"Aye, what seek ye in these gallows my good friend?
Do ye not know tis’ the resting place for ghouls and monsters?"


It was a hot evening on that fateful day. The general hospital had just lost its quota of electricity and the person in charge had promptly run off to put on the standby generator. Urowoli stood at the entrance to the pediatric ward, all his muscles tense, his body sweaty, his proud itsekiri blood pounding furiously in his veins. On the outside he tried to exhibit a calm demeanor but inside his mind was in turmoil. Unlike the meaning of his name, he did not want to appear soft right now.


He was the man.


He was the pillar of strength.

Inside the candle lit children’s ward, his wife wailed in her high pitched voice. The infant had stopped moving. His chest had heaved its last. He had fought hard and long like the brave little boy he was but the illness had finally consumed him. The sudden flickering on of the incandescent bulbs in the ward did nothing to alleviate the gloom that had fallen. Other mothers murmured in silence. None were brave enough to approach the crying woman and comfort her. They tended to their own sick children and muttered desperate prayers under their breaths.


The now illuminated ward revealed the young doctor sitting dejectedly at the nurses’ station near the entrance. This is not what he signed up for when he left medical school a few months ago to start housemanship here. No one had taught him, prepared him, for the deep sense of loss from doing all one could do medically and still seeing the patient die in one’s care. He looked at the father of the child forlornly. He literally could think of nothing to say.


“Doctor, won’t you certify?” The nurse sitting beside him asked gently. “They have brought the light.”


The doctor sighed and nodded. He got up from the plastic chair he had been sitting on, and it made a scraping noise on the tiled floor, loud enough to let the mother know that the doctor was coming and she immediately intensified her wailing. Urowoli turned, saw the doctor move and quickly followed him.


“How goes it doctor, is there any hope?”


The doctor shook his head sadly and Urowoli clenched his teeth.


They had reached the bedside of the child. His skin had already turned a dull pale and his body was as still as any other inanimate object. Empty bags of blood and intravenous fluids hung at different sides of the small bed. The mother stopped her wailing momentarily to gaze at the doctor.


“Doctor eh, we can still do something eh, he is not breathing, he is not answering me, doctor do something eh, check him, check him…”


“Shut up, woman!” Urowoli barked sharply.


The doctor brought out his stethoscope and went through the motions. He knew the child was dead already. He flashed his pen-torch in the unresponsive pupils and scribbled in the patient’s folder.


“Doctor how is he? How is he? How is…”


“I’m so sorry madam, he’s dead.”


The woman threw her hands up, pulled off her scarf and tugged violently at her hair. Her screams spilled out of the ward like a violent tidal wave. People in the other wards came out to see what was happening.


Urowoli stood calm. He nodded and walked briskly out of the ward as his wife continued to wail and roll on the floor. A few moments later he was back with a black polythene bag in his hand, the sturdy one used by women to convey their purchases from the market. He picked up the corpse of the dead child and put it in the bag.


“Thank you doctor, I know you tried your best. My wife, gather your things, Nurse, let me know my bill so I can pay. I’m coming.


Everyone watched him quietly as he strode out of the ward, bag in hand. They shook their head in sympathy. They knew where he was going.


Urowoli marched out of the ward and headed towards the back of the hospital. He walked quickly and with determination as he wanted to get this unpleasant business behind him as quickly as possible. The baby had not stayed with them three months and he had tried not to get attached, but still his heart was heavy.


The forest appeared before him. The thick bush at the outermost part of the hospital. No one knew how the bush had grown so massively within the hospital premises or why none of the hospital administrators had bothered to clear it away. More than once bulldozers had come in and leveled the ground in front and around the bush to make way for new buildings, but the bush itself had been left intact. Various kinds of trees now thrived in its centre. They varied from palm trees to mango trees bearing untouched ripe fruits to tall luscious bamboo trees all connected by thick undergrowth. One or two security men saw Urowoli approach the forest but they turned the other way and let him pass. Urowoli strode on into the forest and was enveloped in the darkness. He took a few tentative steps further, his slippered feet sinking into the soft ground. Then he stopped.


There was perfect silence in the forest. Not a bird chirped, not a movement in the undergrowth. Urowoli stood still for a moment and then without saying anything hurled the polythene bag and its contents over his head and into the darkness. He turned and quickly went back the way he came.


