CASCADE
The voice came through the phone. Faded and yet solid. “Hello? Are you there?”
The woman at the other end asked. “What is your emergency?”
“Help!”
“Where are you? What is your position?”
“Help me”
“Tell me what is happening ma’am. Can you find somewhere to hide?”
“There is something in the water. Help us!”
“Ma’am? Ma’am?”
“GhhyfgbjmkihffDCet ghbjjgFCCvvb” The connection went dead.
***
It all started with the video. One day, someone posted a video of young men and women vacationing in a resort. It was an ordinary video of them having lots of fun but it stirred something in me. In my twenty-three years of life, I had never stepped my feet out of Edo state. I felt I was living life wrongly and vowed to correct my mistakes. When I was done watching, I quickly slid into Mercy’s DM.
“Hey, Mercy.”
“What’s up?” She replied.
“I’m fine. Just want to indicate my interest in traveling with you and Eki the next time an opportunity to tour comes”
“Alright. I will tell you when I see one of those. It is after Corona sha”
“I know. Thanks”
Two months later, after the lockdown was lifted, I, Mercy, Eki, and a group of strangers were waiting inside a bus. Our driver had disappeared into Sagari Market in the quest for food. Inside the bus, conversations flew here and there. Everyone was already making new friends or clinging to their old ones. I was in the middle of all that, alone.
Mercy and Eki were not really my friends, so there was not much to talk about and other people on the bus were not looking my way at all. There were handsome guys here and there and I promised myself that if one looked at me, I would wink and smile in a flirty way. I was kidding myself.
After a while of waiting, I gave up the bet and relaxed. A few minutes later, I had this strange urge to turn and look, and Bam! The young man behind Chanelle and Ejiro was staring at me. I tried to avert my eyes by looking everywhere but forward. If all the young men were handsome, he was the most good looking of the pack. I saw his shoes move away from the chair and begin to walk towards me.
I was screaming inside. He sat down in front of me. All the plans I had for winking and smiling was gone, my eyes were wide and my lips parted like that of a dying fish.
“Hi, I am Justin,” he offered his hand to me.
“Itohan,” I said.
“Nice name, my best friend also bears Itohan and she’s very troublesome”
I should have taken offense but his smile was beautiful “Well, you are the only Justin I know. I replied. Smiling back at him.
We got down from the bus seven hours later. My bum was cooked from sitting down for so long. Justin was still by my side as we walked single file up the hill. If you know Enugu Nigeria, you know that the area is a rain forest region, which means that there are many tall trees. Enugu state is in southeast Nigeria. As we neared the top of the hill, the sound of the water became very loud.
There was the waterfall cascading before us, and then the lake below the waterfall. It was all so beautiful, so rustic! The mood of everyone improved as we walked towards the waterfall. There is a joy in getting what you have been promised. From up a crop of rocks where one could sit and bathe like a mermaid, the water was rushing towards us, very white and foamy.
I suddenly wanted to put it in my mouth. Surely, water so clear would taste sweet?
Image Source: Unsplash.com
“Alright! Let’s go inside” Anita, the girl who had been here many times before called out. She was going to be showing us around and overseeing our activities. We walked towards the house, the only house on the hill. It was quite large and every part of it, including the foundation, was made of wood.
Inside, there were five bedrooms and since we were fifteen in number(eight ladies and seven men), it had to be three persons to a room. This arrangement was not bad in the least. The house also had an insanely large living room filled with soft and low sofas people could sit on and make out.
That evening, we were all out in the living room. Some people were making out. Some were playing the Ludo and Aro games while others like me were having conversations.
The girl who sat down beside me was a dark-skinned, wide-eyed beauty. She said her name was Boloere and she lived in Abuja with her doting father. “Bo-loe-re” I rolled her name on my tongue. When she saw how difficult it was for me to pronounce it, she laughed out loud.
“Your phone is ringing,” I said, interrupting her laughter.
