Kwame did not think much about the incident as he left Room 14.
He laughed at himself for feeling frightened. It was just a room, he reasoned. The uneasy feeling he had experienced must have been caused by the strange silence and the startled expressions on the faces of the two roommates.
By the time he reached his own room, he had almost forgotten about it.
But Kojo and Sena had not.
The moment the door closed behind Kwame, both young men remained frozen.
The room grew unusually cold.
Then the whispers came.
"You allowed him to enter."
Kojo swallowed hard.
"It was an accident," he replied.
"He did not know."
For several moments there was no response.
Then the voice spoke again.
"The stranger has crossed the boundary."
Sena's face turned pale.
"What does that mean?"
The room fell silent.
Neither of them slept that night.
The following morning, Kwame woke with an unexplainable heaviness. He felt exhausted despite having slept through the night. Throughout his lectures, he struggled to concentrate. By evening, he was convinced that something was wrong.
Later that day, Kojo and Sena went looking for him.
"We need to talk," Kojo said quietly.
Kwame looked at them with surprise.
"About what?"
"About yesterday."
They led him to a quiet corner of the hostel courtyard.
Sena spoke first.
"You should never have entered our room."
"I've already apologized," Kwame replied.
"I didn't know."
"We know," Kojo answered. "But something happened the moment you crossed the doorway."
Kwame frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
"Our ginnys..." Sena said hesitantly. "...they claim they took something from you."
Kwame stared at them in disbelief.
"What kind of joke is this?"
"It isn't a joke."
Fear crept into Kojo's voice.
"We didn't tell them to do it."
Kwame turned to leave.
"I don't believe any of this."
"Please," Sena pleaded. "Come back tonight. We must ask them to restore whatever they have taken."
Against his better judgment, Kwame agreed.
That evening, shortly after darkness settled over the campus, he returned to Room 14.
The curtains were drawn.
A single candle burned on the table.
Kojo and Sena stood silently beside it.
No one spoke for several minutes.
Then the whispers returned.
The flame flickered violently although there was no breeze.
Kojo closed his eyes.
"If anything has been taken," he said into the silence, "we ask that it be returned."
Sena repeated the words.
The room became still.
Moments later, both young men seemed to enter a deep trance. Their voices changed, and they spoke words Kwame could not understand.
Whether they were prayers, chants, or something else entirely, he could not tell.
The ritual lasted only a few minutes.
When it ended, Kojo collapsed into a chair, breathing heavily.
"It is done," he whispered.
Kwame looked from one roommate to the other.
"What exactly happened?"
Neither answered.
They simply looked exhausted.
Kwame left the room more confused than when he had entered.
That night he could not sleep.
Questions raced through his mind.
Had he imagined the strange atmosphere?
Were the two roommates playing an elaborate trick?
Or had he stumbled into something far beyond his understanding?
Unable to bear the uncertainty, he reached for his phone.
He called his father in the Volta Region.
"Dad..."
His voice trembled.
"I need you to come to the university."
"What has happened?" his father asked.
Kwame hesitated before answering.
"I entered a room I should never have entered."
There was silence on the other end of the line.
"I'll leave at first light," his father replied calmly. "Whatever has happened, we will face it together."
As Kwame ended the call, he looked toward the hostel block where Room 14 stood in darkness.
He had hoped the day's events were over.
He was wrong.
The arrival of his father would uncover a truth that no one at the university was prepared to confront.