The Wishing Well – Episode 1
THE WISHING WELL
(DARK SECRET)
EPISODE 1
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WRITTEN BY NATHANIEL ANUMA
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She jerked awake inside a lorry when a thunder rumbled above them as if the firmament was about to fall on them. She stretched her hands up, feeling tired of the excursion that took them hours. She was at the middle of the lorry where she looked front and back to see her fellow students dosing off due to the same fatigue except Mr Chuks, their lecturer, who was fully awake, reading a newspaper. Nevertheless, she averted her eyes from him to the glass of the lorry beside her to see the atmosphere cloudy with lightening. Just then, the thunder stroke again. For a second, she looked down on the topography of the land: far away to fall if actually they have accident. Her mind skipped after the horrible sight of the sloppy high land.
“Kiana, what are you looking at?” a male voice came beside her. That was Juel who also had his eyes on the strange weather.
Kiana glanced at him. “Nothing much. Just the weather. It’s getting me worried” she replied.
“It gonna rain in no time”
“I think so”
Juel smiled at her. “Don’t worry, Ana, nothing gonna happen” he held her palm warmly. Of course she tightened it and returned the smile that exposed her dimples, baby-face and her pointed nose which also contributed why almost all the male students from her department of Biochemistry had their eyes on her. She was naturally beautiful, jovial and intelligent.
Both surveyed the road to see how the driver tried to get through a minor pothole. Suddenly, the lorry shook very hard that all the students woke up with hearts full of qualm. Mr Chuks also closed the newspaper to the sudden hulaballoo. Before they knew what was going on, the lorry began to bend toward the sloppy land like a van jacked up from one side. Students screamed!!
“Juel, i’m scared. What’s happening?!” Kiana grabbed him, terrified like a child to her father’s arms. Just then, a loud thunder stroke again and a heavy downpour escalated immediately.
The poor boy couldn’t reply for he was as terrified as the girl. But one of his hands
never left a metal object. He held it tightly as if both were magnects of different
poles. Meanwhile, no student was on his or her seat, all screamed, holding one
thing or the other until the lorry finally fell down the slope like a rolling ball.
Luckily, it stocked on a palm tree thereby flinging some students out to different
places through broken glasses of the lorry. Of course, some died while many
sustained injury.
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Blood kept dripping on the floor of Federal hospital as many injured students were rushed in by rescure team. One could see them on their dark yellow with red cross uniform, handing the victims over to the nurses and doctors. Others were still on their way. Their ambulances never seized to indicate blue, red and yellow light
plus the siren that set the city in a big shock of terror and sadness. What could bring about such a drastic accident? Was the question in the mouth of everybody.
Dr. Danny, the Head of Department of the affected students could be seen, briskly walking out of the hospital with Jumbo, the head of the rescure team. Both had the same height but totally different in complexion: Dr. Danny was darker. Suddenly, the sound of a flying helicopter paved above the roof of the hospital.
‘How many students set out for the excursion, sir?” Jumbo’s voice came loudly in order to subdue the sound of the helicopter .Kindly share out more interesting stories from generalloaded.com using the floating social media icon button below.
Dr. Danny used the same degree of tone. “Sixty-two students, excluding the lecturer and the driver, sir!”
“Our statistic is: Forty-nine injured students, while nine dead!” he stopped at the entrance of the hospital with a sad expression. His voice became calmed as the sound of the helicopter gradually faded off. “We still have four more students missing”
“Well, you have to find them either dead or alive”
“My men have searched every nook and cranny of that land, sir”
Dr. Danny, in his big belly like a pregnant woman, placed his two hands on the
waist, spacing out in the rain. He suddenly glared at Jumbo with a cool mean
voice. “Well, Mr man, i don’t know how you gonna do it, but i want the missing
students found before night-fall, while i find out the cause of the accident from the
driver” he walked out.
