CHAPTER 1: MADAM KOI-KOI

Mama Eluwa sat under the mango tree, waiting for the children to settle down. It was the full moon, and children were either seen playing games, singing songs, and dancing, or listening to tales from the elderly. After about ten minutes of noise-making and scooting around, the children finally settled down under the mango tree, facing Mama Eluwa.

"Good evening mama," they chorused in greeting.

"Good evening my children. Are you ready for today's story?" Mama Eluwa replies.

"Yes, Mama."

"Alright. Don't forget my rules. No sleeping during storytelling, no side talk. Remember to be attentive so you can give me your moral lessons. Understood?"

"Yes, Mama."

"Alright.

In this village, there was a school, the only boarding school in the area. The name of the village was Amaeke and the school, Federal College, Amaeke. There was this newly employed teacher whose name was Evelyn Ofor. Rumors have it that she was very beautiful and attractive. She always wore her signature wig, blood-red lipstick, and matching red high-heeled shoes to school every day. And whenever she walks, she sways her hips from side to side, making the sound _koi, koi, koi_. It was this sound she made while walking that made the students nickname her Lady Koi Koi.

Miss Evelyn was beautiful, yet deadly, she beat up her students at the slightest opportunity. She'd bang their heads on the wall, ask them to eat sand, clear their big field, stay turned upside down on top of a table, and do all manner of evil things to them. Her homework was a different story altogether. Not only it was too much for an average human, but she usually gave them research work to do when she knew that the students only relied on their textbooks: only a few could access mobile devices outside the school. And when she demands her homework, it must be submitted completely and accurately, or the offender will taste hell.

Things kept on moving in this manner: the children hating their teacher, the teacher brandishing more punishments, the students reporting to the headmaster, and the headmaster flagging it off like it's stupid. One day, the students planned to make Lady Koi Koi loosen up a bit. They decided that if they did something terrible to her, she'd let go of her ego a bit and be softer towards them. They thought of ways of achieving this goal: beating her to the pulp, pouring acid on her to destroy her skin, setting her house on fire, raping her. They settled for the last.

The children paid some hooligans to attack her on her way back from the Afor Ozu, the market day of the neighboring village. They told them the exact time at which she would be seen passing by and told them to do the job neatly so that there would be no cause for alarm. At a time when the moon began to appear high up, Lady Koi Koi was seen coming back with her filled shopping bags, when four men surrounded her and began to question her moving around at night. She got irritated, and dished slaps at their leader. But that was the last straw, because as soon as she did that she was whisked away by the men and sent to a deeper part of the forest, where she was waylaid and deprived of her most prized possession."

"Chai, pity." A girl in the audience said.

"When she was eventually allowed to go after some hours, she ran straight to her house and wept for a long time. She couldn't do anything or go anywhere anymore because she had been shamed and reduced, used as an object of satisfaction. The next morning, the familiar sound of clicking of heels wasn't heard in the hallway; Miss Evelyn wasn't sighted at school. Everyone was surprised because she was the most zealous teacher among all the other staff members, always coming to school even on the brink of sickness. On the second day, the Headmaster and some teachers decided to go to her house and see for themselves what happened to their Lady Koi Koi. But what they saw was devastating, gory, and horrible.

Lady Koi Koi was hanging from her ceiling fan, her clothes torn and bloody, her face bathed in dry tears. She was still wearing her red heels. 

On seeing that, after staring motionless and speechless for a while, the Headmaster went to call the Chief Priest of Amaeke to help bring the body down, as humans aren't allowed to touch the body of those who committed suicide because it is a taboo in Igboland. After giving her a proper funeral, on the College's premises, life in the College went as normal. The students who plotted Miss Evelyn's death became sorry for their actions and afraid, as they didn't think it'd end up that way. They kept the secret to themselves and tried to live normal lives.

Lady Koi Koi started her revenge not too long on the four hooligans that sent her to her early grave. She normally appeared in their dreams, frightening and torturing them. In the daytime, she usually

flogged them with koboko laced with tanjarawa pepper and gbogborise, leaving welts on them. The first ran into the water to seek protection, only to be drowned by the lady. Others who were haunted day and night for some time decide to end their lives. Then she turned her attention to Federal College. Her presence was characterized by the signature clicking of heels– _koi, koi, koi._ She usually haunted the children in the middle of the night, when they were asleep. She'd flog them with her cane, make them scream and shout in the dormitories, and in the day, scare them from their classrooms and make them run like mad people. She visited them in their every enclosure: class, dorm, toilet, market, road. They claimed to always see a shadow draped in black, with red heels, which they readily identified as hers. Thus Lady Koi Koi went about, carrying out her revenge on the students, and even for once visiting the Headmaster. The Chief Priest was then called upon again to help appease the spirit of the aggrieved lady. He then made some sacrifices, and Lady Koi Koi was gone for good.

This is the end of my story." Mama Eluwa concluded.

The children, who were listening with rapt attention, all simultaneously released breaths they didn't know they were holding. Some were scared from the take they just heard, others uneasy.

"What did you learn from my story today?" Mama Eluwa asked the visibly disturbed kids. They hesitated at first, but then a little boy spoke up.

"I learned that it is not good to be cruel. If Lady Koi Koi was not wicked, the students wouldn't have planned evil against her, and she wouldn't have died."

"Brilliant! Children, a round of applause for Emeka." The children clapped, and dome were driven to

answer.

"I learned that it is not good to accept a bad job offer. Those hooligans wouldn't have accepted to do that to her." A girl said.

"Alright. An applause for her."

"I learned that we should be dutiful and faithful to work like Lady Koi Koi was."

"Very good. Now, children, you have heard the story of Lady Koi Koi. Do you want to end up like her?"

"No," they chorused. 

"Then, be good people and abide by the moral lessons which you have learned from her story. And Chukwu will reward you and your efforts."

"It's already late, so children, start going back to the safety of your huts. I hope to see you on the next full moon for another beautiful story which I shall prepare for you. Good night children."

"Goodnight Mama."

CHAPTER 2: THE LAGOS MANEATER