Better left unknown

Source

There's a saying that a person who asks questions can never get lost. Well, I have come to disagree with that because some questions and curiosity can get someone lost or get someone into worse trouble.

I was the kind of person who liked to satisfy her curiosity. If for whatever reason I start to poke at something, I can hardly stop until I've satisfied my curiosity, but I learned to curb my curious self after an ugly experience that I try not to remember.

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I had just moved into a new neighborhood. I had a roommate before, but I decided to live alone, so I moved to a new lodge, which is the name for student apartments in Nigerian universities. I noticed that the occupants of the lodge were a bit weird and everything seemed very out of place so I made a mental note to look into everyone living in the lodge.
My room wasn't too big, but it was good enough for one person, but the light was bad, and I needed it to be fixed so I could comfortably live there. I went to the caretaker's room to complain about it, but I saw a warning note on his door "KNOCK 3TIMES BEFORE COMING INSIDE OR YOU'LL PAY A HEAVY PRICE."
I scoffed when I saw the note, and I stared at the door again, it was open, so I wondered why I'd need to knock thrice before coming into a room that was already open. As I tried to open his curtain, one of his neighbors called out to me.

"You better heed the warning." She said to me.

"I've already knocked. Do I have to knock thrice before he comes and fix my light? I've complained about this and he hasn't done anything about it. I need light now, and I won't stand here and play these silly games with you people." I responded with annoyance.

"I understand that you might be upset about the whole issue, but you still have to knock thrice before stepping a foot inside his room." The girl said.

"And why's that? Is that some kind of ritual? So if there's an emergency, we'll have to knock thrice on his door before going in to help him. Is that it?" I asked again.

"Everyone has their own rules, it's up to you to play by them. The room is his, so it's his right." She replied.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "I don't care about a bunch of psychopathic rules. I need my light fixed." I said to her and went back to my room, stomping my legs hard on the stairs.

The girl helped me talk to the weird caretaker, and my light was fixed. Since my problem had been solved, I should've just moved on and probably forgotten about the warning, but it kept bugging me, and I thought it a good idea to get to the bottom of his hideous crazy door rules, and I regretted it later.

---

It was a cold Saturday morning, and I had just returned from my weekend walkouts. I climbed the stairs, and my eyes hit my caretaker's room. I saw that the door was open as usual, and then the weird sign on his door caught my attention again. I should've shrugged my shoulder and moved on but curiosity got the best of me and before I could stop myself, I was already at his doorstep. I know I should've walked away or probably knocked, but I decided to take a peek and that turned out to be the wrong decision to make. I slightly opened the curtain, and shock froze me. It took some seconds to realize that I was screaming out loud; I saw the sharp movement towards me, and I shut my eyes, and when I opened them, I was in my room, on my bed with my neighbors staring at me with the look of concern on their faces. It dawned on me that I might've collapsed out of shock.

"What happened?" I asked one of them.

"Curiosity killed the cat. That's what happened. We were all told to knock thrice before opening his door, but you wouldn't listen." The girl scolded me.

"What are you even saying? There's a huge snake in that guy's room!" I shouted.

"Be careful so you don't faint again." A male occupant said to me.

I stared at their faces and saw that none of them looked bothered by the information I had just passed. It occurred to me that they were probably aware already that the caretaker had a huge snake in his room.

"That's his pet. I think he got it from his family for protection. It's part of their tradition, I guess." One of the neighbors explained.

"Whoa, so y'all live here comfortably knowing a snake is here with you? Don't you fear that it might harm someone? Isn't it creepy to have a huge snake in the same apartment? Oh my God!!!" I was so shaken and scared.

"It would've been better off if you hadn't been curious to know why the note was on his door. Now, you're the one who's suffering with fear and tremor." The male occupant said.

"You all are psychopaths. I can't believe I'm living here. I want to be alone; please leave my room." I said to them, and they obliged.

One week later, I asked for a refund, and I moved out of the apartment. My neighbors including the caretaker tried to dissuade me from leaving, promising that I was safe, but I couldn't agree with them. My fear for snakes couldn't let me, so I moved out and swore never to come close to the apartment again.