A few moments later and the darkness stirred. Something moved stealthily through the bushes. The stirring increased and came from all directions until the undergrowth was a great fluctuation of movement all directed towards the foreign object that had been thrown in their midst. Long taloned fingers belonging to old, withered hands stretched out and the polythene was pulled away to reveal the corpse within it.


And then a voice, old yet firm and smooth as silk, with an air of centuries in its sonorous gasp, whispered:


“Ahhhhhh, steeeep a price you paid my child. You barely enjoyed the fruit of life.”


She touched the corpse’s legs and the dead child’s eyelids flickered and slowly parted as its anguished eyes gazed wonderingly at the entity before it.


“I see the pain that still remains in your eyes my child. I will release you of your burden so you can join our fold.”


The taloned fingers rose in command and the stirring in the undergrowth became frenzied. Big black rats, their eyes soulless and dark, emerged
one by one from the hidden holes of the undergrowth.


“Come, come my sservantsss." She commanded, "And free him of his flesh.”

Hi guys,

My book "I SEE THINGS OTHERS DO NOT SEE" has been published into a 200 page novel. You can send an email for the hardcopy here royofilibooks@yahoo.com and we will send it to you wherever you are in the country. Or you can get the ecopy from the links below.

https://okadabooks.com/book/about/i_see_things_others_do_not_see/24127


http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/i-see-things-others-do-not-see/23827340


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KNP3X6X

Thank you.

How very morbid...

Great job as usual, Roy. Will you be updating?

Ishilove:
How very morbid...

Great job as usual, Roy. Will you be updating?

Hello Ishilove and happy new year.

Will I be updating? I don't know...yet. As my muse leads.

Royver:


Hello Ishilove and happy new year.

Will I be updating? I don't know...yet. As my muse leads.

No even tink am. You cannor leave us hanging like dis

Interesting

Present sir!!!

Awesome work as usual Royver!

Ishilove:

No even tink am. You cannor leave us hanging like dis

Lol, its a short. Not actually meant to be a novel. But then again I've had other novels start like this so...we'll see.

ministerblessed:
Present sir!!!

LightQueen:
Interesting

zerozeroseven:
Awesome work as usual Royver!

Hi guys!

Update please

Interesting

Damn damn damn... How I've missed this guy's supernatural stories. I really hope he continues.

Hi Dear! I've been waiting for an update.

Royver:


Hi guys!

Royver:


Lol, its a short. Not actually meant to be a novel. But then again I've had other novels start like this so...we'll see.

Just seeing this. Since January? What have I been doing?

Roy, haven't your muse led you to continue with this masterpiece?

It's been a while Bro and this classic need to be continued.

Writer's block?

Royver:


Hi guys!

All hospitals have it, that one, foreboding place steeped in the mysterious and paranormal. It is to be expected after all, a hospital is one of the places people go to die. To live yes, to get better, but also to die and their bodies kept for the final destination to their ultimate disposal. There's the ubiquitous mortuary with its attendants and strange rituals before entering so as not to awaken the spirits. There's the ward with the bed that claims lives, that unlucky mattress that defies all logic until one day a superstitious person "accidentally" sets it ablaze to the relief of all and sundry. For OptiHealth Clinic it was that little tuft of forest that lay on the North East side. The hospital itself had developed with the times. Despite being thirty years old, its owners had ensured that it was kept up to date, the building structure was well maintained, the equipment were as functional as any good Modern Nigerian hospital was expected to be; the halls and wards were clean and welcoming, the staff were relatively friendly. The hospital had become an icon of health in the peaceful town of Igharrega in Delta State. It was the place to go for your health concerns when you had nowhere else to go. It boasted the highest number of specialist doctors than any other private hospital in the state. It had even been accredited for internship by the Nigerian Medical Association, ten years running now and never once slipping up in its duties.

