Ollyfad: mynd wia art thou?

I am here

Pls na beg we dey beg.

Mynd_44:
I am here

update dis story na cobwebs don 2 mch hia o

An unnatural anger welled up inside him as the accusation that he caused his father’s death brought both shame and stirred up emotions within him that he had tried to hide for a long time.

He had a flash back of how his father had died: he did nothing, in fact he was sleeping and it had been raining outside, all of a sudden, a bolt of light ripped through the room from the roof and left a hole in his head. He had always blamed the gods for his death and denied his involvement even to himself because he had thought he had nothing to do with it but deep down he knew someone was trying to get to him and his father was the easy target.

The old witch too came into his mind but he could not see how it was his fault her initiates killed her sister or how it was related to him so he decided to find out.

“What happened? Why was the old witch, your twin, killed?

His eyes were looking away from the witch as he was busy looking around the room, it looked unorganized as the room of an old woman who lived alone normally was and there was a smell of stale air around but something else also was present in the room and that was power. The room had an aura of power around it as though it was a kind of strong room but he saw no charms around. No evidence that whoever lived there practiced witchcraft was seen.

He looked towards the witch and saw that she was still busy with her food and did not even make an attempt to answer his question about her sister and just as he was about repeating his question, she answered.

“Would you at least allow an old woman finish her food before you bury her with questions? I have prepared this food since and I really want to eat it well if you don’t mind”

To Ojoade, the question sounded both funny and annoying as she took the last handful of pounded yam and wiped the bowl of soup clean with it. She looked up, ready for him.

“The old mid-wife was a member and leader of a coven who delighted in punishing people for sins committed not just to them but to other people. Most of the time, they took revenge on new born babies of those they wanted to punish, by either killing them or making sure they cannot do anything useful in their life.

They get their powers from the infants and they grew merciless and also made them more evil and they were purged of conscience. But my sister always had second thoughts about killing the innocents, not that she did not have her share of murders but she did not like it. She especially did not like the fact that they used her position as mid-wife to carry out their acts and she spoke up on many occasions.

She tried to make them stop and helped people but even she had the blood of too many people on her hands and she still sought redemption from them. When her members started suspecting that she might not be carrying out her functions, they started putting other members into the coven so incase she defaults, someone will be available to carry on as they enjoyed the powers the death of the babies gave them. So when she decided to change for the good and there was nothing they could to change her mind, they decided it was better to do away with her before she could sell her thoughts and ideas to others”.

At this, she stopped a little to catch her breath and she got up to put her plates away as Ojoade kept his eyes on her. He did not trust people generally and he had a strong distrust for witches.

The old witch noticed that Ojoade had been looking around her room, obviously he was searching for the source of her powers and trying to see where her room was but she had it hidden from everyone but at this point, it did not really matter. Her time was going fast and soon she will pass on. She once thought of giving her powers away just before she passed on but she has seen too many mortals abuse powers and the thought of her powers been used for evil, just like her sister, did not make her think of that anymore. She had kept the room hidden and when she passes on, it will be hidden forever.

She noticed that as she told her sister’s story, her guest was looking around, she thought of the baby and knew he would be safe in her power room, if the room cannot be found, no one could take him from there and the baby is also her leverage against Ojoade as it is apparent that he wants the boy and he will be less likely to hurt her before he gets the boy.

Ojoade watched her take her sit again.

“So how is her death connected to me? It seems she had it coming with her coven before I arrived”

The witch shook her head.

“Don’t be so quick to assume young man, it was during the time she was trying to save you that she came across the goddess Oya and she turned good. It was at then, her coven decided they had had enough and they killed her”.

“So how do you feel about her death? You are her sister and I am sure you were pained when she died”.

The witch leaned back into the bed as she started to feel uncomfortable in her position.

“Yes she is my sister and I was pained but what could I do? I warned her to stop evil, not once, but she was too deep in it and if she had crossed my path, it would have been I who killed her and not them”.

This threw Ojoade back a little. She has spoke so lovingly of her sister all these while and now this change.

“But it still does not mean it is my fault she was killed, seemed like she deserved it”.

“True she deserved it but it was because of you, she changed and so it was your fault just like your mother, and your father too. I also fear for this child as I don’t know what happened in that forest and all those people who died there still makes you look suspicious. I know you did not kill them as they were not struck by lightning. I felt evidences of a fight there but I still want to know what happened and what brought the baby into all of this before I can decide on what to do with him”.

