Restless Season 1

Story 1 year ago

Restless Season 1

The Body At Nura

29: 07: 2015

Location : El Deols, Anthanna, Africa.
Time: 15:17PM
Lutheran Hospital, El Deols.
The atmosphere in the hospital was cool and
calm. The tiled floor of the hospital shone
through the reflection of the bright lights from
the white bulbs, testifying to the diligent work
of the cleaners who took care of the floor.

The white painted walls and the medical calendars and postals on them added to the beauty of the hospital.

The Doctors and Nurses smartly
dressed in their white overalls and gowns went
about their responsibilities as quiet as possible.
But even with so much beauty seen in the
building of the hospital, no beauty was seen on
the faces of those at the reception except a few
whose cases were that of successful child birth.
In one of the wards at the Intensive Care Unit of
the hospital la!d a six feet two inches tall man.
Even in the hospital bed, the features of his well
built muscled body was a sight to behold. In his
state he was a perfect description of a sleeping
lion, his facial expression even in
unconsciousness was enough to send chills
down the spines of a common man. His fist
which was used to being tightened for fist fights
had difficulties straightening even in that state.

The medical ventilator machine was placed
beside his bed and the tubes were connected
into his body, helping to keep him alive in his
unconscious state. On the thirty first day of
March 2015, his body was taken out from a
body bag dropped on a rock in the Nura River.


31: 03: 2015

Location: Nura Village
The darkness of the night was gradually
approaching and the scorching effect of the sun
had totally given way for the coldness of the
evening. The trees and leaves were dancing
happily to the rhythm produced by the rushing
wind while the insects and other bush animals
could be seen coming out of the places they had
hidden themselves to escape the harshness of
the sun.

It was Sheila and Tom’s second day on their
visit to Nura. Sheila who was working on a
project which involved studying human
behavior in relation to their environment had
chosen a rare place, Nura, to be her case study.

Tom her boyfriend had been forced to
accompany her to Nura on the planned five days
visit.

Tom, Sheila and Osey their tour guide stood on
a rock on the Nura Hill from where they could
get a good view of the flowing Nura River and
the vast field around it.

Sheila looked radiant and her beauty glowed
even under the evening light. She was a young
woman of twenty six. Perfect light skinned lady
with a beautiful oval face, beautiful lips and well
shaped chin. Her body was the perfect figure
eight and the complete definition of elegance.
Her long dark natural hair was well arranged
behind her and it stopped a bit after her
shoulder. She was tall for a lady, five feet seven
inches.

Tom was about the same height as her. He had
an handsome round dark face with a clean
shaven hair. His beards were neatly carved and
shiny dark. He was a bit darker than her but
less slender than she was. He was two years
older than her.

Osey the tour guide was taller than the two but
had a rather ungraceful slenderness. The back of
his head seemed flat and his standing posture
was almost bent. He stood by Sheila’s right
while Tom stood at the left.

“I’ve heard so many distasteful things about this
river, I don’t know how true they are.” Sheila
remarked as she looked towards the River from
where she stood.

“I’m afraid those things you heard may be right
ma’am, no one goes to the Nura River, it is a
very dangerous one, even though it looks like a
beautiful view from above. In its beauty lies it’s
deceptiveness,” Osey replied her.

She turned her face to him after thirty seconds,
all the while her eyes had been on the beautiful
view below. “Tell me why it is considered as
dangerous, it doesn’t look dangerous in any way to me.”

“That’s because you’ve not seen it in its
dangerous times,” Osey replied and then looked
away to the river water flowing gently. “Some
times, it gets mad and begins to flow
abnormally, it becomes so destructive then.”

Sheila looked at the man’s face again, trying to
understand what he meant. She thought he
could be talking about the wet season when
there was abundance of rainfall resulting in the
increase in quantity and velocity of water. If
that was the case, then the people of Nura were
only been troubled by their ignorance and
illiteracy.

“When do we go back to the lodge?” Tom asked Sheila.

He seemed not to be enjoying the
conversation, all he wanted was to get back to a
comfortable bed and take a good rest.
“Shortly Tom,” Sheila took a brief glance at him.

He was staring at her expressionlessly. She held
him by the arm and wrapped her fingers around
his. She let out a breath. “Tom, this place is
beautiful, if the people of Nura would only
realize, it could became a place of attraction to
the world.”

“It’s a waste of time to make them believe so,
they are already so convinced that it’s a curse to them and nothing can make them change their
mind.

So I suggest we just focus on our reason
for coming here, instead of making them see
what they would not see,” Tom shrugged as he
replied her uninterestingly.

“But don’t you think all they need to have a
better view of this beautiful gift of nature is
more information and exposure?” Sheila asked,
looking into his eyes.

