₦airaland Forum

ghostwritter: *********
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FIFTY-EIGHT YEARS AGO

Labake who was in her mid-twenties was already at her last month of pregnancy, she was weak and very heavy to do anything, Labake had to sell the remains of her Mango fruits before she went home, she had no one else to depend upon for money ever since her husband died a few months ago. She had promised never to go back to her father’s house to go ask for help since they had never wanted her to get married to her late husband.

Under the hot sun, Labake dragged her foot lazily as she walked through a lonely path not too far from the community Cemetery ground. She suddenly felt a sharp pain below her abdomen and could see water-like substance flowing down her tight

“Haaa!! Olorun oooo!!!!....Why now? She cried out as she saw that there will be no one to help her through her delivery.

Labake tried hard to move faster to a populated area where she could get help but her foot where too heavy, she had no other choice but to settle her body on the ground and scream for help.

“Help me! please can anyone hear me?.... I need help” Labake shouted using the remains of her energy.

At that moment, she regretted passing through that route as she felt so lonely and abandoned, she remembered her husband and that made her cry the more.

“Olugbenga the son of Gbadamosi Williamu!! Why did you leave me alone to bear the cross meant for the two of us, we started this together now I am all alone in it….. Death has done us no good!” She looked up to the sky above her shouting to no one in particular.

Suddenly, she felt a serious pain all over her body; she felt something was struggling to come out of her. She screamed, shouted, kicked, scratched and all of a sudden she collapsed and was unconscious.

Labake opened her eyes and saw she was in a hut made of grasses, she saw an infant sleeping next to her, the baby was so cute and had all the features of someone she had always loved and that was her late husband Olugbenga Williamu. She noticed her once protruding belly had become flat, she became confused and was getting afraid when suddenly someone walked into the room quietly.

Labake tried to stand up to see clearly who the person was but she was too weak to move her body

“Please who are you and where am I?” Labake asked nervously

“My name is Gunu, and you are in a save hands…. That is your child sleeping next to you, he looked so much like his father” a strange tone echoed in reply

“Yes he looked so much like his father….. But how did you know?” Labake smiled as she looked into the face of the infant sleeping next to her.

“Because certainly he doesn’t look like you”

“That’s true….. But how did I get here in the first place?”

“You called for help”

“But…but I saw no one around”

“Yes, that was because you looked at me but never saw me coming”

Labake used all the energy left in her to stand-up from the mat so as to see the face of her good Samaritan, she was shock to the bones to see a figure covered with a blood stained cloak standing in front of her.

“What did you say your name was again?” Labake asked with fear written all over her as she remembered a folk-tale about a creature called ‘Gunu’ told to her by her grandfather

“My name is Gunu…… the grave watcher"!!

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SammyHoe: Nice poem. It's cool