Mbong and the Tree with Human parts

Mbong has been used to life in Yaoundé the big city, in the security of a well fenced house located in one of the streets at Bastos, though the tall fence has not really protected her from the frequent nightmares she has been telling Enjema her only and closest friend.

At the moment, Enjema is helping her mother in the preparation of her father's favorite dish which is kwacoco and banga soup.

Enjema's mother: [initiating the conversation]
"What has become of your friend, she is becoming rebelus just all of a sudden. Your father and I will not like to see you acting like that."

_Enjema:
"Mammy, if you know why she is behaving this strange. You may even have a little sympathy for her."

_{Enjema's mother:}
What could be her excuses for such insolence.

_Enjema:
"Mbong just turned 15 two weeks ago and and was devastated by the information she found in a briefcase that was left unlocked in their sitting room.
Mammy could you believe that uncle Nicolas and Aunt P adopted Mbong".

"And who gave her such information?" Enjema's mother enquires.

"The documents of course," Enjema replies " it was signed and seald by a local magistrate And do you know, when she asked of her real parents, they told her that her parents died and her only surviving relative is her grand mother who lives in a village called Bumbui. "

"Poor child." Enjema's mother interjects.

_Enjema:
"And they are taking her there to see her grandmother"

[The Scene switches to the journey]

This is the third bus in the journey and Mbong has been quiet while staring into the distance as if her mind had escaped her body. Though the journey was bumpy and the road muddy, she was not in the mode to observe the natural beauty in the rolling hills, waterfalls and tall baobab trees towering into the sky and creating shed. Some area had such dense canopy that the sun was obscured. Pushing through and navigating the small path and Spoof! Spoof!! The sounds are coming from under the bus.

"Ooh my God" exclaims the driver as he visibly struggles to safely hult the bus.

"Every body please come down, " says the Driver.

_Passenger:
"Why are you stopping the bus here, it looks so lonely?"

_Driver:
"we have two flat tyres and it's very bad, so come down lets find a solution to this and leave this place before it gets dark."

Everyone gets down the bus, except for Mbong who is still seated with tearfull eyes.

After a while Mr. Nicolas apriched, whispering to Mbong through the open window, " your mother, I and everyone are off the bus, won't you come down?"

Reluctantly Mbong stepd down, wearing a green gown and clutching a small black bag. Looking around as if asking herself how they got here.
It's not long before her attention is cought by the acrobatics displayed by a young kitten. Leaving in the city, she had never seen the young of a goat in its playful caprioles.

The passengers are all complaining that their food have got bad, some are interpreting the whole situation as an omen pointing to something unknown.
Mr Nicolas and P are still arguing, unable to acertin who left his briefcase open and why it was in the seating room and how the discovery ruined her 15th birthday and have changed her ever-since.
None of the passengers seem to notice Mbong drifting as the kitten lured her deep into the nearby forest.
Stopping under a tree and stretching to get a fruit from the tree. Mbong playfully asks, "are you hungry?"
Not as if she actually expected a reply from the kitten.
She plugs the fruit for the kitten but the kitten was long gone when she looked.
With the fruit at hand and no kitten to feed "I am famished" she says "the journey has been long and stressful", as she takes a bite. "It tastes good" she says.
"Yes I knew you will love it" a voice replies. She turns around and finds no-one,

"Where are you?, Who are you" she asked.

"I am here behind you." Replies the voice from the tree

As she turns around, and here the tree she just ate from had eyes, a mouth and ears. Struck with fear and chills running down her spine, she got the goose pimples. immobilized by fear, she falls at the foot of the tree.

Mbong o!, Mbong ooo!!, Mbong ooooo!!!

She hear her name, from different voices approaching.
There she is, under that tree, she must have passed out.

[Back to the Bus]
The passangers are asking what she eat this morning. And P is telling them that she had lost her appetite and must have fainted out of exhaustion.
Slowly regaining consciousness, she breaks a cold sweat, clinches on P with both hands as she quake in fear while mumbling with a slurred speech.

"She must have encountered something in that bush" says the driver.

_{Passenger 2}
"Why are we not moving"

"We were waiting for those two, they went looking for her at the other side." Replies the driver.

Ring! Ring!! Ring!!!
P's phone is ringing, and it's Enjema's mother.
"Have you found her or should we still call the police?" She asked.

"We have found her" P replied "no need for the police, and the bus is on the move and hello!, hello!!, hello!!!. Network!" She exclaims.

As Mbong is trying to explain what she saw, the passengers are confused, "was it having mutilated human parts hanging on it?" They asked.
"No, it had it's own mouth and could talk." She manages to reply.
"Let the poor girl rest" says one of the elderly passenger. "That part of the forest is special, no doubt she has seen something."

[The Scene switches to grand-Mammy's place]

"Bienvenue mon enfant" grandma welcomes them. Giving Mbong a long bear hug as she manages to stretch up with difficulty. "Je suis vieille mon enfant" pulling a bambo chair closer and gesturing for them to seat.
She is old and almost bent at 90°, she must have been very tall when she was young.

Holding on the Mbong, she asks.
"Je n'ai pas eu de visiteurs ces derniers temps, qui es-tu ? et à quoi dois-je le plaisir de cette visite
et pourquoi voyagez-vous si tard? "

"Je m'appelle Nicolas, je suis avec ma femme, nous sommes là avec Mbong pour vous voir." replies Mr. Nicolas

"où est ma petite fille" she asked.

"elle est là dans tes bras, nous arrivons en retard car elle était perdue dans la forêt". replies Mr. Nicolas.

"mon enfant, dis-le-moi. que t'est-il arrivé dans la forêt ?" she asked Mbong with a very kind tone while stroking her hair.

_{Mbong replied :}
"J'ai été conduit vers un arbre par un chaton, après avoir mangé de l'arbre, il a commencé à me parler."

"What did you eat and who talked to you?" The parents asked panicking.

"I think it was the tree that talked" she replied.

Grandma was not excited and unlike Nicolas and P, she was not afraid. And only asked if the day was a Monday. And P said it was and she sighed and said this words

"la communauté vient de perdre ses yeux et ses oreilles, et elle pense avoir trouvé un remplaçant. mais je crois qu'ils se trompent."

I will love to call on @udyliciouz @bela90 @samuelnkenta @jozzie90 and @goodybest to follow this link and participate in this contest

Media Credit

Picture from	Pixabay
Story By	@manuelhooks
Edited with	PhotoStudio App
For Verification	My Achievement 1 Link
To view links	Use Edge or Chrome for better results

#moviecontests3w02 #culture #nigeria
#steemexclusive #burnsteem25
#creativewriting #club5050