Eating, sleeping, fighting, gossiping, watching television and laying around were her hobbies. One thing she never seemed to ever get right in her life was waking up early and doing chores.

Her name was Ngosa. Despite being sixteen she acted like a toddler. Troublemaker her friends would call her. She loved lazing around all day. Nothing ever seemed to matter at all. The world she lived in consisted of carelessness. There is no way I’m ever going early to school she thought to herself. But just then her friend Mutinita appeared. Ngosa called her Tinta for short. The girl was so very different from herself and people wondered how two people who had such different personalities got along so perfectly.

Tinta successfully convinced her friend to go to school, but Ngosa was not one to just give in, she made sure to give her friend a rough time. They made a deal that after math period the two would bunk school and that they would go somewhere — not just anywhere, but somewhere adventurous, mysterious and scary.

Tinta agreed and after the second period at school the two girls bunked school and went out to explore. Tinta was frightened but pretended to be brave in order to prevent her friend from calling her a coward. Ngosa, or rather Miss Carefree has she called herself, led the way.

They ended up at an old building that looked like it had been abandoned probably because of ghosts. But Miss Carefree laughed out loud because she knew and believed ghosts didn’t exist. Entering the so-called ghost hotel, while holding a torch, Ngosa finally told her friend that this would be her hideout if she ever got into trouble. Tinta smelt a rat and thought Ngosa was surely up to something.

Tinta told her friend, “We had better head home, what do you think?”

“Okay,” replied Ngosa.

Taking their first step out of the building, they heard loud voices screaming and without giving it a second thought they ran like no man’s business. It was as though the girls left their skin behind and only their bones were running. Tinta even forget she was overweight and Ngosa forgot she was wearing high heels.

Racing to the nearest road the girls felt as though their hearts were in their eyes, as if about to pop out any second. Fortunately they found a deserted bicycle, climbed onto it and took off for approximately five minutes before the tyre punctured due to Tinta’s extra weight — she weighed three times the weight of Ngosa.

“Now what do we do?” asked Ngosa laughing at Tinta. Tinta too joined in the laughter.

While they rested under a tree, the screaming got closer. It appeared as though the screams were behind them.

“Now, I believe you Tinta, ghosts do exist,” said Ngosa in a panicked voice. They again, started running, but at a faster rate. But the loud screams followed.

Tinta looked at Ngosa and said, “The screams are coming from your bag.”

She immediately threw her bag but, Tinta was one not to give up easily. She opened the bag as Ngosa was shivering in fear and telling her, “Girl do you wanna die?”

Tinta replied that, “It’s better to die knowing than not knowing.”

Tinta continued to unzip the bag, she was shivering and sweating enough to fill a one litre container.

“What!” Tinta laughed loudly.

Ngosa was puzzled and scared. Getting closer to her laughing buddy she too joined in the laughter. But, what were they laughing at? It was just Ngosa’s phone that had an absurd ring tone of loud scary screaming ghosts. The two girls laughed at each other and then went home.

Each time Ngosa now hears her phone ring, she laughs and says, “It’s better to die knowing than not knowing.”

Ngosa is doing much better now. She’s hardworking, careful and never bunks school.

***

Tell us: Do you agree that it’s better to find out something, than not knowing anything at all?