Cameroonian Magic 《ONC 2023》

7. the ghost

Birds sang from the branches hanging over Gabriella, golden mango fruits dotted the canopy like jewels and the scent of honey settled around her. She blinked and pushed herself up, something was wrong, where was she? A small brown bird hopped in front of her, tilting it's head, seemingly with no fear.

A rock dug into her leg so she shifted it, making the bird flit up to a branch. Gabriella groaned, her head hurt and she had no idea where she was. The last thing she remembered was getting to her hotel on the day she arrived. She looked around, taking in anything that could trigger a memory and noticed the blanket. It was the only thing she was wearing, her clothes were in a neat pile nearby.

Scattered around the area were some woven grass mats and some bottles. Had it been a party? Had she gotten so drunk that her memories were gone? Breathing into her hand proved pointless, she couldn't tell what her breath smelt like. Wait! Had she been raped? Gabriella wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and checked her body. It seemed unmarked but that was strange, even the scar on her knee was gone, something gained from falling off a scooter at age ten.

Instead of over thinking, Gabriella decided to put her clothes on, they weren't damaged so it was likely that she had undressed herself. Her bag was nearby and contained everything she usually packed, including her camera. Nothing had been taken as far as she knew and her water bottles were full. She checked for her notes and found six mangoes in the bag just like the fruit above, they smelt gorgeous. She picked one up when her stomach gurgled and tried to peel it to take a bite, this was tricky as her fingernails were too short.

The juice ran down the outside of it so she instinctively licked the fruit. Out of hunger she took a bite and the peel dissolved in her mouth, closing her eyes at the taste she took another and another until she was licking her empty fingers. That was the best mango Gabriella had ever tasted, she opened her eyes and realised she had eaten the pip as well as the skin. Biting her lip, Gabriella wondered if the fruit was drugged.

She zipped her bag up after drinking some water, it was so fresh and didn't have the after taste that water gets in warm plastic bottles. But when had the headache disappeared? Maybe she had just been thirsty, she stretched and picked up the blanket, it was too nice to leave behind and it felt like a waste to just dump it. It also felt wrong to leave the place in a mess so she started to gather the scattered mats and other objects, stacking them neatly by the tree. Would someone come back to collect these things or should she take the rubbish?

The pile of discarded objects were mostly made up of organic materials and her bag was already full so she sifted through it, only picking up plastic packaging and some glass bottles. A single plastic carrier bag proved the perfect find and she filled it. With the tidy up complete, Gabriella took another look at the place she found herself.

Flowers were everywhere and massive butterflies took advantage of that, in fact all the insects were large. Beyond the shade of the mango tree, a meadow filled with life filled a massive open area and beyond it a mature forest surrounded her. It was beautiful and untouched, as if this place was far from the destruction in the rest of Cameroon. Was she near any town? How far from the hotel was she and how long had she slept?

Some kind of antelope skipped into the grass, it looked straight at her, blinking it's large almond eyes. The small bird from before flew to the animal, landing on its head, chirping. Strangely she knew they were talking about her. Was this place a dream? How could it be real? But she knew it was!

Voices whispered around her but she couldn't see anyone, only plants and animals. She focused on each voice, tracking its origin. That was a snake, this was a snail, over there a lion laying in the shade and even the mango tree had a voice. It was crazy but Gabriella didn't feel confused, she knew that they were speaking and felt connected to them. Even the lion wasn't scary and she almost walked towards it, mistaking him to be the leader.