Must Read: Shadows

Episode 7 years ago

Must Read: Shadows

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

10:47am Thursday, 12th, 2015
Helen: So tell me Mary, have you been able to convince your broke boyfriend to go to camp with us?

Mary: Excuse me…..! Don’t call me boyfriend broke, okay?

Helen: Haha! Is he not broke? I wonder what you find in that guy.

Halimat: Well…. he’s good looking

Helen: Na fine boy we wan chop? Ordinarily to make new hairdo, he couldn’t give you money for that.

Mary: Why should he? I still have a father remember? I don’t think i need a guy to take care of me when i still have parents.

Helen: Really? Does your father sleep with you?

Any Man that wants to sleep you has to take responsibilities.

Halimat: Kai! Is everything about s*x to you?

Helen: Don’t start with your islamic preaching abeg! Anyways…. everything is about s*x to me, that’s the reason I’m going to the camp to begin with.

Mary: Haha! Helen! I hope s*x doesn’t kill you one day.

Halimat: Abi o.

Helen: It’s better than being shot, stabbed or in an accident! If s*x is gonna kill me, so be it!

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

Daniel: What do we do now?

Moji: Oh my God! We have to leave right now!

Temmy: What about him? (Points to the corpse)

Emma: What the hell do you mean “what about him”? Do you wanna stay here and eat him?


Temmy: But we can’t just leave him here! For crying out loud!

Emma: Okay then! Let’s have a wake-keep for him, then an outing ceremony! Wrap him in a cloth and bury him. Is that what you want dummy??

Temmy: (hissed) Don’t call me a dummy!

Emma: Then stop acting like one

Daniel: Hey! Watch the way you talk to her!

Emma: Oh! I didn’t know the dummy has a guard dog too!

Mary: (crying) Stop this now! What’s wrong with all of you? This isn’t the time to fight and argue with one another, Okay ?

Temmy: Why not? It looks like the more we stay together, the more tragedy befalls us all.

Mary: You think you’ll survive 5 mins out here without us?

Temmy: Yes am sure!

Mary: Good! Go your way then.

Uche: Shut up both of you! Shut the hell up!

Lanre: (Sighs) Let’s move guys. The hunter
made a moved towards this direction (points to the east) before he started coughing. I think it should lead us out of this horrible place.

Daniel: Good idea! I can’t stand here near a dead body and watch two girls argue with eachother. Can we move already?

They began walking in the eastern direction.

They were all trying hard not to look at the dead body on the ground. No one said a word.

When they were out of sight and far away from the body. Someone came out of the bush close to the corpse on the ground, covering it with a white cloth and dragging it away.

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

3:05am ….

They’ve walked for five minutes and had not said a word to one another. All of a sudden, Emma started giggling to himself. At first, no one seemed to care what he was up to. But when his laughter became louder, they stopped to look at him….

Daniel: I think he has finally lost his mind.

Uche: Can you blame the guy? What we have all seen can drive someone nuts.

Emma: Hahahahaha….. Guys…. what if this all whole thing was just a dream? What if some idiot among us ate too much, falls asleep and is dreaming all these? And when the idiot wakes up, everything will get back to normal.

Temmy: I wish that is true. Maybe we’ll all wake up and discover all these were nothing but a nightmares

Uche: Do i need to punch you guys again to remind you all that this is real?

Moji: Uche! How come you’re the only one so sure this isn’t a dream?

Temmy: I wonder oh

Moji: You were also very quick to tell Daniel we’re not high on any drugs. Tell me, do you have something to do with all these?

Uche: What? Are you kidding me right now?

Daniel: Just answer the question man!

Uche: Damn! So now I’m being suspected of having something to do with this because I’m the only one reasonable enough to be in tune with reality?

Moji: It’s more like you’re so certain of this

Uche: And that’s why you think i have something to do with it? Why can’t you ask Emma? At least, he is the one that was shouting “We’re all going to die on this trip” right from the start.

Emma: Haha! Don’t turn this all around on me o! Everyone knew i was joking.

Uche: Really? Were you?

Lanre: Guy……Guys….Wait!

Uche & Emma: What?!!!!

Lanre: Where is Halimat?

Everyone looked around, Halimat was nowhere to be found.

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

She had snuck away from the group while they were talking to that hunter guy. She still blame herself for Timothy, so going back to the cabin might be a good idea.

What if Timothy is still alive, they should have waited, they could have but the others ran off leaving one of them behind.

How can Allah forgive her for what she did? She opened the cabin door and now one of them was taking by the shadow. She has to go back.


Halimat traced her way back to the cabin, though the ground was unusually dry, it just rained for crying out! “Allah is great ” she thought to herself.

Halimat heard a crack behind her, looks like someone had stepped on a stick that broke, she looked back but saw no one. She could feel the hair on her hands rose. She gave a deep sigh and started walking faster than before. The footsteps behind her got faster too.

She didn’t look back, she kept going, saying a short prayer in her mind.

By the time she got to the spot where the cabin was, all she saw was a tree
She walked around the tree in amazement, totally bewildered by what she was seeing. So the cabin wasn’t even real to begin with.

There was nothing left to do than run back to the group. She turned around and started walking back.

She heard the footsteps behind her again, this time, it was even closer to her than before.

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

Uche: i still don’t understand why we have to go back and look for that religious fanatic of a girl.

Lanre: I’ve explained things to you man! We can’t just leave anyone behind. She’s one of us too.

Moji: She blames herself for what happened.

Uche: Good, she should! Because of her stupidity and stubborness, we lost my good friend

Emma: Look Uche! We all voted to come back and get her, if you don’t want to come with us, you can stay here.

That calmed Uche down a bit.

Lanre said a little prayer in his mind, knowing their chances of getting out alive gets slimmer as the day breaks. He looked over at Mary, he knew he must protect her with all he has, even if that meant losing his own life.

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

The footsteps behind had stopped for a while now but somehow it felt someone was watching. She walked real fast, faster than she had ever walked all her life.

Suddenly, it came again! The movements behind her and so she started running, hitting her legs on stones anf sands in the process but that didn’t matter.

This has gone beyond suspicion, someone was really behind her, chasing her and catching up on her.

The person ran into a tree she had barely dodged. She heard the thud as the person fell to the ground but before she could catch her breath, the person must have got up almost immediately because he/she was chasing her again.

She looked up and saw them, Lanre and the rest of the group, a few distance from where she was. She saw the torch Lanre was holding, the only source of light they had. She must have went off the path while she was running, that’s why instead of running into them, she was adjacent where they were.

There was only one thing left to do, she has to call out for help. She had gain a few distance when the person that was chasing her fell to the ground but now she felt it’s presence closer to her than ever.

She opened her mouth to shout but the hands grapped her, spinning her off to the ground in a thud.

But she wouldn’t give up easily , she started crawling away. when she caught her breath, she tried calling again.

Halimat: Hhhheeel……

Her attempt at shouting was cut short though, as the hands grabbed her again and covering her mouth and nose.

She twisted real hard but her strenght was no match for the person. she spun around and caught a glimpse of her attacker.

Her eyes widened as she recognized who it was but it was too late for her as the knife pierced deep below her navel sending shock waves all round her body . Her hands felt cold and her face became pale as her breathing got real slow.

The last thing she saw was the ray of light coming from Lanre’s torch just tens of feet away….. she took her last breath.