Ojoade was getting impatient.

“What makes you think I will answer any of your questions? I could just kill you and take the child away from you when you are dead”.


The old woman smiled and seemed to be more comfortable with the threat Ojoade threw at her.

“You could kill me but do you think I fear death? I have lived a long and fruitful life and my end is near but without me, you can’t find the child as he will go to someone else. I see you have been looking around my room looking for where I possibly hid him but only I can bring him out so it is pointless threatening me. So why not answer my questions and let me decide what to do?”

Ojoade told the witch about the creature he fought in the forest and how it had tried to devour the child and he saved him for it. He told her of how he had chased it but had to stop when he felt the fire and before he got there, the baby was gone. He told her all this while he watched her closely.

The witch on the other had felt his eyes watch her as he told the tale and she watched his heart to decide whether he was telling the truth or not and before he was done, she had already decided to give the child to him.

“He is of a noble heart” she told herself “but his powers are uncontrollable”.


When Ojoade finished his part of the event, he saw that the child was in the hands of the witch and sleeping peacefully. She carried the boy in his direction.

“I hope you will take care of him as you will your own son and make sure no evil befalls him”.

He collected the boy gently and walked out of her hut before transporting himself back home.

mynd! After your long hiatus you just decided to update eh! Mehn u gota let us out of the blind and finish ur tori na. Abegi! Anyway nice story.

Too short. after all this long wait. Abeg na...

Obinnau: mynd! After your long hiatus you just decided to update eh! Mehn u gota let us out of the blind and finish ur tori na. Abegi! Anyway nice story.

I am back and my focus is here once again

i forgot to tell u that there are some typos here and there, just read through and modify them.

Okay let's get this in

It has been twenty years since the incident in the bush and Ojoade’s encounter with the creature and the old witch. Twenty long years since Ojoade had taken a young and seemingly innocent baby into his arms and walked out of the house of a witch who passed into shadow less than 2 days after meeting Ojoade. At least when she died, he had consolation in the fact that he was not responsible for the death of someone else.

Ojoade had lived for the boy whom he grew up to call son and as much as he tried, he raised him up to be his son and even though they were not related by blood, he did all he could to make sure the boy was closer to him than any son he could imagine. He made sure the boy had the best education he could afford; both formal and informal, and he tried as much as he could to shield him away from his practice as a traditional doctor. To him, the old ways were dying and the new ones should be embraced and even he himself was beginning to embrace the western ways as he referred patients to the clinics which were springing up more and more. His house on the hills which was once removed from the village was no more separated as a gravel mining company moved close by and they brought workers with them who needed places to stay. The workers accommodation led to housing estates being built and with that, other small scale enterprises sprang up and Ojoade watched as nearby hills were blasted away, drilled and transported in trucks into the bigger cities to be used for construction. He once followed the trucks out of curiosity to where they were being used and he saw they were used to build more roads which in turn opened his village more.

He had to let go of his father’s old hut as the hut was leveled to build a road. He was offered compensation in form of money but he turned it down. He saw it as a necessary sacrifice to be done for the village to be opened up.

From his hill where his house sat, he watched this go on and did only one thing that bothered him, which was also the main reason he referred patients to the clinics, the plants and barks he used to heal were losing strength gradually and plants which usually cured an ailment in hours took days to work. Some plants lost all medicinal values while some plants just refused to grow for reasons he did not understand but he guessed it was due to the fact the place was getting more exposed and more and more spirits which he did not know existed were being disturbed from where they lived and expelled.

The development was fast and Ojoade knew that it would only be a matter of time before he loses relevance but one thing that never left him was the lightning and once a while, when the rains fall, he goes to where the boy or anyone could not see him and he lets off some bolts just to see if the power still resides in him.

He had never for once thought that the baby he took from his the witch might have a family as there was no way to explain to anyone that he found a baby about to be devoured by a creature of the dark ages and also explain how a bus filled with travelers were burnt in such strange conditions. Even in that time, he would have been handed over to the police or the village would grow scared of him and think he used them to strengthen himself so he kept the paternity to himself and never gave any explanation to anyone. People really did not also ask him where he got the child from. He was a man of secrets and the villagers were not interested in that at the time.

