. We can’t get caught again or everything will be ruined.

I’m too nervous to eat so when Temwa and Khadija come to my room I tell them that I won’t join them for dinner. I close all the curtains in my room and get under my covers, pulling them over my head until I am a cocoon. I go over each step. Before I know it I hear Elita calling down the hall for Prep time.

My head feels like it’s floating just above my shoulders when I sit down at my desk. I pull the first book on top of the pile towards me and a bit of paper comes loose. It’s the note Blessings wrote me in Latin class. There’s a small part of me that wants to call it off now.

A small rock collides with my louvers. I open my curtain a little to see Temwa crouched in the grass outside.

“Are you ready?” She whispers.

I look at my roommate. Her headphones are lodged firmly in her ears and she’s bopping her head along to the music. I make a big show of grabbing some toilet paper and Dettol before walking out the door.

Temwa and I meet by the outside sinks. She’s dressed in all black except for a pair of fuzzy pink slippers and a blue beret with the words ‘famous’ written in glitter across the front. She hops from one foot to the other, trying to beat the cold. Together we walk towards the faculty office, ducking under people’s windows and avoiding the lighted areas as much as possible. Temwa is the tallest of all of us but she walks so slowly as though her limbs were holding her back.

“Are you sure about this?” I say.

“It’s too late now.”

The faculty office is at the main entrance to the girls hostel but there’s a side gate that girls too far from the main entrance can use. The gate is usually shut but Temwa wedged a piece of cardboard into it so it wouldn’t close all the way. We slip out into the darkness and follow the grey concrete path towards the main entrance. As we get closer to the light of the faculty office, we walk off the path and into the shadows of the surrounding trees. There are usually two teachers on duty each night, at 7:30 they both leave to do roll call inside. That’s our window.

Temwa and I watch from a bush just outside the office as the last teacher walks out with the clipboard and closes the door behind her.

“Alright WIWO.” Temwa says.

“Huh?”

“We In, We Out. WIWO.”

We stand up and rush to the door, pulling it open slowly in case it makes a noise. The room is divided into two sections. The first is an office with two wooden chairs pushed under a table so cluttered with papers it seems about to collapse. There’s a kettle with a tray of mugs sitting on the floor to my left. One of them has a big chip in it.

“I found it!” Temwa says.

She’s in the next room, a small space with dusty white walls and two twin beds. There’s an electrical box on the farthest wall and Temwa already has it open and is staring at all the levers.

“Its this one.” She says.

I stare at the small red lever. There’s a piece of white tape below it with the word ‘dorms’ written in fading pencil. I grab it and pull it up and the entire hostel goes dark.

“Come on we don’t have much time.”

We make it back to our corridor in no time. The sound of girls running to each others rooms and talking covers up our return. We go straight to Khadija’s room, she’s already pulling out everything we need from her locker. Two red sheets and a plastic bag filled with tomato sauce.

“We’ve got maybe fifteen minutes until they turn the lights back on.” I say.

We leave through Khadija’s back door; Temwa and I put the sheets over our head as we walk towards Alinafe’s room. I can hear her laughing and talking about something that happened in French class. Khadija and Temwa crouch under Ali’s window and I crawl past them to her roommate’s side.

I reach over and give three quick taps on the door. Everyone inside is silent and a shadow falls over the grass as someone comes to look out the back door.

When I knock the second time I’m ignored. Temwa knocks again and the back door swings open. Alinafe’s bony legs, clad in pokemon pajama bottoms march out to investigate.

I don’t hesitate and tackle her from behind, we land on the grass and roll for a bit before stopping. I hear Chikondi screaming in the room behind us before running out.

“Get off me!” Alinafe says.

“I’m the woman in red and I’m here to drag you back to the ornamental lake.”

Khadija’s quite good at scary voices and in the dark I almost forget that this is all part of the plan. Alinafe screams. Out of the corner of my eye I see a streak of red as Temwa runs towards me. She has the plastic bag raised high above her head and brings it crashing onto Alinafe’s back.

She screams even more, this time jerking back and hitting me straight in the mouth. I taste blood and release my grip a little and Alinafe throws me off. Temwa tries to hold her down and they fall into a struggle.

“Guys its not worth it. Let’s get out of here before people find us.” Khadija says.

I get up and run towards Khadija, looking back I see that Alinafe and Temwa are still fighting and pulling at each other. Every time one of them is close to pulling away they get sucked back into the fold. Finally Temwa breaks away and makes a run for us. Alinafe grabs a handful of her top and yanks her back, Temwa slips and falls not with a soft thud but with a crack.

She doesn’t move.

I pull off my sheet and walk over. Alinafe is standing over Temwa with her phone in hand. She uses the light from the screen to light up what little she can. I don’t know where the tomato sauce begins and the blood ends but I know the red seeping from Temwa’s forehead is real.

Beams of light dance behind me as multiple footsteps approach.

“What in God’s name is going on here?” Mrs. Chiume says.

The last chapter of President’s Girls will be up next week. A whole year is done. Spread the love by clicking the heart button and sharing this story with your friends!