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Back to the land, Juel could be found beside a flowing river which current was very high to carry a human being. He laid lifeless by the side of the river until he felt water puffing out of his mouth through CPR. When he opened his eyes, he saw two persons standing before him.
“Are you okay, Juel?” one of them asked him.
He didn’t reply rather staggered up in the rain and whipped out dripping water from his face. He was able to recognise the two people who were a boy and a girl from the same department. ‘Nancy…” he called, taking a deep breath. “Anderson.. what… uhm..” he looked around the forest. “Where are we?”
“We don’t know?” Anderson also took another look at the strange place. “It’s not so long we bumped out of the river just like you did’
“Where are others?”
“We are as blank as you are” Nancy interfered. She wore a jean trouser with shortleeve shirt which had been soaked with the rain thereby exposing not only the outline of her bra but also her flat belly. She was black in complexion with the beauty of an african princess.
“What of Kiana?” Juel was still inquisitive.
“Are you deaf?!” Nancy yelled at him only to discover the echo of her voice as the reply to her own query.
Anderson’s voice grew cold and mean. “It seems like you don’t understand what we’re telling you. Come on, we need to find a way out of here?” he led the way followed by Nancy who glanced at Juel for the last time. :
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The rain had stopped but the three students were still wet and cold regardless of the sunset that gradually began to give way for total darkness. Grasses rattled both far and near just like insects such as crickets chippedvery closely.
“I don’t get it” Juel stopped. “How can we have an accident with sixty-two students and we are the only one wandering about? Not even our lorry can be found”
Anderson turned to him. “The last time i checked, we were carried by a river. So you can’t predict the location of the accident and our present location”
As the two men argured, Nancy sighted a well, pointing at it saying, “Look!”
They hurried to the well to see it with a small triangular roof. Nancy kept smiling as she walked around it magestically. Her motion and expression got the other two boys not only surprise but also speechless. Therefore they looked at each other.
“What?” Nancy stopped, staring at them. “Don’t tell me you’ve not heard about a wishing well”
“What’s a wishing Well?” Juel asked.
“A wishing well is a term from European folklore to describe wells where it was thought that any spoken wish would be granted. The idea that a wish would be granted came from the notion that water housed deities or had been placed there as a gift from the gods. This practice is thought to have arisen because water is a source of life, and was often a scarce commodity.” She explained.
“The last time I checked, you were a science student not History” Juel said. “Well, I wish to be in my bed now” he added.
“Well, it doesn’t work that way” Nancy took a step forward. “You have to look into the well and make your wish within yourself”
The three students looked into the deep dark well then began to make their wishes. Suddenly, a voice came from behind one of them saying, “Your wish is your secret and your secret should be as deep and dark as the well”
All turned to see the owner of the voice; a young looking man, plumpy and creepy. His bushy hair seemed never to see a comb for the past few months. Just as the students moped at him, they saw Kiana, coming behind him.
‘Ana?” Juel called on her.
“Juel!” she wanted to run to him, but the strange man held her back.
“Kiana, do you know him?” Anderson asked.
She looked at the man. “No!” she struggled. “I just opened my eyes and realised i’m here” she added.
“She just came through the same way you came. Just that she was a bit faster than you” the man said seriously.
Juel glared. “Listen, I don’t care who you are. But you have to let her go” he stepped forward like a wrestler.
“She’s mine now” the man said without moving an intch.
“How?” Nancy asked. “Let me guess, she’s your wish” she added.
“Yes, I wished to have her as mine forever” he glanced at the well. “And the well granted my wish” he smiled.
“Oh, my God!” Nancy exclaimed. “You are the cause of our accident! For she to come to you as you wished an accident had to occur”
“Yes, so are your wishes.” The man kept smiling. “For your wish to be granted,
one or two lives must be taken” he laughed, while the students looked at one
another in surprise for they have all made a wish. They also wondered how the
man knew Kiana…
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TO BE CONTINUED