Raising the boy was hard but the witch had helped and made provisions before she died, she told her members that she blessed Ojoade with a child and they were to help him raise that child which they did. The baby was fed on milk gotten from wild animals even thought Ojoade objected. He was fed with wild herbs until Ojoade could take over as a sole parent and even after that, they still kept an eye on him. Once in a while the spirit of the old witch which took refuge in a hill came visiting and although she never spoke to Ojoade, he felt her in his house and her presence always filled the boy’s room. He had nothing to fear from her and he knew it but it was obvious that even in her non-human form, the old witch did not trust him and so, she came once a while to check on the boy herself.

When the boy started school, he sometimes came home to tell his father how strangers give him food in school and how his class teacher took interest in him. He went to the school and saw that she was a witch belonging to the same coven as the old one, most of the people who greeted the boy were also part of that coven and they made sure the boy lacked nothing but they never hesitated from punishing him appropriately.

The boy grew up in human strength and Ojoade was happy. The old generations were passing and he felt within himself that nothing could go wrong as more and more powers were lost even by the Sango worshippers in the village as they lost followers to the churches and mosques that sprang up all around.

Less followers meant less worship and that meant less relevance and power to whatever it was they served. There was even a rumour once that the goddess Oya had left the village for another where she had more supporters. It was said that she was supposed to get a sacrifice and when she did not get it, she left. Ojoade knew this to be true as there was a reduction in the purity of the forest when she was said to have left. He had never had an encounter with her but when he went in search of herbs near her shrine, he feels her presence. One morning, the shrine was “dead”; no energy came from it and he knew she was gone.
But amidst all these that happened, Ojoade kept his powers. They did not wane or diminish and he felt as strong as he was even though his own mortality was beginning to show. The strain of carrying that much power in a mortal body made him age faster and he began to look frail. His son noticed this and complained but Ojoade assured him that he was well.

The witches paid him a visit once and offered him herbs which they had collected by themselves and reserved for their old members. He felt stronger but he knew it will be a matter of time before he lost the battle and he would die while the power in him will go back where it came from. The great god Sango who had refused to do anything but ignore him.

All these took place quietly until the most unlikely thing happened deep in the mines on a sunny afternoon that shook the coven, Ojoade, the village and the company in ways they could not believe. It came as a shock to every man, woman and child in the village like a flood which crept up in the night. They least expected it and no one had any defence against it. It was a nightmare become reality for everyone in the village and even the company got a taste...

Yes, yes....
Continue, what was it?
Is it the creature back then, that came again?.......
Was it .....?

my body dey shake Mynd, the suspense na gbaya!

j-slimz:
Yes, yes....
Continue, what was it?
Is it the creature back then, that came again?.......
Was it .....?

yes continue

j-slimz:
Yes, yes....
Continue, what was it?
Is it the creature back then, that came again?.......
Was it .....?

could you please not adultrate this story for us by putting ideas into the mynd of the writter?

Lekan, a graduate of geology was enjoying his job as one of the few people who worked for the company that actually knew his worth and luckily for him, so did the company. They appointed him as one of the senior field officers.

He graduated top of his class at the age of 22 and he joined the company fresh from his youth service and stayed with them for 10 years. He was young and admirable and never left anything to chance. The fact that he could also speak the local language helped a lot when the company first picked a team for an assessment of the village and he was one of the people considered. When the operations started, he was picked as one of the top guns there.

He was an occasional Christian who did not have any space in his heart for the idol worshipping locals and hence, he dismissed alot of myths the locals spoke about especially regarding most of the forest around them.

He could not see the reason why they would say the company should not build roads from the mines to the base of operations and he always led the teams when going for assessment and even though rumours were raised that some things were at work around. He would go to the forest alone first to dispels the rumours as the workers were susceptible to them got scared. He could not have workers believing in such hogwash.

There was an occasion where they were to go check a part of land to see if it is good enough to build an office complex for the administrative block. He went there with the estate evaluators and engineers early that day and on their way back, they saw that workers inside a quarry did not want to come out and those outside too stayed out and stood at the barricade. His first thought was that there was something wrong; perhaps someone died as there was ways crowd at the entrance itself so he hurried in company of those he went with. What he saw made him smile.