The current medical director was a well built handsome man in his mid-fifties. Dr. Patrick had taken good care of his body in his youth and it had reflected on him in his middle age. A naturally fair skinned man, he sported a thick growth of hair on his head and a luscious beard, much like the boys in their twenties trended with now, which made him look all the more younger. His abdomen was flat, he viewed a protruding abdomen as the ultimate sin and made sure to exercise daily to keep his trim figure. He was tall, he had good taste in clothes and shoes and knew how to make his audience fall in love with him. Forget ladies, Dr. Patrick was a man's man. He stood as a mentor for many of the doctors who had come to the hospital seeking employment. Of course, he was very popular with the female folk and slept with a good number of them, managing to disengage himself from them when their tenure was up, none of them ever left feeling hurt or vengeful, they knew better than to think they could keep such a man to themselves. As for the males, he threw down just the right amount of authority to keep them in line without appearing to be an absolute jerk.

Many suspected that his wife knew about his philanderings but that she was just too much in awe of him to care. She had borne him three children, two girls and a boy, and he made sure that they lacked nothing. She worked as a pharmacist in another hospital, surprise surprise, but when asked, she always said that it was her idea, She didn't want to work in the same nvironment as him, it would be too...stifling. She visited the hospital once in a while and each time was treated with such public displays of love and attention by her husband that it made the women at Optihealth knees' buckle in delight and the men sigh in amused exasperation, smiling at each other and asking why they couldn't be the same with their wives. Dr. Patrick ensured that his hospital ran like a well oiled machine and that everything was always as it should be.

The only problem was that tuft of trees.

He had no control over that. He it was, who was the last person who had gotten the bulldozers to bring the bushes down when he had first been made the MD, He had been thinking of building a new Orthopedic ward there, expanding the hospital to provide more service. But the bulldozer operators had simply refused cutting the bush down. There were whispers of "Evil forest" and other such superstitious nonsense and Dr. Patrick wasn't a great fan of superstition. He barely went to church as it was. His wife on the other hand was a devour catholic, taking the children to church every Sunday and doing her best to ensure that the kids were being brought up in the ways of Christianity. Dr Patrick had tried coaxing the drivers with more money but to his utmost suprise they had blatantly refused. Even as the economy was biting hard on everyone , they had refused double the pay. So he had delayed the uprooting of that forest for the time being and somehow had gotten to forget about it all together.

The problem now was that one of the newly employed house-officers had gone missing. And there were rumors that she had ventured into the forest last night for goodness knows whatever reason. He had tried to reason with her friends, other house officers and staff that she had probably left the hospital premises that night but one of the new girls, one of the female house officers, had insisted with trembling lips and shaky voice that she had gone into the forest on a stupid dare. And was yet to come back out.

Had there been a scream?

No.

Any sounds of a struggle?

No.

Did they call her name?

Several times throughout the night but there had been no answer.

So why hadn't anyone gone in to get her? The forest was only a hundred feet deep at the most, surely one of the security guards could have gone in and brought her out in case she had fallen to some misfortune...epileptic maybe? Or a faint from hypoglycemia?

The other girl, the one that had instigated the dare, had looked at the security guards and started sobbing. The security men in turn had told Dr. Patrick that they couldn't go in there. He was the only one who could, being the MD. That was the rules.

"Whose rules?!" He had barked irritatingly, but they had only looked away, muttering to themselves. Threats to have them fired hadn't worked either. It was ridiculous.

"So you people really want me to wear this my suit and tie and enter into the forest alone to find a grown woman because of some stupid supersitition?"

"You can remove your suit sir," One of the security guards suggested. He backed off from Dr. Patrick's icy glare.

"Please Sir," The house officer's representative, a young man in his mid twenties came forward. "I tried going my self but they stopped me." He pointed at the security guards. "They warned me that dire consequences awaited me if I entered and I wasn't the MD."

"But this is ridiculous! There is nothing there! Maybe snakes or rats but that's it! surely she must have sneaked out some other way and is playing a prank on you guys."

"She didn't come for ward round sir. Awele is a very dedicated and conscientious house officer. This is not like her at all." The house officer Rep sighed. "Just humor us and come find her. We will accept whatever punishment you have for her once she's found."

"I don't even remember this girl sef, do you have a picture of her?" He asked.

Awele's friend quickly brought out her phone and scanned through her picture gallery. She handed the phone to the MD. "This is her sir," she said.

Dr. Patrick looked at the picture of the missing house-officer. She was extremely voluptuous. how had he missed noticing her when she came for induction? Fair smooth skin with exceedingly large breasts and a proportionate waist to go with it, not to mention her beautiful face, made him wonder for a moment if the staff were playing a prank on him.

