A Small Village In Africa - 1992

It was evening, my favorite time of the day. The scorching hot sun has almost disappeared beneath the horizon, and a cool breeze swept gently through our village. I had been playing Catcher catcher - a game where one person who was 'It' tried to tag any of the other players who would then become It, and on and on. In the heat of play, I inadvertently went too close to the evil forest. But, instead of leaving the area like my parents always warned, I stopped and stared at it.

"I've caught you," Tunde said while tapping me on the shoulder - he was It. He took off immediately after, expecting me to chase after him. I don't. He notices this and tentatively walks back toward me. "Ike, you're it." Then he notices what I am staring at.

"Do you want to enter?" I ask mischievously, nodding toward the evil forest.

"No oh!" he refuses, shaking his head violently. I know that right now, all those countless stories our parents told him are running wildly through his head. Stories of horror, and murder. The reason this forest got tagged as evil. "My dad told me that if you enter it, the forest won't let you leave."

"How?" I ask. "Does it have a hand that it will grab you with? Or will the trees start moving to block your way? I don't believe it. I heard some of the older ones talking recently and one of them said they tell us these stories to scare us, and I believe him. I mean, how can a forest stop you from leaving it, it doesn't make sense."

"The spirits-" Tunde starts when I interrupt him with a snort.

"Rubbish, those are also lies. You know Uncle Ade fought in that war in… Britain... World War whatever. He said that there's no such things as spirits. That even juju is fake, and he has seen stronger stuff. Weapons that can destroy even this stupid evil forest."

"Ike, you're blaspheming the spirits. You know you're next in line to become Ifa's priest?"

I hiss. It would be over my dead body that I take part in a scam. Uncle Ade had opened my eyes to the truth of magic and the spirits, how the Priests used lies to deceive and extort us poor people. When I grow up, I am going to take his advice, get an education and travel abroad to live my best life. "I'll become Ifa's priest over my dead body."

Tunde is incensed. "Okay then, go and enter the forest and see if you will come out!"

He probably said that to cause me to chicken out, but he got one thing wrong. I am not scared of lies. I move decisively forward and take a few steps into the forest, my heart pounding as I do so. Even though I know the stories are lies, I can't help but feel the terror they originally instilled in me. In the end, after a few more steps I walk back out of the evil forest, hiding my fear with a triumphant expression. I had gone in and come out unhurt.

Tunde looked at me with eyes of disdain. "You think that's considered entering the forest? You didn't even go anywhere. Move in deeper and see if you can come out."

I turn back around and walk straight into the forest. Emboldened by my previous safe attempt, I walk deeper, far deeper into the forest than I did before. The moment Tunde is out of sight I turn back around and move back. This time, he wouldn't dare speak nonsense. A few minutes later I stop. Somehow, I have lost my way.

I begin to think, I definitely moved back toward the entrance but somehow, I had gotten back to where I left. Fighting the fear that is slowly building up within me, I think trying to figure out where I might have deviated. After a few seconds, I cross correct and begin moving once more.

A few minutes later I stop once again, this time I am close to tears. The sun has set, and a cold night's breeze has begun to blow, chilling me to the bone. I am totally, completely lost.

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I begin to panic. The night is dangerous here. In my village the adults have made things safe, but the same is not true for the forests. Things moved here, hidden within the underbrush, scorpions, various types of snakes - a few very venomous, but most disturbing are the big cats. Especially the leopards. The longer I stayed in here, the more danger I am in.

Fueled by panic, I move quickly and without purpose. First left, then right, then straight forward, trying desperately to find a way, any way out of this forest. But there is none. In the end, I sit down beside a tree and begin to cry.

Half an hour pass, I stop crying, feeling as though I had been drained of all emotion. It is at this point my senses finally return to me and I realize how stupid I had been. It had been drilled into me time and time again that if ever I get lost in a forest, I should stay still, instead of wandering about randomly like I had been doing. But now, I am going to do exactly that. I squeeze myself into the side of the tree and do my best to get comfy.

The moon is bright and full this night. Under its gentle light, I close my eyes and go to sleep hoping that nothing would attack me this night, and that the next time I open my eyes it would be to the sunlight and the sound of a rescue party reaching me.

