That night was supposed to be quiet  until the lizard of destiny showed up.

It was around 11:45 p.m. in Queen Idia Hostel, and everybody was minding their business. Some girls were reading, some scrolling through WhatsApp, and one babe the ever-dramatic Kemi was on a voice call, telling her boyfriend sweet nonsense.

Then, it happened.

From nowhere, one big, brown lizard fell from the ceiling straight onto Kemi’s bed.

You’d think it was a lion the way she screamed!

“JESUS!!! SOMEBODY HELPPP! LIZARD!!!”

Before we could even process, she jumped up, wrapper flying in one direction, phone in another. The boyfriend on the call was just shouting through the phone, “Babe, what happened?! Hello? Hello??”

Within two minutes, half the hostel gathered in her room. Some came with brooms, others with buckets, one even brought insecticide like she was going to spray courage into the air.

The lizard was just there confused, trying to escape, probably wondering how it ended up in a war zone.

Then Sandra, our self-proclaimed hostel soldier, entered. She wore her bonnet like a helmet and shouted, “Everybody stand back, I’ve got this!”

She grabbed a broom, chased the lizard under the bed, and next thing we heard was:

“Ah! It’s running toward me! Somebody open the door!”

The door didn’t open on time. The lizard ran up the wall, Sandra ran out, and everyone scattered like fire drill. One girl even locked herself inside her locker section (don’t ask how).

After 20 minutes of screaming, laughter, and chaos, the lizard finally ran out through the window, leaving behind three broken buckets, one cracked mirror, and Kemi still crying, “I can’t sleep there again. That bed is cursed!”

For the rest of the semester, nobody let Kemi forget it. Anytime she started forming “hard girl,” someone would whisper, “Fearless warrior who fought the lizard of midnight.” 😂