"Is this really the girl?" He asked to which the others nodded. "I must have been more busy at work than I thought," he murmured to himself.

"Please sir, I can go with you if you're afraid, the house-officer's rep began, and quickly bit his tongue as the MD's intense gaze focused on him.

"You think I'm afraid?"

"Sir, no sir!" The House-officer's rep stammered. "It wasn't my intention to...I'm sorry sir!"

"Even sef, you no fit follow am enter, you no go come out alive. Na only MD fit go, come out." One of the security guards said with an air of authority.

"Shut up, just shut up!" The MD barked and the security man fell silent.

He sighed again and looked at the picture. Damn, those were huge breasts.

"All right," He said. "Let's go,"

Foreboding.

If ever there was a definition for the word, that was precisely what the little forest looked like in the eyes of the MD. Sticking out like a sore thumb, it was a sharp contrast to the immediate surroundings. On the left was an administrative block of ten offices. The secretaries and clerks could be seen moving about inside, carrying files and documents, typing on desktops and whatnot. On the right was the laboratory building. And smack dab right in the middle of it, with at least fifty meters of bush on either side, was the clump of trees and bushes. It was roughly 100 by 80 meters, its furthermost part obscuring the hospital fence. The fence itself separated the hospital from the thick forest beyond it. For all he knew there might be a hole in the fence somewhere in there and a wild animal might have crawled it. He swallowed saliva in a bid to lubricate his throat which had suddenly gone dry.

"This is rubbish," he muttered to himself. He turned to the small crowd that had gathered behind him. "This is total rubbish. What if i get bitten by a snake?"

"Oga we dey put carbide, I mean, snake repellant every month for this place." The security man said. "E no get as snake wan dey here..."

"Will you shut up!" The MD barked, finally losing his cool. The security guard pursed his lips together. He seemed particularly eager to see the MD enter the forest and he smiled at his colleague who hissed at him rudely.

The MD approached the entrance to the forest. It was eerily quiet. He stood at the very edge of the bushes and shouted at the top pf his lungs:

"Awele! This is the Medical Director! Come out of there right now or you forfeit your job!!!"

There was no response. Not even a single rustle from the bushes.

He turned back and faced the House officer's rep.

"If this is some kind of generation zee prank I'm assuring you that you will definitely lose your job."

"Its not a prank sir." The young doctor said, raising his hands into the air to gesticulate his innocence.

The Medical director sighed and shook his head. "Alright, bring my boots. I swear I don't even know why I'm...all this rubbish...nonsense superstitions..."

The annoying security guard rushed to the storehouse. He was soon back with a pair of clean black rubber boots. The medical director yanked the boots from him and put it on, taking off his well polished shoes in the process.

"Rubbish" he muttered one more time before venturing into the bushes.

There was silence for a moment. The annoying security guard turned to his superior.

"Should we have tied a rope to his waist in case we need to pull him out? That was our saving grace for the last MD o..."

His superior shushed him.

following,

"Patrick, man, what the hell are you doing?" The MD murmured to himself as he passed the bushes and entered between the trees.


As if it had not been foreboding enough, the atmosphere had grown more sinister as soon as he stepped into the thicket. It was as if he had passed through a dark veil into another world, an old world, prehistoric even. The air was colder, muskier, the air seemed to flow in an entirely different direction than it did outside, all his hair stood on end and for a moment he felt like he was about to lose control of his sphincters. He looked back , suddenly filled with an absurd notion that he would not see the hospital and the small crowd behind him but rather a vast forest or wasteland, like he had never been in a hospital, like he had never been a doctor, like he had never been a civilized human being. He almost ran back...

But there they were, the house officer's rep nodding encouragement, the security guards watching with keen interest, almost as if to see if he would chicken out and run, the young female doctor gazing at him with hope-filled eyes, a gaze that was already thanking him for finding her friend...It would be most embarrassing to turn back now.

Most embarrasing.

And with that thought in his mind, abandoning all primal instinct to turn tail and run, he surged forward into the trees.

It was very quiet in the thicket, unnaturally quiet, in fact, the only sound he could hear was his breathing and his boots as they crushed the vegetation under his feet. Had they given him a machete when he entered? He feel like he should have carried a machete, at least to help him clear the bush and defend him from...

