Separated - Episode 3

 

“Come on, let’s continue with the ones available”, Ifeanyi said as he picked up a trap.

“Will he be okay?” Ada asked sadly.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine”, Obi said.

They all continued setting the traps at once for the about thirty minutes.

Anayo on the other side was whistling as he walked fast along the bush path towards Sule’s place.

He was afraid but just had to prove a point for the rest of his friends.

He suddenly stopped as he heard a movement somewhere in the woods.

His heart was racing very fast.

He held his cutlass firmly as he shouted out of fear “Who’s there?”

There was no response; so he decided to take another step until he heard the movement again.

“Just show your face instead of hiding like a coward behind those woods”, he said as he approached a tree.

He crept silently to the back of the tree pointing his cutlass forward.

A boy of Anayo’s age came out from the back of the tree with his hands raised up.

He was a little bit shorter than Anayo but looks scared.

“Who are you?” Anayo asked confidently.

“I am Emeka”, he replied with his voice shaking.

“What are you doing alone in the woods alone by this time of the day?” Anayo continued.

“I came to fetch firewood for my parents but I can’t carry them alone to the village”, Emeka answered.

Smiling, Anayo stretched his hand for a handshake.

“My name is Anayo, I’m here with some of my friends for hunting”, He said.

Sighing, Emeka said, “I hid because this was my first time in this forest”.

“Wow, how old are you Emeka?” Anayo asked

“I’m fourteen years old”, Emeka answered.

“No matter how old you may be, you are not supposed to walk alone in this forest”, Anayo said.

“So what then are you doing alone in this forest”, Emeka asked.

“Oh me?” Anayo asked ironically

“Yes you”, Emeka answered smiling.

“I actually came with my friends for hunting but we left a tool behind which I’m going back to get”, Anayo explained.

“Your friends must be very wicked for sending you back alone without even sending one person to escort you to wherever you think you are going”. Emeka said disappointedly.

“I actually told them not to worry”, Anayo said.

“Why would you do that”? Emeka asked.

“I actually want to prove to them that I’m no longer a kid who must be followed around every time.” Anayo answered.

Sighing, “Now I understand”

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/separated

. Emeka said.

“So where are the fire woods you want to carry?” Anayo asked.

“They are under that tree”, Emeka said as he pointed to the direction of a tree.

Anayo helped his new friend to gather the firewood, tied them into a bunch and helped him put the bunch on his head.

“There you go”, Anayo said as he picked up his cutlass.

“Thank you very much”, Emeka said as they both started returning back to the bush path.

“You are very welcome”, He said as he started walking faster, leaving Emeka behind.

“I’m very sorry. I have to leave you behind because my friends will be worried if I don’t return back on time”, he added.

“There’s no problem. I can walk alone from here since you can do; thank you very much”,

Anayo couldn’t even hear the remaining things Emeka was saying as he had already walked far away really quickly.

He sighed with relief as he saw Sule’s hut in the distance.

“I got here at last”. He said to himself.

He entered Sule’s workshop and headed for the spot he last saw the strings.

He checked the whole place until he found them lying under a stool.

He picked them up immediately and headed for the door.

Sule came out of his room to see who just entered his workshop.

“What are you doing here”? He asked as he sighted Anayo.

“We forgot the strings papa”, Anayo answered.

“And you decided to come back alone?” Sule asked as he frowned his face.

“Yes papa, I wanted to prove that I’m not afraid of walking alone.” He said smiling.

“Don’t ever do that again”, Sule said with seriousness.

“Yes papa”. Anayo answered as he ran towards the forest.

 --------------------------------

Meanwhile, the others were already done with the setting of the traps in the forest and were waiting quietly under the shade far away from their traps. They planned to go back to access the traps after one hour. There are many possibilities that almost all their traps would have caught something since animals were always lurking around the forest looking for food to eat.

Just then, they could hear a strange sound of an animal. The sound coming from the direction was very clear that it was a bigger animal playing around the area.

“Shhhh”, Ifeanyi said to others.

“What’s that movement?” Obi asked whispering.

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound like that of a rat”, Chika answered also whispering.

“It’s something bigger”, Nkechi added.

Ifeanyi then walked silently towards the direction of the sound.

He came back with a very cheerful face.

“It’s an antelope”, He said almost yelling.

They all open their mouths widely with surprise.

“An antelope?” They all asked with amazement.

“It’s a bigger one”. He added.

“So what’s the plan?” Obi asked anxiously.

“We are going to surround it quietly and move closer until it has nowhere to go again”, Ifeanyi explained.

“Then that means we are all going to attack it with our cutlasses at once from different angles”, Chika added.

They all picked up their cutlasses and surrounded the antelope quietly.

They attacked it immediately but it ran speedily between Ada and Nkechi.

“It’s getting away!!!”, they all screamed.

They all started chasing the badly injured antelope deep into the forest without stopping.

“We are getting too deep, let’s leave it alone”, Nkechi shouted on top of her voice.

“Keep chasing it”, Obi yelled back.

They kept on chasing it until suddenly.

“Stop moving”, Ifeanyi shouted immediately.

They all halted immediately.

They then started feeling the earth crumbling under their feet. They all screamed as they started sinking into the pile of leaves underneath them.

They had fallen into a very large pit which had been probably dug by someone as a trap.

“Help!!!” They all screamed loudly but nobody could hear them since they were already too far into the forest.