Hooo heeee….. Hooo heeeee….
Lazizi was fast asleep when he woke up suddenly. He stood up and listened carefully. The sound came again,this time from the backyard. He took his torch light and summoned courage, he opened the door of his backyard and went outside.
Hooo heeeee …… Hooo heeeee …., this time the sound drew closer making the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Lazizi stood still, flashing his torchlight all around him.
“Is anyone there?” He asked, trying to show courage even though a chill went up his spine.
“Hahahahaha”, Lazizi heard the sound of laughter like someone mocking him. His heart thumped so loud that it almost popped out of his chest.
“Show yourself”, Lazizi screamed at the top of his lungs but there was an uncomfortable and eerie stillness around him.
He flashed his torchlight around for a while and saw nothing. He turned and tried making his way back into the house when he suddenly felt a presence around him. The wind howled through the trees and his head felt like it tripled in size.
He dropped the torch in his hands and held onto his head with both his hands. His breathing ceased and he collapsed on the floor. Before his eyes were close shut, he thought he saw a figure in white staring at him from a distance.
“Oga, Agent, this is the tenth house you are showing me without taking into consideration my preferences”, " Lazizi said, looking furiously at the man beside him.
“Mr Lazizi, this place I am showing you is very good, it is also in a good neighborhood, I am sure you will really like it here”, the Agent said to Lazizi trying to get him to agree to take the apartment he is showing him.
“Oga, Agent, I told you that I want a quiet place with enough space where I can do my work in peace, yet you brought me to this barracks”
“Ha! This is not a barracks sir, there are only four tenants here. If you join them, that will make it five tenants”, the agent said, trying to convince him.
“No, I want a place with at most two tenants. If I can even get a place where I would be the only tenant, I would very much prefer that. My peace and quiet is paramount”.
The agent looked at him and laughed. “Where would you see a place with only you as the tenant, when it's not Amuletoku house you want to rent”.
“What's Amuletoku, where is that? Lazizi asked, already showing interest.
“Are you serious sir?”, The agent laughed until he saw Lazizi kept a straight face.
“Ha, Mr Lazizi, you are serious. You really want to rent Amuletoku house?”, the Agent asked, horror visible on his face.
“Yes, Is it far from here? Does it have everything I want? A large space, electricity and quiet enough to allow meditations?”
“Heerrm, yes. It has all those things, but you can't rent that house o”, the agent said, shivering at the thought of anyone daring to rent the house.
“Why? Is the total package for renting the house very expensive? How much is it, so I will know if I can work around my budget”
“Expensive ke, No oo, it's very cheap”,
Upon hearing that, the economist side of Lazizi roared with joy and his interest was piqued further.
“In fact, it is about half of the price you will pay for this and unlike this one room and parlor apartment, It is a two bedroom apartment plus a sitting room. It has a big gate and a large compound with trees surrounding it”, the Agent explained and a smile appeared on Lazizi's face.
“Then, it's settled, I will be going for that house, Please take me there, let me see for myself so I can make all the necessary payments”. Lazizi said, beaming with joy.
“Take you where? No o, I can't go there o.”, the agent said, shaking his head rigorously. “Mr Lazizi, it's like you don't know the meaning of Amuletoku, it means residing with ghosts”. He explained while Lazizi rolled his eyes.
“So, Oga Agent, with all due respect sir, as old as you are and with all this exposure in the world today, you still believe in ghost stories? Have you ever seen a ghost before?”
“Mr Lazizi, please take heed”. The agent warned, shaking his head in pity.
“Are you not even bothered about why nobody is in the house? With a cheap price like that, it shouldn't even be available if there isn't more to that house. I have heard a lot of stories about people who stay there not up to a year before leaving”.
“And those who had stayed and left, what was their reason for leaving?” Lazizi asked, sneering at the agent.
“They all claimed to have seen a man in white…”
Before the agent could complete his statement, Lazizi burst out into laughter.
“Yes and the man was chasing them with a knife or cutlass?”, He asked, laughing uncontrollably.
“This is not a laughing matter, Mr Lazizi but if you insist, I will direct you there because I can't take you there. When you get there, you will see the number of the landlord written boldly on the wall of the fence”.
“But you are my agent, it's your job to take me there”, Lazizi said giving the agent a death stare.
“Mr Lazizi, no agent will take you there, so you can only speak with the landlord of the house”.
“So that means I won't be paying for the agent fee?”, Lazizi asked.
“No problem Mr Lazizi, In fact if you give me the agent fee, I will return it”, the agent said and Lazizi was overjoyed like he just won a lottery.
The agent gave him directions to the house and went his way.
In no time, Lazizi boarded a motorcycle to convey him there. As they arrived at the T-junction towards the house, the bike man told Lazizi he can't go any further and asked him to come down.
“So you won't take me to the house?” he asked, getting angry at the thought of wasting time lest someone else beats him to renting the place.
The bike man only pointed to the direction that led to the house and asked Lazizi to pay him, which the latter did reluctantly.
As the bike man drove away, Lazizi hissed, sucking his teeth loudly,
“Bunch of cowards, Ghosts in the 21st century? Yeah right”.
Lazizi got to the house and looked around and he was happy with what he saw. The agent's description of the house doesn't do it justice.
He hurriedly searched for the landlord's number on the wall and dialed the number. It ranged for sometime before the person picked up.
Hello… My name is Lazizi.
Lazizi woke up from his sleep the next morning and found himself lying in the dirt. He tried raising his hands and winced from the pain shooting out all over his body.
“How did I get here?” He asked no one in particular. His head buzzed as he held it with his hands to stop the ringing sounds coming out of his ears. He tried to recollect what had happened to him the previous day but nothing was forthcoming.
He managed to stand up and limped inside the house. He went into the bathroom and splashed some water on his face. He took his towel and stood in front of a mirror. Using his face cloth, he cleaned his face, sighing loudly as relief washed over him.
As he turned to look at the mirror, a face suddenly appeared, winking at him.