From...from what? His mind kept forming horrible images, not of snakes or rats or scorpions but of animated dead bodies shuffling towards him with their rotting flesh falling from desiccating bones...

"What the hell are you thinking man?" he shook his head ferociously to ward off the morbid thoughts. He had always been a fan of zombie films but this surrounding was cutting it a little too close to the bone. He opened his mouth to shout the girl's name and panicked for a moment when he couldn't recall it.

"Awu...Awele!" He called out, and immediately regretted it. All around him the bushes suddenly moved, like he had upset an unseen herd of small animals. The silence was suddenly invaded with shrill squeaks and cries as creatures retreated further into the foliage. For a moment he saw a flurry of tiny brown and black tails slither past green leaves. He wanted to run. He badly wanted to turn around and run. But some unseen force, some irrational courage, pushed him forward, he had to get to the end of the thicket, he had to see the wall, see this mission through. How could he go back and tell them in all good faith that the girl wasn't there if he had not searched the entire 100 metres?

He moved forward. His heart kept skipping beats. The noise of the rats (were they actually rats?) that had been so terrifying previously was now ominously absent. It was cold in the undergrowth and yet the MD found he was sweating, beads of water, shyly peering out from just beneath his skin. There weren't even any insects flying or crawling around. What kind of place was-

"Patrick, what are you doing here?"

The voice was calm and familiar and yet he couldn't help but jump a few feet into the air, a high pitched scream escaping from his lips. He spun around to see who had spoken.

A man stood before him in a bit of clearing, clean shaven scalp and white beard. He recognized him from the pictures in his office. He was the penultimate previous MD of the hospital, a few years before he joined the establishment. The man was dressed in a simple native attire; a brown wrapper and a black T-shirt with brown slippers and a hoe slung over his shoulder. He looked like he was going farming.

"Stop looking at me like I'm a ghost, what are you doing in here, and all alone?" Mr Etinosa asked.

"I should be asking you the same question!" Patrick replied shakily.

"But you know my farm is just beyond the hospital walls, I come through the side of the fence sometimes to see if I can pluck ripe palm fruits, I hope that's not a crime."

Mr. Patrick stared a little longer then suddenly burst into a fit of laughter. He laughed and laughed and shook his head, resting his hands on his knees as he sighed with relief. "I'm so sorry, it's this place, its got me all jumpy and nervous. No wonder some employees call it the evil forest."

Mr Etinosa chuckled and looked around, "Yes, when I was the medical director I too heard stories about this place. The indigenes especially don't play with it. You know it's where they throw the dead babies right?"

"What?"

"Surely you must know. I found out a few months into the job myself. Wanted to clear the place, build a proper mortuary, but they wouldn't hear of it. Well, they teach us in medicine first to do no harm. It's just a silly superstition of the people, nothing to get rattled about."

Mr. Patrick was rattled. He looked around him to see if he would find bits of small dried skulls tossed about anywhere. Mr. Etinosa sighed and shook his head.

"Since you don't want to tell me why you're here ,let me be on my way..." and he turned to leave.

"I'm sorry sir, I'm not comfortable being here at all. I'm looking for one of my house officers; she was said to have come here last night as a sort of bet, and hasn't been heard from since..."

"And you think the forest took her?" Mr Etinosa said, the beginning of a laugh coming to his throat.

"Well, not me specifically."

"Come on man, she must have upped and gone home, probably playing a silly prank on her friends."

"Same thing I said." Mr Patrick laughed nervously, "But they kept pushing me and pushing me and now I'm checking to see to make sure she's not lying down somewhere unconscious or with a broken leg."

"Well, I haven't come across her. If I do I will be sure to let you know." Mr Etinosa started to walk away.

"Thank you s..." Mr. Patrick began to reply and then suddenly he froze.

Mr Etinosa was walking away, but backwards, and with such confidence as if he had eyes at the back of his head.

"What is the matter?" Mr Etinosa asked even as he kept walking away.

"Why are you walking backwards? Won't you fall?" He found that his voice was trembling.

Mr Etinosa laughed again. "You're very funny! We all walk like this in the land of the dead. You must be dead to be here surely, do you still walk as you used to walk while on earth? Next thing you will say you still have footsteps!"