“It’s a waste of time Sheila, civilization may
never get here till the twenty second century,”
Tom answered. “What we need to do is leave
now, it’s late.”

At that moment, a heavy wind swept across the
land and blew cold moist air on their bodies.
“I think he’s right ma’am, we need to leave
here. When the wind starts moving like this, it’s
a bad sign for those it meets up here.” Osey
spoke.

“Bad sign?” She turned to him, shaking her
head. The people of Nura never ceased to
amaze her with their superstitious beliefs.
“Yes, it could mean something wrong is about to
happen between the two of you.” Osey replied.
“We have to go away from here now before the
wind blows more evil in this direction.”

Sheila turned her face to Tom who was already
nudging her. “Let’s go Sheila.”

She turned again to have one more view of the
beautiful place. Her eyes hovered around in a
brief glance, she almost turned before she
noticed something. Three men were now at the
bank of the river, they had a big bag with them
and it seemed to be containing something
heavy.

“Hey, look here. I thought you said nobody
comes to this river,” she called Osey’s attention.

Osey who had already turned turned back again
immediately. His eyes followed in the direction
she was pointing him. He squinted on seeing the
men at the bank of the river.

“Those men are dressed like strangers,” Osey
voiced out softly, staring more intently.
“Of course, they have to be strangers,” Tom put in.

“But…” Osey frowned as he squinted more
deeply. He moved from his position and turned
to where Tom was standing. “They are
discussing in our dialect,” he added as he began
to walk carefully down towards a huge stone.
He hid behind the stone and peeped at the men
from there.

It was still from a very far distance but the
echoes of the sound through the air and the
loudness of the men who were unaware of the
presence of people around enabled him catch
some of their words.

Tom and Sheila soon joined him. They stood
behind him, their bodies completely hidden
behind the big stone where they could not see
the men from.

“Who are those men?” Tom asked. “That thing on the ground looks like a body bag.”

“Shhh…” Osey turned briefly to hush Tom,
placing a finger on his lips. He turned back to
continue listening.

After almost a minute of waiting impatiently,
Sheila stepped forward, wanting to have a look
at the men again but mistakenly put her feet on
the wrong place and almost slipped on the slopy
rocky ground but she held on to Tom who
grabbed her and drew her closer to himself.
Osey quickly pulled back his head as two of
them men looked up from where they were. He
looked briefly at Sheila and moved closer. “Are
you alright madam?” He whispered.
“Yes, she is perfectly fine.” Tom replied him.
Osey took a cursory glance at her again before
going back to his position, he listened for some
seconds before he began to peep again. Soon,
two of the men dragged the body bag they had
with them into the river and dropped it. Part of
it extending into the water while a major part
la!d on a rock. The men glanced at it for less
than ten seconds before they turned and made
their way out of the place. They were sure it
would never be discovered.

“Be careful Sheila,” Tom was saying to his
girlfriend when Osey looked back again. Sheila
was trying to peep again, Tom had tried to stop
her but as usual she prevailed against him and
made her way to Osey’s side.
She moved further and saw the men already
leaving without the body bag they brought. She
turned to Osey hoping to get more information
from him.

“We have to get out of here now,” Osey
muffled.


“Who are those men?” Sheila asked him. She
wasn’t going to leave without knowing what
happened.

“Those men are dangerous, I think two of them
are natives of this town but they stay very far
away. They put someone in that bag, I’m not
sure whether he’s dead or not. They’ve placed
him in the river and are sure no one would ever
find his body because nobody comes to the
river.”

“Oh God!” Sheila gasped. “And is it true that he
would not be discovered.”

“Yes, no one comes here but by tomorrow
morning, the body would have been devoured
by the dangerous birds.” Osey replied.
Tom flashed a quick look at her and shook his
head. He knew what type of woman she was
and he wasn’t ready to support her to do what
she was going to ask.

“We have to help that person,” Sheila voiced
out breathlessly. “We don’t know, maybe he or
she is alive.”

Tom was already expecting her to say so, he
squinted his eyes at her. “You’re crazy Sheila,
we will do nothing of such!”
She looked away from Tom and stared at Osey,
hoping to get some encouragement but Osey
had a sad look on and was shaking his head in
support of Tom.

“I’m sorry ma’am, we can’t go near that river,
and those wicked men may come back again.”
Osey said.

Sheila peeped again towards the river, she knew
Tom was not going to agree with her easily but
she was also not ready to give in. Her eyes
scanned for a suitable passage to the river from
the rocky hill. She could barely see as the
darkness had grown thicker, she only had an
option which was going back halfway the route
through which they came through and turning
into the route to the river which Osey had
showed them.

