Read 'What Happened in the Forest' by Ahmad Abdullah

Ishola descended from the hill, facing a stretch of rainforest that will soon consume him. The path was deserted and he struggled to pick the outline of any human when he paused to look back. His mind wandered over different scary things. His little home lies some kilometers beyond the forest and for reasons that were beyond him, this was the first time he was caught on the road beyond 12 am.

The moment he strode into the border of the forest, Ishola knew he was in a different world. The path was so cool and the breeze whistled as if it were alive.  He was welcomed with a chorus of different sounds from animals. Amidst this venture, his ears picked up a very distinct sound, a giggle, and in fact, it was giggles of a human. He became slightly excited and the giggling became more prominent until it stopped abruptly.

Ishola froze without knowing he held his breath. He was aware that a pair of eyes was scrutinizing him from head to toe. The feeling felt like a heat wave that centered on him. All the manly hairs he never knew he had became raised like millions of pins across his body.

His ears were twitching but the breeze began to howl and somehow all other sounds were filtered off. He could feel that a message was being relayed to him as the breeze mingled with the trees and he could feel the tree’s dancing, almost as if they were envying him.

He summoned the courage to tilt his head towards where he felt the intensity of the gaze and quite befuddled, staring back were two bright eyes focused intently from a child about the age of seven clutching in his hand an object. ‘This cannot be Egbere (a yoruba legend claims anyone who can wrestle away its mat will become extremely wealthy), he muttered to himself while he racked his brain for more memories of the tales about this creature that his mother had told him about.

The child walked out majestically obviously throwing all caution into the wind. Ishola’s heart raced and pounded so hard that he wondered how he managed to continue witnessing the whole event. He was generally fearless and it also helped that he was good at wrestling. He had particularly honed on this latter skill because he daydreamed it might come in handy should he have the good fortune of coming across this mythical creature someday.

The mythical creature walked up to him and the first thing he noticed was how it began to grow taller with every step it took until they were the same height by the time there was only about 2 feet of space between them. His body glowed with incandescent luminance and it was bald.

He swallowed hard on his thick saliva and the act failed him because his mouth was dry. He didn’t know what to do but somehow he knew this ordeal will define him.

‘What are you doing here?’ Egbere asked in refined English. Ishola was caught off guard for it never occurred to him that a conversation will be needed.

‘I am…I am…jus…ehrm… just go-going home’, he stammered. The ill of stuttering befell him from a very young age and this was one moment that he really wished he could articulate his speech without any hindrance.

You..u..ar…go-going home?’Egbere mocked, splashing a set of white dentiture in the process.

Nothing infuriates Ishola more than when he’s being mocked. Everyone that knows him is aware of this cardinal rule. He wanted to talk but held his tongue. He tried to channel his anger towards his fist but the mythical creature’s gaze trailed his emotions.

‘Eee- eee-sho-ssho—laa ee is aan-nnn-giry ooo’ it mocked again, moving the face closer to isholas’ to such an extent they could feel each other’s breath. One was warm while the other was cold.

Ishola looked at what the creature was clutching in its hands but saw nothing. He was disappointed. He expected to see a mat just as the stories he had heard foretold. The stories had also said the creatures were notorious and loved to fight. He was mulling over what to do when he saw that the mat was wrapped around the creature’s waist. It was then it occurred to him that the creature had mentioned his name.

‘aa-aaw di di diiiid youuu uuu no my nay-nayym’ ishola asked emphasizing his irritation. Before he got an answer, something looked vaguely familiar about the creature and he involuntarily rubbed his eyes with the back of his palms to make them see clearer.  He peered closer and realized all of a sudden that he was staring at one of his classmate, gorimapa.

The ease that visited ishola was quite palpable. He began to laugh so uncontrollably that he discarded the entire unexplainable phenomenon that had awed him earlier.

Knowing that Ishola could now discern she was a girl, Gorimapa probed almost apologetically ‘I suppose you want to take my mat?’

Ishola regained his composure and scratched his head. Somehow he felt someone was playing a very expensive trick on him. He stared at the creature now and he could see her in greater detail, the gorimapa he always made fun of. Gorimapa sat two chairs away from him and was always staring at him.

It made him quite uncomfortable because she was breast-less and had had several bouts of lapa-lapa (tinea capitis) that had mowed her hair. Every boy made sure she never came close and he resorted to mocking her with the other boys when he noted her persistence to stare at him.

‘I just came to drop an offering at the iroko tree and babalawo said anybody I meet is going to be my husband,’ gorimapa blushed and continued, ‘so if you take my mat, you will have to have sex with me but you will also become rich.’

Ishola looked incredulous, he tried to talk but his stuttering will hinder the potency of what he wanted to say. Choice-less, he just hissed and walked away.

Ahmad Abdullah, AKA Ahmad Holderness is a medic and a writer who is about to be published. He is the director of Home Of Book foundations that seek to help Nigerian youths to read and write better. His writings can be viewed at and you can follow him on instagram at @home_of _books_foundation

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