At the entrance to the barricade was a massive calabash and inside it was a sacrifice made of all sort of small animals and snails, hardened pap and palm oil was poured all over the mixture so that the sight of it itself made you him turn his face away from the calabash. But he looked at it, looked up.

“What is happening here? Who put this disgusting here?”

No one seemed to have any reply to his questions as they looked at one another puzzled but one thing was evident on their faces and it was that they were scared of the sacrifice and he could hear rumours among some of the about the significance of the charm and what it meant. He could hear someone among the casual workers say the quarry was cursed and that’s why the sacrifice was brought; it was a warning and if they did not leave, they will all be killed. Lekan knew better.

They had a meeting with the chiefs a day before and the chiefs had asked for more money from the company as rights to the village and it was turned down. The chiefs had said the money would be used to appease the gods of the land so they will not be angry and their wrath will not come upon the village. Lekan would have none of it. He did not even tell the chiefs that he would get to their headquarters in Lagos, he told them and immediate no.

“Selfish old men” he thought to himself. If they had come asking for hospitals, schools or piped water, he might have considered their request but there was no way he would be involved in giving them cash to fatten themselves. Not after the government had given them rights to work there. He turned down their request and walked out on them as they threatened that the gods will visit the company and it’s workers with all their fury. Lekan could not help but shake his head sadly at them.

Now he looked at the sacrifice and he started laughing. Some of the staff had started to say that part of the effect of the sacrifice was to drive them mad and the boss had started to go crazy. All of a sudden, he bent down, carried the calabash and threw the whole thing into the bush close by.

“Can you all get back to work now?
I don’t know why you all are so scared of that anyway. It is just to scare you away and if you know you are too scared to work, talk and you will be replaced immediately”

Immediately, everyone got back to work and he went his way. This was not the first village he was going to see things like that and he was not surprised. The leaders generally get greedy when they move and they try their best to exploit the situation and that was his job. Not just to asses those natural deposits that exist in the surrounding but also to relate with the locals and look create a suitable environment for mining. The company kept him because he had proved his worth a thousand times over.

He sat down in his office when he got a mail informing him the federal government had approved their use of dynamites to blast open a nearby hill. This would start the process of breaking the huge rocks into little bits which can be transported to other parts of the country for use. This is the part of the job he really liked. He especially loved the when they got to use the dynamites to blast the rocks as it gave him a semblance of power and the fact that they turn hills into flat plains was even more amazing to him.

He read the mail again and made a note into his personal journal. Although the charges were ready in a holding facility guarded by the most trusted guards, the process of blasting could not start immediately. There was first the business of telling everyone in the surroundings to leave the area for their safety and that was what proved to be most difficult as some farmers wanted to brave it and go do some work, while some people are just too stubborn to follow anybody’s instructions. They were mostly the traditional folks who liked to consider themselves the keepers of the old days of the village.

Those set of people had been the major problem with the company’s base in this village as they continued to say nonsense about how a certain place is of limits because a stranger and some deity lived in certain trees and some rocks and it will be wise not to wake them from their silly slumber.

He always thought such beliefs were silly and childish. Stories that should naturally be reserved for children at night or for folktales when the moon was high in the night and people needed some entertainment. Nothing more.

It was these people who posed the largest problems when a blast was to be done as they never paid heed to warnings and he could remember vividly an incident which lead to the death of two old men in a village far away. He had been careful since then and sometimes, the police had to be brought in to prevent anyone from gaining access to the blast site. This village has not seen people that crazy but one can never be too sure so he drafted and send a mail to the engineer to prepare the hill to be blasted and issue the warnings a week early.

He looked out his window at a particular hill where the village doctor was said to live with his son. He saw the man once when he wanted to take an aerial view of the whole place and wondered how the doctor could survive so cut off from the village. He had also thought the old man would be on of the conservationist but the man and his son seemed quite pleasant and even gave him and his men some water. He offered them chairs to sit and food but the food was turned down. His son who looked to be in his late teens was as friendly as his father but the son was fluent in English. A sign that the old man realized that the old ways was going extinct and he embraced the new life. He had wished everybody would be like that and looked away. There was serious work to be done and the hole which the charges will put has to be drilled in time for the blast.

He picked his desk phone and spoke to the engineer who confirmed the receipt of the mail and he was lost in his thought of how much gravel will be excavated from the hill before it is leveled into a plain field.