* * * * * *

I open my eyes and blink slowly. It takes me a moment to realize that there is something very wrong here. I was not where I had fallen asleep. I had fallen asleep curled up against a tree in the middle of dense undergrowth, but now I am at the edge of a clearing, the full moon filling the space around me with a bright silver light.

My heart begins to pound. Who had moved me here? I look around in fear, but I am all alone. My breathing is picking up. I check the ground around me, there are no signs of footprints, or any disturbance for that matter. It is as if I had just appeared here, but that is impossible, right? Slowly, all the stories of spirits and evil I had previously been so dismissive about previously begins to fill my head. Could I have been wrong? Were they actually real?

I get up, my eyes now clear as I begin to look around the clearing. There is nothing much to find, except grass and other small plants. I am about to leave when I spot something almost completely covered by the grass. A stone of sorts. I move closer and a more careful inspection shows it to be the very top half of a small statue, the rest of it buried below ground.

The urge to dig it up is strong, but I hold it back. I have no idea how I came here, and the folktales I had heard since I was two all agree on one thing in situations like this. Don't touch things that might belong to the spirits, and this seems like one such things. Shaking off the feeling of unease that fills me the longer I stare at the statue, I turn away.

Once more, I am reminded of the predicament I am in. I am stuck in the evil forest, and something else seems to be here with me. Something capable of moving me while asleep without me becoming aware. I shiver as I stare into the darkness surrounding the clearing, but I gather up my courage. Something wanted me here, therefore it would probably be best to not be here.

Making sure to note the position of the clearing on the off chance I want to come back, I walk into the darkness of the forest trying to find the tree I had first slept on.

* * * * * *

An hour later I find myself back in the clearing. I had not consciously tried to come back here, but somehow, I had wound up coming back here. The worst thing is that I have no idea how I had ended up back here. I had chosen a direction and moved straight that way, wanting to make things easy in case I wanted to return, yet despite moving away from it, I found myself back here. A feeling of dread was beginning to grow within me. Could this be why no one who had entered ever came back out? Because the forest just kept them going in circles? Am I trapped here?

Despite the moonlight, I wanted nothing more than to escape from this clearing. As I turn away, I see something from the corner of my eyes. I turn back to confirm things. Yes, more of that statue was out of the ground than before. Something must have pulled it a bit out of the ground.

Terror fills me as I look around me, wondering who or what else is here with me. But I see nothing. I move closer to the statue and notice something curious, the ground around it had not been disturbed. Yet more of it was out of the ground than before.

A malevolent aura begins to fill the air around me, at this point I give in to my instincts which are screaming in terror and move as far away as I can from the statue, wanting nothing to do with it. The darkness of the forest is preferable to this.

* * * * * *

Once more, I find myself back at the clearing. The malevolent aura is stronger than before. This time I only spare a glance at the statue - like I expected more of it had come up - before rushing back into the forest. This time it is confirmed. I am not alone. Something else is here with me, and it is definitely related to that statue.

Moving back into the darkness of the forest I make sure to recall how long I had been walking before I reappeared at the clearing. Keeping that in mind I stop just before that time elapsed and sit down. If moving forward takes me back to that clearing, then staying in place should prevent that from happening. And this time, I will keep my eyes open till daybreak, that should prevent someone from moving me in my sleep.

* * * * * *

I didn't sleep. No one came. Yet somehow, I found myself sitting once more at the edge of that clearing. This time, the terror overcame me, and I burst into tears once more. I was wrong. There is no one else here. Just me, and whatever it is that statue really is. As expected, it had been raised once more.

The malevolent aura was growing stronger, but I don't move. I could die here, but before I do I want to know how that statue keeps raising itself. And so, with growing dread and terror I waited and watched. At some point I lose concentration, and the next time I pay attention it has been raised again.

How? Just how is this happening? I feel a ghostly touch on my right shoulder. My hairs stand on end, and I leap into the air, turning rapidly around. Nothing. Then I see a ghostly figure move in the corner of my eyes. I turn around trying to see what exactly is here with me. It is only after a few revolutions that I realize that I am chasing shadows and phantoms. Creations of my own mind. I am alone here. Still, I cannot chase away the terror I feel and so I head back into the comforting darkness of the woods.