Ntuoku: After The Rain: African Mythology, Igbo Superstition, Igbo Myth, Thriller, Adventure, Free Short Stories, Fabling, Pam
Five years had passed since Ada left her hometown for the city to study Mass Communication at the University of Nsuka. She remembered how she and her childhood friends had dreamed of passing the WAEC examination when they were younger and the joy they had felt when they received their results. Everyone had made it to their schools of choice. She smiled as she stared out of the bus’s window. She had always returned home, to Omuma, during the holidays, but this would be the first time everybody in the old gang would be present. She could not wait to see them. Mostly Ifeanyi.
The second she arrived home her little sister prepared a hot water bath for her. Once she was done washing away the journey’s stress, her mother asked her to help prepare dinner. ‘I just arrived. Can’t I get a one-day break?’ she grumbled but obeyed. It was nice eating with the family again.
“Have you heard? Ifeanyi is back from America? He is now working as a contractor for Shell.” Her mother quipped. Ada nodded; trying to hide the flush that enveloped her face every time his name was mentioned.
“Ego is also back too.” Her sister added. “I heard she would also be getting married next month.” She knew all these, she had spoken to everybody the day before, but she politely let her family keep talking like it was her first time hearing the updates on her old friends.
That night she dreamt of the good old days. She was particularly fond of the memory where with the help of the gang, she pranked Uche into believing that his house was on fire caught fire. Uche was the shortest among them, he was fragile, with a pimpled face and easily brought to tears. This automatically made him troll bait.
The next day she hurriedly did her chores, had her bath and rushed to their spot, close to the Urashi river bank, where fisher men were casting their nets from their canoes. She took a swimming trunk with her, just in case they decided to swim like in the old days. She also wanted to show Ifeanyi how beautiful her body had become, her hips had come out and her chest had become full.
“Mehn I’m telling you! We were afraid of a lot of things back then.” Ifeanyi laughed.
“Remember the dwarfs in the caves, the snake keepers. My mum used to scare me into doing housework with them.” Ego laughed.
“And Ntuoku!” Uche chipped in.
“What happened to Ntuoku?” Ada asked as she arrived at their spot.
“Ada!” Ego and Mary ran to hug her. They told each other how much they missed them and commented on how they had all grown in the right places. After the reunion with her girls Ego turned to greet Ifeanyi. He smiled at her and she smiled back, awkwardly. He had changed, the Ifeanyi she remembered was tall, a bit lanky, and had a slim waist, the Ifeanyi in front of her was round, huge, definitely not the boy who had occupied her fantasies for five years. She hugged him and turned to Uche, and froze.
“Uche! You’ve grown oh!” She said. He smiled and pulled her in for a hug. Her heart skipped a beat.
“Is that my ‘Hey Uche longest time no see! I miss you so so much’?” He mimicked a girlie voice. She smiled and smacked him at the back of his head. He hadn’t changed.
“Some things never change.” Ego smirked, she knew something. She always knew something.
“So what is this talk about Ntuoku?” Ada asked as they sat down in a circle under their tree.
Ntuoku was a mmuo in their village, a spirit that only came out at night, and mostly after it rained. As children, their mothers had constantly rung it in their ears that the fear of Ntuoku was the beginning of wisdom. They had been told that it wears white and did not like it when people wore white, so if it saw a person in white, it would drown them at the Urashi river. It also did not like any other light but its own shining, so if it came across a person cooking outside or a camp fire, it would blind whoever was around the fire with the ashes from the fire. Ntuoku could be translated to Ntu (Ashes) Oku (Fire) – The Ashes from burning wood, which was probably why it attacked with ashes. Nobody alive had ever seen the spirit, but on the nights when it walked through Omuma, the sky would be so black and quiet that only a stupid or desperate human would venture out.
The crew laughed as Uche narrated the Ntuoku myth. “I can’t believe we believed such a thing.” Mary laughed.
“Yeah it sounds stupid but deep in our hearts; I bet we are still afraid.” They turned to stare at Uche who had gotten a serious look on his beautiful face.
