We were in the same class in high school, both boarders like the majority of Ghanaian students. During vacations, we lived in the same neighborhood. I saw Sabina almost every single day, and maybe that’s why I fell so hard for her. The worst part? I couldn’t tell her, and it was driving me crazy. I couldn’t tell anyone either, and the weight of it was crushing, but I tried to stay strong.

One day, Joe visited me and casually expressed interest in Sabina. "She’s your friend. Can’t you talk to her on my behalf?" he asked.

I said no—not because I couldn’t, but because I wanted her too.

“I’ll use charms on her if she doesn’t love me back,” Joe joked.

He was laughing, but I took him seriously.

“You believe in those things?” I asked, curiosity piqued.

“Oh, they work, especially the hair one,” he replied confidently.

“Which hair one?” I pressed.

“You get some strands of the girl’s hair and some of yours, tie them together with thread, and attach them to a dry chicken bone. Then you bury it in the ground. She’ll fall in love with you.”

That night, I didn’t chew my chicken bone. I carefully saved it and left it in my room to dry.

A few days before school reopened, I went to Sabina’s house. She was getting a haircut for school, so I offered to go with her. At the barber’s shop, I hovered around her, pretending to admire her haircut while carefully catching a little bit of her afro as the barber trimmed it.

“Won’t you get a haircut too?” she asked, smiling.

I shook my head. “I will tomorrow,” I replied.

That night, I cut a little bit of my own hair, mixed it with hers, tied them onto the chicken bone, and buried it in the ground.

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I waited. Three days passed—nothing. A week—still nothing. A whole month later, and Sabina was still the same. I was furious.

“Your charm doesn’t work!” I confronted Joe angrily.

“Who did you try it on?” he asked, smirking.

“I can’t tell you.”

Joe was understanding, though, and offered another solution. “You can try another one. This time, use an egg.”

He gave me some incantations to recite over the egg in the middle of the night and warned, “If anyone sees you, you’ll go mad.”

It sounded insane, but I was desperate. I bought a boiled egg and did exactly what he said. I was terrified someone would see me.

The next day, I handed the egg to Sabina. She happily ate it, completely unaware of the significance. And yet—still nothing happened.

Frustrated, I went back to Joe. He gave me another idea: “I know a good spiritualist. He’ll give you a bracelet, and as soon as the girl touches it, she’ll fall in love with you.”

The idea sounded promising, but there was a problem—how were we going to leave school to meet the spiritualist without getting caught? Getting exeat to leave school was nearly impossible.

Joe had a plan. “We’ll run through the school fields and escape. We’ll be back before dawn.”

It sounded dangerous, but I was willing to try anything for love.

So, one night, we sneaked out, running through the school fields and into the thick foliage beyond. Soon, we found ourselves in a dark forest. I’ve never been so scared in my life. My heart was pounding, and I wanted to cry.

“Joe, let’s go back,” I begged.

But Joe was determined. “I need that bracelet to get Sabina to love me,” he said firmly.

Tears streamed down my face as I heard the eerie screeching of owls. I was convinced some wild animal would attack us.

Then, out of nowhere, we stumbled upon a group of seniors and a few other guys we didn’t know. They were smoking in the bushes. The moment they saw us, they started chasing us.

We turned and ran for our lives.

“They’re going to kill us!” I cried, panic-stricken.

“Shut up and run!” Joe barked at me.

We sprinted back towards the school, terrified. To make things worse, we were almost caught by the housemaster while running from the seniors. Now, we had two groups chasing us—the seniors and the housemaster.

I started praying, begging God to save us. I made every promise I could think of to be a better person if we managed to escape.

Thankfully, we did. By some miracle, we made it back safely. The seniors, however, weren’t so lucky—they were caught and punished.

As for me? Sabina still didn’t love me. But here’s the thing: I don’t love her anymore either.

We’ve both grown up and moved on with our lives. She doesn’t know this story, but one day, I’ll tell her. I’m sure we’ll laugh about it together.