Mr. Patrick looked down. Sure enough Mr. Etinosa's feet were not touching the ground. He suddenly remembered vividly that he had attended the man's funeral late last year. His head suddenly seemed to swell to twice its size.

Mr Etinosa's voice was distant now. "I'll let you know if I see her alright? If she actually died here her soul wouldn't have wandered far. This forest has a way of drawing you in. I myself was drawn from my resting place by the sweet palm fruits I plucked while still the MD!" and with that he vanished into thin air.

Mr Patrick fainted.

hmmmm what a story, thou the suspense is some how 3much op

Shadowy figures crept out from the underbrush. Small shadowy figures, lizard size, rodent size, crawling and slithering and creeping, they all came to examine the unconscious body that lay sprawled before them. Hisses and squeaks filled the air as they touched, him, smelt him, licked his skin with their forked tongues.

"This flesh is cold," a disembodied voice oozed from all sides of the forest, making the shadowy creatures shriek and scatter in all directions. "Yet it has life."

Another shadow slithered out from the forest. Long and sinewy and bigger than all the other shadows that had come before it, it approached Mr Patrick's prostrate form. It raised its two flat heads above him and studies him from length to breath, each head weaving one way and then the other. Pushing itself under him, it wound its huge coils around his body until the man was enveloped in a scaly embrace. One of the heads found his head and its mouth opened wide, its sharp razor teeth laying flat against its throat, ready to receive this meal that had wandered into its path. Lubricating saliva poured into its cavernous mouth as it began to swallow.

"This is no fun!" The other head hissed in annoyance. "There is no smell of fear, no writhing, no struggling. The meat will have no taste."

The first head continued to swallow, gently easing Mr. Patrick's head inside until it got to his neck. There was a sudden gurgling sound and then the first head spat him out again. Tightening its coils ever so slightly, it shook the unconscious man from side to side. Mr. Patrick's eyes opened.

"Better," The shadowed reptile hissed, "Face your impending..."

But Mr Patrick, seeing himself being lifted above ground by what seemed to be a huge, talking snake, simply sighed and passed out again.

There was silence in the underbrush for a while. Then the coils loosened and released their quarry.

Not yet.

Uttering an angry hiss, both heads disappeared back into the trees.

A ray of sunshine found its way through the foliage and landed squarely on Mr Patrick's eyes, waking him from his unconscious state. He sat up slowly, wondering for a moment why there were so many plants in his room and why his bed was so hard and cold and smelt of vegetation. Looking around him, the memories rushed back, and he jumped to his feet. This was too much. He had seen something, a hallucination, a ghost, experienced something he had never experienced in his life. Terror gripped him like never before and he bolted towards the hospital, faster than he had ever run in recent years. The entrance was just ahead, it was just ahead, he hadn't walked up to thirty minutes into these bushes before that apparition had appeared to him. And yet the more he ran, the more he seemed to be getting deeper into the thicket.

"MAI GUARD! SECURITY!!" He shouted, hoping some of the people waiting for him outside would come to his aid. But his words disappeared into the trees, not even an echo of a response rewarded his efforts. He increased his pace, his heart thumping wildly in his chest as he crashed through the plants and trees.

"ANYBODY!" he yelled desperately as he stumbled and fell, rolling his once clean suit in the dirt. He got up quickly and continued to run. Why wasn't he out yet?

Suddenly he broke out into a clearing and he stopped short. A thatched hut lay in the middle, with a little stream by its side, flowing peacefully out of a cave. Mr. Patrick had never seen a cave before. Its edges were smooth and you couldn't see into the end of it as it was covered in shadow. Mr. Patrick held his head in his hands. How? How could such a big cave be here in his hospital grounds? How could someone have built a hut here in his hospital grounds and he didn't know about it? Where was he?

He sat down at the edge of the stream and began to cry. He heaved deep sighs from his chest as the tears fell. He hadn't even told anybody goodbye, he hadn't even called his wife. He had thought he would just go in and find the stupid girl with the big breasts and come out again. Why hadn't he called the police instead for goodness sake? It was their job to find missing people, not his. What had he gotten himself into?

"Are you alright?" a female voice said gently as a hand tapped him on the shoulder.

