My Childhood Fears in a Creepy House: The Adventures in the Dark

Have you ever been afraid of the dark before? Like, really afraid?

This was one of the greatest fears I had when I was in primary school.

So, how do I start my story, ooh 🤔🤔🤔🤔.
Okay, let's start, he-he 😁😁.

When I was in primary school, we lived in Lagos. Our house was like a bungalow; we had 12 rooms, six by the left and six by the right, so a passage was at the center, and the kitchen and the toilets were at the very end of the passage. Something like this

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Every description is a way of saying that the house was creepy. In the evening, around four, people will still be outside; some will still be at their workplace, while others will be at home.

But when it is six o'clock, everybody will be in their respective rooms.

Around that time, my adventure started because it was the time when my housework normally started during the weekdays. You know, as the firstborn of the house, I had to uphold some responsibilities at home as my siblings were still very young then. So I'll go outside alone to wash plates in the dark. Then, we were using a kerosene lamp. So I'll have to carry the lamp outside to wash plates and sometimes clothes. When walking in the passage to the place I want to work, I had a great fear that kept lingering inside me; it was like someone was following me in the dark. I just had to summon the little courage I had to be able to walk through. There were times when I had to visit the bathroom with no one to follow me.

Sometimes at night, I hear creepy sounds like windows opening and closing slowly.

Most of the time, my body can't take it, and I'll run back inside to meet my dad. But you know what he always tells me:

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"Go back there; I want to see the thing that's pursuing you."

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Seriously, those words were like a cold sword piercing through my heart, because I thought he was not motivating me then; rather, he was like daring whatever it is in the dark to come and pick me. So, I was really scared, but I had to gather the little courage I had left to go back outside to do the necessary chores. Later on, I realized that those words were what made me face my fears in the dark.

All things being said,

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There were some lucky moments, but there were more of unlucky moments.

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The unlucky moments

Well, i can say that most of my time in the house were unlucky. But there was one notable moment.

There was a time we finished watching a Yoruba horror movie (I can't even remember the name of the movie, but it was terrifying), but after finishing the movie, I knew that I had outdone myself by watching the movie. So later in the night, after we'd finished cooking, I was asked to go to the kitchen to pick up the stove that we'd just used. The sounds of those movies were still playing in my mind. The moment I stepped into the kitchen, due to the breeze, the kitchen window opened slowly, and the door slammed at the back. Instinctively, I shouted and ran back, like something was pursuing me. That day, my father told me to go back to pick it up. Well, without any choice, I went back.

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The lucky moments

I had some lucky moments, like the day when there was light in the house; at least I'd see the surroundings, which boosted my confidence. Another one was when some of my neighbors stayed outside to chat. And some other moments. But those moments were rare and don't occur frequently in the house.

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Those moments in that house were one of the most traumatic moments in my life as a kid.

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Do you know the funniest part?

We stayed in the house for a very long time. We stayed in the house till I was 14. So as time went by, I had the courage to be able to move around in the house with little or no fear. But then I gained one notable skill.

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Vigilance 😄