The university campus was alive with excitement.
Freshmen hurried from one lecture hall to another, final-year students discussed projects under the shade of old trees, and hostel corridors echoed with laughter, music, and endless conversations. For most students, university life was a new beginning.
For Kojo and Sena, it was the beginning of something else.
Room 14 looked no different from the other rooms in the hostel. It had two metal beds, two study desks, a wardrobe, and a single window overlooking the courtyard. During the day, sunlight poured into the room, making it feel warm and ordinary.
But night was different.
Almost every evening, just after midnight, the room became unusually cold. The air grew heavy, and the familiar whispers returned.
"We are here."
At first, Kojo and Sena spoke to the ginnys only in private. They had no desire to frighten anyone or become the subject of gossip. The unseen companions continued to guide them, warning them of danger and revealing things that later proved to be true.
Yet the ginnys had changed.
They no longer waited to be called.
Sometimes they appeared without warning, filling the room with an invisible presence that neither young man could ignore.
"You belong to us," they would whisper.
The words unsettled Kojo.
One evening, after the whispers had faded, he looked at Sena.
"Do you ever wonder whether accepting the old man's gift was a mistake?"
Sena hesitated.
"They've never harmed us."
"No," Kojo replied quietly, "but they no longer ask permission before they come."
Neither of them spoke again.
Outside their room, other students had begun noticing strange things.
Students walking past Room 14 often heard voices, even when only one roommate was inside.
Some claimed they heard three people talking.
Others insisted they heard chanting late at night.
Whenever anyone knocked unexpectedly, the voices stopped.
Soon, stories spread throughout the hostel.
"Don't go near Room 14 after midnight."
"I heard someone laughing in there, but both roommates were in class."
"My roommate swears he saw shadows moving inside when the lights were off."
The rumours grew with each passing week.
Most students dismissed them as the exaggerated tales that always accompanied hostel life. But a few began avoiding the corridor altogether after dark.
The Hall Porter noticed something unusual as well.
Students who had no problem visiting any other room refused to deliver messages to Room 14. Maintenance workers found excuses whenever repairs were needed nearby.
Even the hostel cleaners hurried past the doorway without looking inside.
One Saturday afternoon, a student named Kwame stopped outside Room 14.
He had come to borrow a calculator from a friend who lived next door.
Finding that room locked, he noticed that Room 14 was slightly open.
"Maybe they're home," he murmured.
He raised his hand and knocked.
No one answered.
Believing someone might simply be asleep, he gently pushed the door open.
The room was strangely quiet.
Kojo and Sena looked up from where they were sitting.
For a brief moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Kojo's face turned pale.
Sena slowly stood.
Before either could utter a word, a cold wind swept through the room, though the window was closed.
The whisper returned.
"He was not invited."
Kwame felt an unexpected chill run through his body.
"I'm... I'm sorry," he stammered. "I thought my friend was here."
He stepped backward and quickly left the room.
The door closed behind him.
Inside, the silence was broken by a voice neither roommate wished to hear.
"Our work has begun."
Kojo's heart sank.
For the first time since receiving the mysterious gift years earlier, he was afraid—not of the ginnys, but of what they might do next.
Outside, Kwame continued walking down the corridor, unaware that his brief visit to Room 14 had set in motion a chain of events that would change all of their lives forever.