......

Nice!

dubem3:

could you please not adultrate this story for us by putting ideas into the mynd of the writter?

I aint giving any ideas, just anticipating what comes next. And its here, gotta read

i am beginin 2 tink dis story is abt ojoades adoptd son.am i d only 1 avin dis tot?

Ollyfad: i am beginin 2 tink dis story is abt ojoades adoptd son.am i d only 1 avin dis tot?

Yes you are

Mynd_44:
Yes you are

no she's not!

Mynd am begining to love you, erm like you.

Obinnau: Mynd am begining to love you, erm like you.

I am begining to fear you

Mynd_44:
I am begining to fear you

hahahaha! Just dey update when u ave d chance but dont starve us.

Obinnau: hahahaha! Just dey update when u ave d chance but dont starve us.

Another one today when this mumu PHCN bring light

brokoto: no she's not!

tot i was alone in dat o

Okay oooo.

**changing story**

Mynd_44: Okay oooo.

**changing story**

tah! If I catch you eh...!

Mynd_44: Okay oooo.

**changing story**

do whatever pleases you but if i get the slightest feeling that this story has been tampered with, both you and the people that put ideas in ur head will...

Babatunde was his name and for short, Tunde. He grew up with his father as his only guardian and the old women who sometimes came around to visit his father as his mothers. The women did not seem to have any business when they come to the house but to come say hello to him and sometimes, they bring food to the house. His father never mentioned a mother to him and once, he asked but was told that she died when he was very little. His father also told him that the women who came constantly were friends of his mother and one who especially came around a lot was said to be her sister which will make her his aunty but he never met any other family member. His father was an orphan who took over the job of doctor fromhis own father and that seemed okay but for some reason; his father did not want him to take over from him. His father had always said he wanted him to go to school and even if he would be a doctor, he should be one of those doctors that worked for the government and worked in the clinic instead of living in the hills plucking leaves and cutting roots for free.

His father’s life had always amused him despite the fact that he was very important in the village, they was no physical wealth he could boast of. People came from far and near to seek treatment of him and he treated them for free he did so without demanding anything from anyone and the patients in return give what they can and most times it was food stuff and other petty goods. He never saw his father hold paper currency in his hands but the house was always filled with food. The form of trade his father was into only made sense when he got into his senior secondary school and he choose to be a commercial student rather than science. It was then he saw the significance of the service his father provided. While the chiefs got paid for doing nothing and fed off the people, his father was doing something beneficial to the people and the result was clear everywhere he went.

Tunde was always treated well by everyone. Even people he never knew treated him with respect and he always received favor from everyone. He attended school without paying anything as the principal and teachers just did not ask him for fees. His exercise books and other study materials were given to him for free and these materials were not used but brand new. He got two new school uniforms every term and he had at least two school sandals with the uniforms. He had lunch form the women who served it free and he even had access to materials children of some of the chiefs could not get. He got to know that his father’s name went ahead of him everywhere he went and no one bothered him with anything. On one occasion, his father had gone to the school with him to say thank you to the management of the school but the principal met him half way when Tunde told him of his father’s intending visit. The principal said he was under instructions from the local government chairman to ensure that Tunde was comfortable in school as gratitude for his contribution to the community.

He knew his father wanted him to be a doctor but the truth was that he knew he is hemophobic and what sort of doctor would he make if he so much feared the sight of blood? He was scared to tell his father as he was getting old and he did not want to disappoint him and so he approached his “aunty” to help break the news to him. His father surprisingly though took it well and just asked the boy if that was his choice. The boy nodded and it was settled. The only thinghis father asked was the steps that will be taken to ensure that he became an accountant and he answered that he would have to go to a university which the Local government chairman had already promised to sponsor so there would be no problem.

Tunde too however did not disappoint as he studied his books without playing around. Well the fact that there was not much to disturb him at home also helped him. His only chores was to sweep the house, wash the dishes and wash the clothes belonging to him and his father. The cooking was mostly done by patient who had nothing to give but still felt obligated to do something. They werealways around looking for something to help with around the house and one once tried to wash his clothes for him. When the house needed some new beams, the beams were not replaced but the another one was built behind it for them while Tunde had the old one to himself ad he turned it into his library to disappear when he needed to study.