She turned swiftly and put on the torchlight of
her phone, she began hurriedly towards the
route, half running and half walking.
“Sheila! What do you think you are doing?” Tom
asked, even though he was sure of what she was
up to. He followed after her immediately but
she did not wait for him. “Sheila, Sheila!” He
shouted after her.

“Shhh…” Osey ran after Tom and cautioned
him. He held him by the arm, “Please, don’t
shout, those men may hear our voices and
return.”

“Sheila! Sheila!” Tom continued to call in a
muffled voice but she did not respond.
She continued moving for more than a minute
before Tom caught up with her. He held her by
the wrist on one hand and turned her to himself
by the waist with the other hand.
“Sheila, what is wrong with you? Don’t you
realize that this is not El Deols where you can
help people freely, you may get into trouble or
loose your life if you try to help someone here.
Remember Osey has warned us not to get close
to that Nura river.”

Sheila stared at his face in fury, wondering why
he would not support her to help rescue
someone who could be dying. She knew well
that he did not believe in all the superstitious
beliefs Osey had told them.
“You don’t have to come with me, I’ll take the
risk alone.” She said and wriggled her hand off
his grip. She proceeded on to the river.

She got down the hill down to the river after a
few minutes. She stared intently at the water for
a moment and began to roll her sleeves.
“I’ll come with you,” Tom said grudgingly from
behind.

Sheila did not wait for him, she stepped on the
first stone in the river and carefully jumped to
the next. She stared at the body bag from her
position. She noticed that the men who brought
the body had been too lazy to take it into the
deep part of the water, they were possibly
confident that it won’t be discovered easily or
probably didn’t care if it was discovered or not.
In five minutes time, Tom and Sheila had been
able to take the heavy body bag out to the dry
ground while Osey watched them from a
distance. He dreaded the river and he wouldn’t
take the risk of moving closer, if he had not
been there and seen when the bag was placed
there, he and some of the other villagers would
have concluded that it was a load put there by
the evil spirits from the water.
It was dark already but the moon was out fully,
providing as much brightness as it could to the
Earth. Tom and Sheila clothes were wet to the
waists because they still had to enter into the
water to take out the body bag.
Tom took out a tiny source of light and pointed
at the bag as he squatted to open the zip. He
opened slowly and carefully until the zip got to
the end. He got up and stared at the lifeless
looking body from above.
Sheila quickly placed a knee on the ground to
check the body, she had some knowledge on
first aid. She noticed the holes and blood stains
in the huge man’s belly and shoulder, she could
tell that they were bullet wounds.
“I think he’s not dead yet,” she announced.
Tom stared at her face doubtingly, those were
the last words he was hoping to hear from her.
The man looked dead and without life to him.
“We need to get him to the hospital,” Sheila
added.

Tom sighed. He knew it was going to get to that.
“Do you know this man?” Sheila asked, directing
her question to Osey.

Osey was still watching from a distance. He
knew she was talking to him but could not
respond immediately because the face of the
man could not been seen clearly from where he
was. He moved closer, slowly and reluctantly.
“I don’t know him,” he stopped when he got to the safest closest distance from which he could
see the man’s face. “I don’t know him, he’s certainly not from here, I heard the men saying he cannot be recognized even if he was seen
before the vultures eat up his body.”

“We have to get him to the hospital right
away,” Sheila insisted, staring at Tom’s face for assistance.

Tom sighed. He was reluctant to help the
stranger in the strange land but he knew that he
had no choice since Sheila was bent on getting
him to the hospital.

“You know this may disrupt our real purpose
for coming to Nura right?” He said softly, trying
to make her have a rethink.

“That can be done any other time, we have to
save this life first.” She insisted.

PRESENT
Location : Lutheran Hospital, Deols, El Deols.
“Daddy!” The screams of a little boy echoed
loudly in his mind.

He was still physically motionless in the hospital
bed but had just gotten awake in the mental
realm. He could see the face of the scared little
boy in the dark night, screaming and struggling
for help as he was being carried away forcefully
by the masked men.

He saw himself being held on both sides by
hefty men, his eyes were bloodshot as he
struggled to no avail to free himself from the
grip of the men. His body was unexplainably so
weak that even though the men’s grip was not
so firm, he couldn’t still get away.

“They’re taking us away, do something honey!”

A woman screamed in horror as she was being
dragged away on the floor helplessly.

The pictures disappeared for a moment and he
could only hear shouts and screams. It was like
a dream but seemed real.

He saw again flashes of other scenes in his mind,
a small house was blazing in flames and loud
screams could be heard which got deadened
after seconds. His mind went blank for a
moment and his eyes opened gently. Four
months after wandering in the world of
unconsciousness, he was able to breathe again
on his own.