“Oh!” She picked it up “It is my dad,” she said, with a cute exasperated expression on her face.
I washed her talk on the phone. I wasn’t listening to her words but it was the change in her expression that told me something was wrong.
“Are you okay?” I asked. Her hands were shaking.
“My daddy. He is in the hospital. I need to go home now” she said, getting up quickly.
“Be safe!” I called after her. It was already getting dark outside. I wondered if she wasn’t acting on impulse. I felt like calling her back but before I could open my mouth, she was already out the door.
“Nice to find you alone again,” a voice said behind me. It was from Justin. He sank into Boloere’s spot beside me and greeted me with a smile.
“Hi,” I said. My throat was dry.
“Hi,” he said back. Then he reached out and removed an invisible strand of hair from my cheek. I was so nervous having him this close to me. I almost pissed my pants. The kiss I was expecting never came though. I was thankful for that later.
The next morning, Anita rounded us all up military style and counted us.
“Where is Boloere?” She asked.
“She went home. Her dad is sick” I replied. Everyone looked at me. “I tried to stop her,” I said as an afterthought. There was a collective sigh and Anita continued with the instructions. We were to head out with our towels to the hot water spring for a delicious early morning bath out in the open.
Everyone got their things and we left the house behind. Outside, the ground was wet and soggy from the rainfall of the previous night. It was a chore navigating through the mud but it was doable. When we got to the spring, I found a spot to sit. I did not want to jump in with others who were jumping in excitedly. My sensitive skin crawled as I watched all those bodies bumping into each other and entering the water at the same time. I imagined the millions of germs they would be sharing.
“You don’t want to go in too?” Justin asked. He had sneaked up on me again.
“Do you? Or you just like to copy me?” I asked. My words were quite harsh so I softened them with a smile.
“I would love to copy you,” he said. “Will you let me?”
“Well, yes” I replied, swallowing saliva to wet my suddenly dry throat. “Please sit down” I offered, patting the space beside me. I was sitting on a large rock and I would occasionally get sprayed with water because the waterfall was near me.
We watched the others bathe happily in the water. There were naked bodies right in front of us. Some were scratching each other’s back and touching other things in the process. I was not shy to look. After all, it was because they opened it for me to see that I got to see.
The mist was slowly rising. I guess that was how it deceived us. Slowly rising until it completely covered everyone in the water.
“That is some thick mist,” Justin said.
“I swear”
We watched as the mist swirled over the water. I was a little tempted to go and touch it but I restrained myself. Minutes later, I was grateful that I didn’t. When the mist cleared, the sounds began to come gradually. People screaming at the top of their voices. It was a horrible sound. Justin and I jumped to our feet. He began to go towards the water but I stopped him.
“Don’t. We are not immune to whatever is making them terrified.”
We waited for them to come out of the water for hours. Every hour took something from us. A piece of our souls. I dialed 112 a million times but the call never went through. When Anita came out, she was almost unrecognizable, covered in blood like that. She had a deep cut on her belly and her left eye was sealed shut. I and Justin ran towards her, held her as she collapsed on us.
“Hold her legs. Let’s go inside” Justin said.
“What of the others?” I asked hopefully. He looked at me with pain and terror in his eyes.
“Isn’t it obvious? They are all dead.”
Image Source: Unsplash.com
***
My mother would be getting dressed for work. My mommy who taught me to never give up. Who despite being a single mother with all the minuses that comes with it refused to lay down flat and admit defeat. She had been happy for me when I told her about my trip.
“The only problem is that, who will cook for us now? She asked. I had two other siblings, a fifteen and a twelve-year-old.
“It is just three days ma. Besides, it is long overdue. Those your children need to learn to take care of themselves” I replied.
Sitting in the middle of a living room empty of people who had been there just yesterday, I remembered our last conversation and tears trickled down my cheeks. If I close my eyes, I could almost imagine that those twelve persons who had died that morning were still in the living room, talking, laughing, and kissing each other. It was so tempting to be lost in that dream, so tempting to run away from reality.