Screaming, he flung the hand away and jumped forward into the stream, falling face first. Dripping water from head to toe, he grabbed a nearby stone and turned around.

A young maiden stood there behind, watching him with curious eyes. She was the very beautiful. Her head was woven back in neat rows and her eyes shone brightly, reflecting curiosity and a little amusement at the sight before her. She wore a finely embroidered wrapper that had been tied tightly over her chest though it did not do much to hide the beauty of her breasts. Her tummy was flat and smooth and her moderately wide hips were adorned with beads and a matching embroidered brown cloth the ended just below her knees.

"I'm so sorry," She smiled, "Did I frighten you?"

The MD stared at her for a moment and then dropped the stone.

"Where am I?" he asked even as he took in her beauty.

"Where are you from?" She queried back.

"I just entered here from the back of Optihealth Clinic in Igharrega, I'm the medical director."

"Then we must be in Igharrega," She answered simply as she beckoned to him. "Come, get out of the stream, you're muddying it up. You will make my mother angry if she sees you."

The MD nodded as he waddled out of the stream. She smiled again at him and he felt his tachycardic heartbeat decelerate. He finally smiled back.

"I'm sorry if I frightened you. I've had some strange experiences since I entered this forest and I'm trying to find my way out."

"Do you have a cell phone?" The girl asked.

The thought hit him like a thunderbolt. His cellphone! Of course! he dug his hands into his pockets and brought it out.

He gasped.

The phone was completely drenched.

He tried cleaning it but it was no use, he was completely drenched himself. He looked around desperately.

"What is the matter?" she asked.

"I need to dry it up and my clothes are soaked!" he cried.

"Oh," she turned away from him and undid the wrapper that covered her chest. "Use this," she said, handing the wrapper to him.

A flurry of pleasant sensations hit him at once. Firstly he had managed to catch a glimpse of her side boobs as she made to clumsily cover them with her arms. Second, the cloth was softer than anything he had ever touched. He hesitated for a moment, not wanting to dirty the cloth she had given him, but the nagging urgency that had been pushed to the side of his brain won the argument and he wrapped the phone in it.

"I'll replace it, don't worry." he said.

"Replace what?" she asked

"Your cloth. I'm sorry I've dirtied it. I'll buy you a new one."

She laughed a little, he could see her back go up and down as she tried to control her mirth. She was beautiful! And she smelled nice too even though he couldn't detect any hint of an actual perfume. He almost dropped his phone as he got lost in his thoughts, but he regained his composure and quickly dried the phone off. He handed the cloth back to her.

"I'm sorry, its stained."

" That's quite alright." she said, her back still to him. She examined the wrapper for the stains and then tied it around her chest again. By the time she turned back to him, he couldnt see any smudge or smear.

"Wow." he said, "You're amazing."

"Because I know how to tie a wrapper?" she laughed. He didn't want her to stop laughing. "Next thing you will say I am more beautiful than all the town girls you have out there."

"But that is exactly what I was about to say, how did you know?" he teased and she looked down at her feet shyly, a move that made his heart melt. "I'm Patrick, but you can call me Pato..."

"Patrick sounds better," she smiled. "So is the phone working?"

"The what?" Patrick looked down at the object in his hand. The phone! he needed to call for help! He touched the dial button.

The screen remained blank.

"Oh no no no." Patrick shook the phone vigorously and tried again but to no avail.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it will be fine." The maiden said.

"Yeah," Patrick replied. "Some water may have gotten into it. I guess I'll have to leave it somewhere to dry."

"Well, you're welcome to come into my hut," she gestured towards the hut. "It's not much inside but you can dry your clothes and the phone as well. An hour or two and you should be able to make contact with your friends."

"Yes, I think that would be a good idea," he said, "I mean, I don't want to be a bother..."

"Of course not!" she laughed again and Patrick felt all the stress leave his body. "Come and rest small, maybe have some water and something to eat?" And she grabbed him by the hand and led him to her home.

And he followed her meekly.

Anoda gbege

Ogamysamo:
Anoda gbege

My brother, sorry for the long delay, I hope you're still following. I'm back.

Royver:


My brother, sorry for the long delay, I hope you're still following. I'm back.

i wasn't still following but since you're back am still following

Continue please