Shadows Of The Serengeti. (Part 1.)

A group of young kids scheme to go hiding around in the night to an elderly man’s house hoping to see the rumors they heard with their own eyes. Stories were being told around that in the darkest and most quiet hours of the night, a spirit overcomes him and he sets off running naked in the night with his eyes glowing as he disrupts the sleep of other members of the village. I was also rumored at that time he had the ability to take on the form of any creature. This sounded so interesting to the young ones they thought they just had to witness with their own eyes.

Smart ones they thought they were. As the night grows more quiet, the kids sneak out of their homes each excited and hopeful to see the reality of the rumor. They move slow and quiet as they signal each other. Others hide in the overgrown bushes, behind trees and the seemingly bold one goes by the elderly man’s window to peep as he wanted to be the first to see. A t first they are all keen watching excited from their positions but this all takes longer than they had expected. They have been out there for a while and nothing is happening.

People are starting to doze off as it is now getting really late. Among them is young Zuberi, still wide awake as he keeps on hearing constant slow inaudible whispers in the wind that is blowing gently. Malika , his closest friend taps him as he seems lost in thought. “What is on your mind? You must stay focused the old man might come out any moment now.”

Almost instantaneously, a loud firm cough is heard from the house. The so called bold one who had fallen asleep by the window jumps to his feet screaming, “Do not kill me please!” Everyone hiding around is now alert. They are now terrified waiting on the doors movement as their signal to take off. The door is suddenly opened and no one seats around to wait and see what is to follow. Zuberi and Malika take off running in the direction of the tall grown maize fields as it would be difficult to be caught or even seen in there.

It is at this time that the whispers in Zuberi’s ears start to grow louder making him confused unaware of his surroundings leading him to suddenly trip over the roots of a tree. He falls unconscious. Malika tries to pull him but his weight proves not easy to drag so she is left with no other option but to run into the maize fields leaving Zuberi there unconscious.

While in this state, Zuberi sees mixed up visions.By the entrance of a cave a woman screams as she gives birth. A man with the body of a warrior holds her as he speaks some words to her. The visions begin getting more blurred and make no sense to him. The man now holds the crying child in his arms the moon shining upon them. The whispers are now audible and are now chanting repeatedly,”Child born of the moon, child born of the moon….”

Zuberi wakes up gasping for breath. He is now in his grandparents house, where he lives. He looks over to his right and sees the front door open. It is now morning and the elderly man is having a talk with his grand papa outside their house. They don’t take long and his grand papa gets back inside the house. Noticing that Zuberi is awake,”You are awake? What were you thinking, at that time what would you have done had a hyena found you?” Zuberi remains silent for a few seconds and proceeds to talk. “There have never been hyenas around grandpapa, it is that man. He turns into a hyena at night and scares the people of the village, we just wanted to go see with our own eyes.” Slowly realizing where all this is coming from his grandpapa responds.”So you were not alone,you and your friend Malika are going to be the end of me with all this trouble you cause.”

Zuberi sets himself back into a comfortable position to sleep and the room falls silent for a few seconds when he suddenly asks, “Grandpapa, what does child born of the moon mean?”

For now the story ends there but shall continue in the next post with a bit of a time jump. Young Zuberi is now grown. Stay tuned it’s going to get a bit more interesting.

Await to dive further into the unknown.