Short Story: THE THIEF OF THE NIGHT

This story is based on the poem "THE THIEF OF THE NIGHT". Click  goo.gl/LRyVZa to download the poem

TO begin with, Asare was a weird fellow; there is no doubt about it. He had only one friend who was also as weird as him; there is also no doubt about that too. The only doubt people had about him (Asare) was whether he was human or ghost.

People asked this question because he built his house at the graveside and was in the habit of visiting the cemetery at night placing roses on every tomb he saw. People used to say they saw him talking to “unseen” spirits and perhaps that was where he belonged. I used to think so till the ghost in the graves decided to return his visits.

The spirits visited him on the eve of Christmas, with the view of celebrating the festivity with him. He was the only friend they had, he had been bringing them roses and had been telling those stories about how nice ghost were. They didn’t inform him of their intended visit; no, not at all, they wanted it to be a surprise; something that will make him happy.

So as usual, after he had come to visit them and brought them roses he left. On the entrance of the graveyard he blew them a kiss and said “See you soon”. Immediately he turned his back to the road, he heard a reply “See you soon”. He turned to see if he could find the person who responded but quickly assured himself “Oh, it’s just an echo, let me get to the house.”

Surprisingly on that day, no matter how hard he tried, sleep still eluded him. It was as if they had become arch-enemies. As he was lying on his bed, he heard leaves fall from the tree he had planted in front of his door. Due to his insomnia, he decided to take a walk around his house. He wore his shirt and put on a Knickerbocker shorts but as he was about to open the door, he saw a shadow pass by his window and he instantly became afraid. He leapt on his bed and covered himself with his blanket.

“Who are you, show yourself before I kill you. I have a gun, it’s in my wardrobe!”  He screamed. The reply was a ghastly laughter and a rogue response “Why would you even think of killing your friends?”

“Gyamfi, its 1 o’clock mid-night! Go home and come in the morning. What happened to your voice?”

“It’s not Gyamfi. It’s your friends from the graves”

“Stop this nonsense and go home” Before he could say more, the door had opened and there stood a monster; he was lanky and had no flesh on him, he had only three teeth and they looked as if they had divorced their brush. He wore ragged of clothes and had this ghastly smell which nearly choked Asare.

“Asare, aren’t you happy to see me? We came to celebrate the Christmas with you?” he greeted.

He began to shake and sweat. The ghost touched him and he became as cold as ice. He passed his hand on his chest again and said “You have a hairy chest. Reminds me of when I was alive. Although I am dead, I am so happy that I could die!”

“Please tell me what you want? I have a fat treasure hiding in an undisclosed land, will give it to you, please leave me”

“I have a feeling that we have offended you”

“When you say “we”, what do you mean?”

Instantly the door opened and more monsters entered and gathered round his bed. He looked at the clock in his room and it read 6:30pm. This was impossible! Its battery had run down.

He tried to recall a verse in the Bible to ward off the ghosts. Yet hard as he tried, it was as if his memory was blank. He thought “it was a dream, on the morrow, I will wake up and it will be over.” Hard as he tried to wake up to his defined reality, it seems there was no awakening. 

With all the strength in him, he shouted “Get away from me!”

It worked! He looked around and there was no one but himself! His clock was now working (apparently). The time read 3:00am and he was happy. Two more hours to twilight and he couldn’t wait to narrate his story to people but then he chuckled “Apart from Gyamfi, who is obviously not interested in ghost stories, who can now narrate this story to?”

There and then, he heard a knock on his door again, this one somewhat louder than before and he began to scream. The knocks however did not stop, it became incessant and a voice greeted “It’s Gyamfi, open the door, I have something to tell you”

“Go away, you ghost, don’t deceive me anymore”

The door opened and truly, Gyamfi stood in the doorway holding a dagger. The dagger looked vaguely familiar! It was that dagger they had used to slaughter the sheep when he was celebrating his birthday!

“Gyamfi, what are you coming to do?

“I am about to kill you!”

He blinked, he was petrified and this did not however stop Gyamfi. He came closer and closer with a devilish smile on his face and he raised the dagger.