Must Read: Shadows

Episode 7 years ago

Must Read: Shadows

The time was 4:30pm when they finally got to Igbo Alaye village. It was quiet and few oldies where seen, sitting in front of their mud houses, watching in amazement as the big bus pulled up in front of the kings palace.

Class rep: So…. guys! I’ll quickly run inside, tell king what we’re here for and get going .

Helen: Is that totally necessary?

Emma: ehn ehn…..It’s not, we’ll just come into their village and do whatever we like as if we own the place

Helen: i wasn’t even asking you, dummy!

The class rep and Emma went into the palace, 15mins later, they were out, accompanied by a few old men who clutched to the 1000 naira they all held in their palms like It’s their life savings.

The bus rode deeper into the outskirt of the village till they finally decided a spot in the forest. There were trees that stood top with branches and leaves blocking out the sun ray .

It was a lowland, few kilometers away was a river which they all decided would be their bathroom and pool . The boys set out to set the tents, they cleared the ground, clippped the tent to the ground, la!d a trampoline and they set the 12 Mattress. They named it “Damsels’ castle”. Another tent was set for the boys, “Knights’ Abode” and a third tent which they named “Common room” .

All the while, Moji, Temmy and a few other girls prepared a meal of Nigerian Jollof rice.

Lanre still sitting in the bus was lost in thought, he’s there already and he still doesn’t feel right about everything going on. There were laughters all around, the boys were throwing a ball around, some girls sat to gossip and couples were seen holding one another in tight embrace, everyone was having fun, everyone except Lanre.

Mary: Baby… you’re still here brooding right?

Lanre: No! I’m trying to reach someone at home so they’ll know we arrived safely.

Mary: It’s no use, there are no phone receptions here. Everyone out there have tried.

Lanre: Oh! I thought as much

Mary: Now you need to step outta this bus, you’re weirding everyone out. They’re already calling you a freak. Baby, you promised me you’d loosen up.

Lanre: I’m trying to Mary! I’m just worried about what happened on our way here.

Mary: You mean the cat guy? Forget it! The idiot was probably drunk from taking too much of palm wine!

Lanre: He looked quite serious to me! We shouldn’t have allowed him into the bus

Mary: Lanre, just stop already. This isn’t cool anymore, you’re freaking the hell out of me! We’re out here, all alone in a thick forest and instead of being a man and acting protective of your girlfriend and here you are, whining all day.

She stood to leave but Lanre held her and pulled her closer to him.

Lanre: Ok….ok…ooookay! I’m sorry honey…

I’m just over-thinking t his. Just gimme a few minutes and I’ll be out.

Mary: Okay… baby, don’t be long then.

Lanre took a deep breath, adjusted his shirt, said a short prayer and that’s when he saw it….. the shadow, loom
ing over the Female tent, it startled him,
the sun had already set so he had absolutely no explanation for it. He shut his eyes tight, took a deep breath, when he opened his eyes again, the shadow was gone.

***********************

8:30pm

They all sat in the “common room” tent after they ate, laughing, all 28 of them.

Timothy: Okay guys! Lemme tell you a joke.

Everyone cheered him along.

Timothy: A three-year old boy walks over to a pregnant lady at a bus stop .

“Why your stomach big so ?” – he asks.

“ I get belle…..I´m having a baby.” – she replies.

“Shey the baby dey your belle now now ?” – he asks, with his big eyes.

“Yes, it is.” – she says.

“Is it a good baby?” – he asks, with a puzzled look.

“Oh, yes. A really good baby.” – the lady replies.

Shocked and surprised, he asks: “Haha, If the baby na good baby….Why you con chop the baby na ?”.

Everyone laughed out loud.

The fun went on and on until it was time to sleep at about 10:40pm .

Class rep: I can see people are dozing off already, let’s go to sleep. Please and please….. I believe we are all adults here, so you know the rules… Boys in one tent, girls in the other.

Everyone left the common room tent, Guys in their tent and the ladies in theirs

*********FLASHBACK****** ***

Thursday, 6:30pm

John: I can’t do this anymore! We’ve been dating 3 months now and you keep saying the same thing, how long are we gonna wait before we do it??

Sade: John! If you truly love me, you’ll wait!

John: No! If you truly love me, you’ll do it!

Sade: Look! I’m not ready yet!

John: Well….if that’s the case, It’s over between us!

Sade: No John….please don’t do this to me

John: It’s obvious you don’t love me

Sade: No, i do. I really love you! I just wanna wait! You know I’m still a Virgin. What if we have s*x and then you leave Me??

John: I won’t leave you! I can go out there and get any lady i want but I’m asking you because you’re special.

Sade: (sighs) How are we going to do this? We both stay in the hostel remember?

John: The camp! When we get to the camp, we both can find a place and do it

Sade: Okay John… I’m doing this because i love you okay? We’ll do it at the camp then.

John: Ooooh sweetheart! The first night, when everyone has gone to sleep, you’ll excuse yourself that you need to poo or something, i’ll tell the boys the same and we’ll both meet and do it okay?

Sade: Okay! Good plan. Are you sure you love me?

John: Sure thing love! I love you

************************

Everyone had gone into the tents , 5 minutes later, John came out of the male’s tent, carefully tiptoed to the side of a tree. It took almost 10 minutes before he saw Sade coming out of the female’s tent. His heart leaped for joy! He is finally doing this, he had decided to date her just because of her big bossom.

The first time he saw her, he was captivated, it took a slap from one of his friends before he finally was able to take his eyes off her skirt. “

I have to put my hands on those booties” he had said to his friends and was determined to make it happen. But when she told him she was a virgin, he knew he had to go into a relationship with her for that to happen.

It’s happening tonight, he assured himself. He reached into his pocket and checked the condoms one more time. When she got close to him, he held her hands and led her deeper into the bush.

John has confidence in himself, he knows by the time he starts with her, she’ll be screaming her lungs out, shouting and m0an!ng. To avoid her waking people up, he went farther inside the bus .

They got to a spot, he cleared his throat and gestured her to start preparing. She slowly began to take her night gown off, he saw she was nervous but he didn’t care. He la!d her night gown on the ground and told her to lay down and spread her legs, she did as instructed and he smiled to himself.

He bent down to take off his shorts and then he saw it, the shadow, behind a tree, it stood looking at them, John waved at it but the shadow remained there, still looking at him, so he shrugged his shoulders, one of the boys might have seen them leave and followed them to watch and enjoy the show.

He bent over her and wore his protection. The hand came real fast, so strong and so precise, holding John’s throat from behind, he gasped and grasped all he could but it was of no use
Sade didn’t quite get what was going on, all she saw was the dark figure of a man with his arms tight around John’s neck. She wanted to call for help but she couldn’t.

The shadow’s hand got tighter around John’s neck and with a twist, the head came off, rolling on the ground towards Sade, the blood gushed out, wetting the grass in no time.

John’s headless body fell to the ground and his head rolled and stopped at Sade’s feet.

She screamed and started running in the dark, hitting her head and hands on trees and branches. When she looked back, the shadow was behind her, it made no sounds, it was practically floating off the ground.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry, shouting for help all the way. When she looked up, she saw their camp, the 3 tents stood Just a few feets away. Suddenly, there was hope, she’ll finally get some help she thought to herself but all hopes flew off when she felt the shadow grab her legs, sending her tumbling into the ground. She hit the floor with a thud and when she opened her mouth to call for help again, the hands came grabbing on her tongue and pulling it out. Her lifeless body was dragged into the bush by the shadow.

Back at the camp, everywhere was quiet, cool breeze blew above and everyone slept soundly and peacefully.