53 - Happy Anniversary

“Why did you take my man? You must pay! You must!”
I woke up with a start, soaked to the skin. It was dawn and Eno was not on the bed. There was a note stuck on the mirror... He had gone jogging. It was our sixth anniversary. Time flies. Déjà vu! He had gone jogging on the morning of our second anniversary after which we had decided to celebrate it on a road trip.

We had left Ogoja on that Friday evening after working hours heading for Calabar. It was fun rediscovering how and why we fell in love with ourselves, until we agreed to pass the night at a random roadside hotel. Ugep was the nearest town so we gambled and ended up at Revul Hotel Ltd. A small and weird looking place with sluggish staff and horrible colour choice. It had an overgrown patch of grass for a garden and the restaurant where we had dinner was a tiny room with two tables and cramped chairs. Dinner was boiled rice and pepper soup which was surprisingly hot. The meat was tender and delicious.
“It’s a special delicacy from a rare animal”, the waitress on bold red lipstick said when we inquired about the meat kind. We enjoyed the meal till we pulled five long strands of hair in between three spoons. Dinner was officially over. The room felt cold and damp coupled with poor interior décor made of cheap wood. There was a crucifix above the twin bed that occupied the room. Eno showered first while I stood at the balcony to have a feel of the area. It was a beautiful view. The AC unit took most of the balcony space. A black sack heaped at the corner of the balcony, slightly hidden by the AC unit. I smirked. What a hotel! What an interesting adventure!
Then the sack moved. Wait! It moved again, so slow I almost missed it. Now my heart was beating slightly faster. I removed my left slipper and threw it at the sack. Nothing. No movement at first. Then suddenly, two glowing eyes appeared in the heap of sack, starring right at me.
“Jesus!” I shouted jumping back as a big black cat leapt over the balcony and into the night. I rushed inside and locked the door just as Eno stepped out of the shower. “Babe, what’s wrong?” He asked seeing my pale face. “Nothing!” I said hiding my shaking hands behind my back. I didn’t want Eno laughing at my fright. Eno was a skeptic. “Is that blood on your face? Did you hit your head somewhere?” There was a drop of blood running down his face.
“Nope”, He said feeling his head. “Nothing happened.” I checked the bathroom to be sure. No blood. Weird, I thought ruminating over the events of the evening till we fell asleep.

A continuous scratching at the door woke me up. It was louder than a rat’s strength. The cat, I thought. Eno snored softly beside me and I snuggled closer to him drowsily.
“You dare touch my man!” I jumped up startled. There was a young looking lady with eerie gray disheveled hair sitting on the only chair in the room on my side of the bed. I jumped over Eno quickly using him as a shield. A thousand thoughts ran through my head, foremost being who the hell was this woman? She wore a red torn nightwear that left one breast bare and stared blankly at the wall right in front of her.
“You dare touch my man!” She whispered in a lower voice turning her head mechanically to my direction. Her eyes glowed with deep betrayal and rage. I shrunk deeper into the bed behind Eno caught in a spell of fear. Was this a trance? “Who… who are you?” I stammered. “I don’t know what you are talking about… bu… but how didi… did you enter this room?” I had goose bumps all over my skin and the hairs on the back of my neck stood erect. There was something sinister about the lady and she scared the life out of me. I shook Eno to wake up instead, he snored louder. “Please leave us and go. We are good people.” I pleaded realizing I was crying. “I let you stay and you take my man?” She was crying too. Drops of blood flowed from her eyes. “You eat my flesh and take my man? You must pay! You must!” Then she vanished. I clung to Eno who still didn’t wake up even though I was practically choking him out of fear. At that minute, the clock stopped ticking… 2. 45 Am. Something moved above the bed drawing a frightened cry from me. The crucifix hung upside down. The scratching at the door had stopped. In fact, time stopped and not a single noise could be heard. Without warning, there was a loud bang against the door as if someone threw his weight at the door, then the lights went out.
I was crying openly now. Crying and cursing at Eno for sleeping through my ordeal. It became windy in the room. A strong wind that flapped the curtains yet nothing in the room crashed. There was something on the bed. I could feel the bed give in to its weight as it moved closer. My heart was pushing through my chest. Evil reeked all over. Then everything went blank as I slipped out of consciousness.

I woke up at the hospital. Eno was sitting beside me. He said he had woken up to blood all over me. The doctors said it was a miscarriage. I was never pregnant. We had planned to wait another year. Eno was scared. This was beyond his skepticism. I was scared too as I had no memory of what happened after I fainted. I narrated to Eno all I could remember. He believed me. Our phones had stopped at 2.45am when he woke up.
The nurses said Revul Hotel used to be a private residency where a lady was killed by her husband’s lover. Tales have it that the jealous lover had made a poisoned meal for the unfortunate man from the kill which they ate together and died afterwards. It was a hunted place.

It’s been three years now. But I still remember it all clearly. The nightmares stopped two years ago and I’ve been fine. Till today. Till now. I had the nightmare again last night.
“Why did you take my man? You must pay! You must!”
Eno isn’t back from his jogging. My phone’s time is 2.45am even though everywhere is bright. The wall clock too. I touch my bulging stomach in fear. And pain. My legs are wet. There’s blood dripping on the tiles. Everything goes blank!

• Written by Abigail Ogbonna