“Who is Afraid?” Ifeanyi Bragged “I can come out at any time, I have seen worse things than ‘Ntuoku.’
“Yeah, I’m a Christian, things like that don’t scare me.” Mary said.
“When last I checked Ntuoku does not exist.” Ego laughed.
“Then it’s settled then. We would all come out in white, here, in the midnight; rain has been falling lately, so we’ll pick a date this week.” Uche began.
“What, who wants to come out at night?” Ego asked. “You’ve forgotten that I am getting married abi?”
“We could use it as a get together before your wedding, just us.” Mary chirped.
“I guess, it will be an experience I can tell my children.” Ego smiled.
Ada had been listening to them, but she was not paying attention to them, her mind was wrapped around the mystery of how Uche became so freaking hot. For the first time, she noticed he had a light brown pupil, his jaw line was thin, and so where his lips. His hair was full, without a sign of baldness, unlike Ifeanyi who was dancing to the tunes of the hairless curse. He a wore loose, unbuttoned short sleeve shirt that hung on his side and a fitted t shirt on the inside. The shirt was so firm that she could make out the lean abs they covered up. Her lustful eyes trailed down his slim waist, down his long legs, back up to his face, he had a glint in his eyes when he spoke…
“Wait, Ada you didn’t hear anything we said?” Uche asked.
“You are working on writing a novel right?” Ego jumped to rescue her friend.
Ada nodded, her face flushing as she looked to Ego for a way out.
Ego smirked.
“Hey Ada, are you listening?” Ego’s whispered voice brought her back to reality. “I’ll fill you in later,” she added, giving Ada a knowing look.
Three days later, the rain poured down, just as it had when they were children. The old gang gathered in their spot, donned in white, and made a campfire. They were about to embark on their first real adventure in years, but Ada couldn’t shake the feeling that something else was shifting in the air—something that had nothing to do with Ntuoku, and everything to do with the heart.
Three days after their reunion, there was a heavy down pour, the crew got their white clothes ready, and at night they gathered in their spot and made a camp fire.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ada asked, her voice barely a whisper as she sat beside Uche. Ego had convinced her to join them, playing on her desire to be near Uche, the object of her growing fantasies. The plan was simple: pretend to be scared, and let Uche protect her. Who would have guessed that just three days after fantasizing about Ifeanyi, she’d be lost in thoughts of Uche? She felt like a bad girl, but it was hard to resist.
Ego and Mary sat with Ifeanyi, and despite their banter, Ada couldn’t shake the distance between herself and Ifeanyi. Before returning to Nigeria, he’d asked her out over the phone, but the reality of him, standing before her, wasn’t what she had imagined. She had told him she would give him an answer when they met again. And now, face-to-face with him, she had simply deflected with a lie. “You’re like a brother to me,” she had said, though she never told him the truth.
The night stretched on, with Uche’s medical studies and life away from home filling the conversation. Ada found herself captivated by his stories, the mischievous glint in his eyes still as familiar as ever, only now it made her heart race. She leaned against him to sleep, his arm draping the blanket over them both.
Ego caught the moment with a sly smile, whispering something to Ifeanyi, who seemed visibly unsettled. Ada didn’t miss the tension in the air.
“I need to go ease myself,” Mary announced, breaking the mood, and with a quick flick of her flashlight, disappeared into the darkness.
“Ada, wake up,” Ego called. “We’re staying up till midnight.” She picked up a pebble and tossed it at Ada, but Uche was quicker, catching it mid-air.
Ada’s tired eyes blinked in surprise, her mind already half asleep when Ego shot her a knowing look. The teasing was familiar—too familiar.
“So what will you do if Ntuoku comes out now?” Ifeanyi asked, his tone almost challenging.
“Ntuoku won’t come out,” Uche said, a grin playing on his lips. “Don’t tell me you’re starting to get scared.”
But before Ada could respond, a scream cut through the air, followed by the sound of struggling water. Her eyes snapped open, her heart leaping into her throat. The group shot up, their torches cutting through the night as they rushed to the riverbank, leaving the campfire’s faint glow behind them.
