"There is to be a coronation. The chiefs will not be able to see you now!"
Mary that had been waiting outside the throne room just got served a full cup of disappointment. "So when should I return?"
The kinsman looked at her. [See this stranger o], he thought. "I do not know. Keep your ears open to know when the initiation rites would be over"
"Initiation?"... she didn't know when that came out of her mouth but was happy it did because Mary didn't understand why the young son needed to be 'initiated' not 'coronated'.
"This is our business. The ways of our people". He bowed his head and went back into the throne room.
Mary got up from the bench that had been put outside for people waiting to see the Obong, straightened her dress, and walked out of the compound. She felt a bit frustrated but she wasn't going to let this go.
"I must see him".
* * *
At the end of every month, Mary liked to undergo a program of fasting. She would go deep into the woods or forest, where she couldn't be disturbed by anyone.
After getting home that day, she gathered what she would need. Things like mosquito repellant, boots... as she knew she would walk for a long time. Mary carried her bible too.
[I hope Edidiong is okay. I didn't mention to her that I will be gone for two days], Mary thought. She knew her friend easily got worried, so she called her personal cook, "If Edidiong comes, tell her I have gone to the forest to pray"
Her cook's eyes widened, "Which forest are you going to, Miss Mary?"
"Why do you ask? Is there one I shouldn't go to?"
"Yes of course, it is The Evil Forest. No one is-"
"Evil forest? what makes it evil?"
"I do not know." But the cook knew. But it wasn't from her mouth Mary would hear of what made Forest Afo evil. [The walls had ears], she thought.
Mary just looked at her and said, "Please give Edidiong my message"
She left the house.
* * *
As she sang her hymns... praying for the community she lived in, and for her family, Mary kept walking into the woods.
But Mary didn't know she had ventured into the Forest called, Afo, which the locals knew as The Evil Forest. Her cook had been so scared to tell her about the forest, thinking the spirits would hunt her down while she slept, for divulging such information to a stranger.
Mary Hutchison didn't believe there was anything like An Evil Forest. She had thought about what the cook said... [What will make a forest evil? Just woods for Christ's sake!]. It sounded absurd to her so she ignored what she heard totally.
Finding a very large tree, she stopped singing and stood, admiring the largeness of its trunk. Its circumference was amazing and she noticed it provided a good shade, so she arranged some leaves and sat down on its roots.
Several minutes passed, and she was beginning to feel parched and sleepy. Mary brought out the bottle that held her water and took a sip.
Then, she arranged herself... [I should take a little nap before I pray again], Mary thought.
As she balanced her left arm on a clay pot that was beside her, it cracked! "Someone must have forgotten their water pot here", Mary said.
Curiosity got the best of Mary as she looked inside the pot that had no lid. "AHHHHHH!", Mary screamed. She scrambled off the ground. Mary grabbed her little bag. She was frantic. Mary was panicking... her heartbeat, was over the top.
TWO LITTLE SKELETONS!
Mary took off running.
[I have to get out of this place]
As she ran out, missing a turn she was meant to use out of the forest, she kept going deeper into Afo.
Mary sighted about four more sets of tiny skeletons. "I have missed my way. God! I am lost. Oh my God, Oh my God!". At this point, she started weeping. [What do I do? How do I get out of here?]
Nobody was in view, not even one soul. None of the natives came to that forest hence the name.
She had stopped crying but was still whimpering, with dried tears on her face. Mary saw the kind of tree she had been admiring. "This must be around where I was sitting". She sniffed and began tracking.
"The evil pot", she would have screamed, but fear and confusion didn't give her that chance. A feeling of hope coursed through her body as she saw the pot she had almost rested on. Mary traced her steps back and found herself out of the forest.
Mary Hutchison didn't stop running until she got to the mouth of her door. People on the street looked at her as the sunset. It was as if Mary had seen a ghost, and that wasn't a big deal to the Ufik people. But the direction she was coming from was what made them wonder.
One woman that was arranging her corncobs by the road, told her friend; "Did you see where she was running from? Ah!"
"You! Your eyes are always on other people's bodies. Why?", her friend replied.
"See this cat. I am telling you something, you are saying another thing. That white woman just came out of the evil forest."
Her friend's eyes widened, and she looked back at Mary who was still running ahead, "I am sure she saw something."
"Something like two babies looking alike."
"Ah. She is in trouble. No sleep for her this night,"
* * *
Mary barged into her hut. [I am going to strangle that cook], she thought.
Edidiong sat in a corner... "Mary, what is it? Were you crying? Why are you breathing like that o? Is a ghost pursuing you?". Edidiong quickly stood up to check her friend. Mary wasn't looking good at all.
Mary breezed past her, straight into the kitchen, "Where is that cook? WHERE IS SHE?!"
"Tsk tsk. She is not here. I think she went to the market. Mary, what is it? Sit down first na"
"I can not sit down, Edidiong. WHAT ARE THE SKELETONS OF BABIES DOING IN THAT FOREST?!"