Clink!
The glass marbles scattered like fire-ants in rain on the dusty ground. One of them rolled down the bumpy terrain and fell into the designated hole.
Kwanele pumped his fist, and rolled up his shirt sleeves for another round. The boys arranged the marbles in a hexagon and returned to their positions.
"Where's the one I won?" he asked his gang leader. The boy ran a hand through his close cropped hair and shifted his weight from his left leg to his right.
"Go big or go home. Just play the game, neh?"
The washed sorghum grains, left to dry on huge tarpaulin sheets, had plastic woven nets on them to keep away birds. Post harvest, the village children had taken over the fields, with football matches and marble tournaments. Women, wearing beaded necklaces that looped to their chests, watched them eagerly from their homes.
They just wanted their children indoors by sunset, no matter what. Seeing the sun dip below the horizon, most of them had already begun gathering their cereal and their children.
"Nele?! Don't make me–"
"Just one more match, mama!" he replied, bending for the strike. He bent his middle finger back, holding the marble on it. His ebony irises were focused solely on the red- coloured master marble in the middle.
If he were to socket that, he'd win them all.
Dark, tall and proud; the creature had robes made of a green, papery material wrapped around herself like the leaf sheaths of cereals. She would glide out of the dust clouds, brought to life by the land-breeze, everyday. In the dull orange backlight, her hair resembled sorghum flowers.
The boys behind him started screaming at her sight, making him miss his mark. He didn't know who had pulled him out of the fields and into his house.
His mother slammed the door shut, latched it down and held him against her chest. The talisman was suspended from her hand, swinging on a chain of gold.
"Not today, please not today," she whispered.
Kwanele said, "She's just a spirit, mama, calm down. Baba's not afraid of her, then what are you so scared of?"
°•°
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NOTUM: Study Of A Nightwalker ✔️
Paranormal(Complete) (Really old work, will contain inconsistencies and errors) (Work Dated: April 2018) An old factory stands tall and alone in a barren field. A sprawling family manor was recently renovated into an international hotel. With its quaint stree...