The river was eerily still, save for the floating scarf that marked Mary’s last known presence. Ada’s breath caught in her chest as Uche dove into the water, vanishing beneath the surface. They waited, breathless, praying for his return, but when he resurfaced, it was only with Mary’s scarf in his hand.
“I couldn’t find her,” Uche said, his voice flat. As he stepped out of the water, his sculpted abs and the taut V-line of his body seemed to pulse in the dim light. Ada blinked, trying to push the heat from her cheeks, but this was no time for lust.
“I think we should head home,” Ifeanyi said, his voice shaking with urgency.
“What about Mary?” Ego whispered, her eyes never leaving the river.
“We’ll come back tomorrow,” Uche said, his tone brokering no argument. “If something happened to her, it’s not safe to stay here.”
The group was in agreement. But as Ego ran back to retrieve her phone, a fresh chill gripped Ada. The quiet of the forest felt oppressive now, the shadows deeper than they had been before.
“Are you cold?” Uche asked, his gaze soft as he draped his outer shirt around her shoulders. She nodded silently, grateful for the warmth.
Then, Ego’s voice rang out, shrill and panicked: “MY EYES!”
They ran back to the campfire, only to find it gone. The fire had been extinguished, and Ego was nowhere to be found.
“We need to head home now,” Uche said, his voice tight with fear for the first time that night. “I should never have made us come out here.”
“Yes, you shouldn’t have!” Ifeanyi snapped, his eyes wild as he searched the darkened forest for any sign of Ego. “We’re not leaving without her.”
He stormed off into the trees, and the others hesitated, unsure whether to follow. “Are you coming or not?” Ifeanyi’s voice called back, but before he could finish the sentence, the light from his torch sputtered and went dark. There was a sound, too quick to process—a swift motion from the bushes, and Ifeanyi was gone, his torch spinning on the ground.
Ada’s panic spiked. “This is bad. This is really bad!” she cried, but before she could process it all, Uche was beside her again, his hand gripping hers.
“Don’t worry, I’m here,” Uche said, his voice steady despite the chaos. “I’ll get you home.”
They made their way through the dark, the path unfamiliar and endless. Ada could feel the cold biting into her skin, but it was the quiet that unsettled her most. It had been quiet for so long now, too long.
She glanced over her shoulder to make sure Uche was still there, only to find that he wasn’t. Panic flooded her, her breath quickening as she spun around, calling for him. “Uche! Uche, where are you?”
She turned, torchlight shaking in her hand, but there was no sign of him anywhere. Her heart pounded in her chest as she broke into a run, her footsteps echoing in the eerie silence.
Suddenly, she saw it—a figure standing by her doorstep. A white figure, wearing a carved wood mask, adorned with raffia. The chill of recognition slammed into her. ‘Ntuoku,’ she thought, her blood running cold. She turned to flee back into the forest, but something—no, someone—blocked her path.
She froze. The masked figure loomed over her, its eyes glinting beneath the mask. It crouched down to meet her gaze.
“Boo,” it said in a voice that sent a scream from her throat.
But as she screamed, confusion washed over her. That voice. The mask was pulled away, and Uche’s laughing face emerged from the shadows.
“You should have seen your face!” he laughed, a playful glint in his eyes.
And then Mary stepped forward, grinning widely, the figure she’d been running from.
Ada stood, frozen in disbelief, tears streaming down her face as the truth hit her. Uche helped her up, still chuckling, while Ego and Ifeanyi emerged from the shadows, their faces lit up with amusement.
“I’m sorry, it was Uche’s idea,” Ego said, pulling her into a hug.
“Why?” Ada gasped, still struggling to comprehend the prank.
The group smiled at her, and in unison, they all said, “April Fool.” The first day of April had arrived, and she laughed, her tension finally easing.
They spent the rest of the night talking and laughing, sneaking into Ada’s house, unaware that as they entered, the real Ntuoku watched from the shadows, waiting.
The End
A SUPER BIG THANK YOU to Ifeanyi Namikaze for telling me about Ntuoku and also letting me disturb him for more info. The end got you right :D, We have more African Mythology and Folktale inspired stories