“Hey” Justin called. I turned to see him standing inside the door. He looked frail and tired.
“Is she awake?” I asked.
“Yes”
Image Source: Unsplash.com
I got up and followed him to the room we were keeping Anita. She was still in so much pain but the pain relievers I had brought was helping her a little. She looked bruised and battered lying on that bed covered with the white duvet. Yet I knew that what was under that duvet was even gorier looking. Careful not to hurt her, I sat down on the bed.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Dead” she replied.
“I’m sorry. You will get better” I said and squeezed her palm. The only part of her body that wasn’t injured.
“There is something…something in the water,” she said. I nodded. That much was clear.
“What did it look like?”
“Like a monster. A Rhino with claws and sharp teeth. A tail with barbs for cleaving a person in two” she said.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“I do not know why I am alive. I should be dead”
“Don’t say that”
Her eyes perused the walls. “There is something wrong. It let me go. Why?”
“I don’t know” This time, it was Justin who answered. Suddenly Anita began to laugh and it came out like a strangled cough.
“It is coming. It is coming for us”
***
The water was roaring and I could hear just outside my window as I lay in bed. The sound was bone-chilling. I took my torchlight and went to the next room. That was where Justin was sleeping. I got into bed and snuggled up with him. In his arms, I realized that there were many reasons why I didn’t want to die. The tears came and Justin dried them with a corner of the duvet. Then we kissed.
“Go to sleep.” He said when we were done “we will be fine” he prayed.
I woke up that morning with my face to the window. The sky outside was so blue and clear. I got out of bed and walked to the window with the intent of watching the sunrise. When I got to the window, I saw the sky’s reflection below me. I was confused for some seconds but I quickly figured it out and screamed.
“What is it?!!” Justin jumped out of bed. “Holy Shit” he swore when he saw it. The water had moved to our house and it was almost at the window level. We were trapped.
“Can you swim?” He asked me.
“Swim? Are you forgetting what is in the water?” I asked. There was a loud bang. The house tipped to the side and righted itself. The motion caused me to fall on the ground, along with Justin who was trying to steady me.
“We are not safe in here,” Justin said. His grip on my arm was tightening.
“What? Are you okay?” I asked. His eyes were turning red. With one hand, he lifted me up and began dragging me towards the door.
“Stop! Stop it!”
The demon was ravaging in his body, I just knew it. I needed to get out of his hold so I thought fast. I turned dead weight in his arms in a faux faint. He looked back, swore, and picked me up on his shoulder. That was all the opportunity I needed. With all my strength, I connected my elbow to his skull, knocking him out.
When he fell, I fell along with him and hit my ribs on the floor. I roared out into the universe. I was suddenly very angry. The house shook as the water roared back. Making my way to the room Anita was kept, I made sure to barricade all connecting doors so Justin would not be able to get to us.
Anita was wide awake when I got into the room. She tried to speak but she couldn’t. I locked the door and pushed the heavy armchair behind it. Then I walked to the window and closed it, stuffing everywhere I perceived as holes with towels.
“What..” Anita began.
“The lake has come to us. We will drown if we do not get help and soon. Justin has been possessed” I reported mechanically. I was washed out, and uninterested in sugarcoating anything for her. The reality of my situation had left me stunned and in the back of my mind, I was sitting alone in an empty room and watching the memories of my short life play before me on a big screen.
I brought out my phone and dialed the emergency number. My whole body was shaking. The water was above the window level now and seeping into the towels. I heard the line ring and snapped back to reality.
“Hello,” I begged.
“What is your emergency?” The woman asked.
“Help us. There is something in the water” I cried.
“Where are..” the line went dead.
“Hello? Hello?”
The phone fell from my hands. I just knew it, we were all going to die.
What's Your Reaction?
