THE UNKNOWN HANDS (EPISODE THIRTY- FOUR)

…I began to hear roaring’s, followed by mad rush from various animals, mostly antelopes and deer past where I was. I had learnt that a Lion would only roar when it is hungry and the animals would be trying to avoid danger. I realized too that waiting the next moment there might be dangerous. I got up, hurried to a nearby tree and I was,

however unlucky, for, the lion caught me in the act and the next thing I saw were grim-looking eyes watching me seriously. Its giant head, spiky set of teeth and the claws that I saw drove severe panic into me and I began to pray that it should leave. As if my prayer was unanswered, I saw the animal which seemed to be in no hurry, now lying down flat on its belly gnashing its teeth and dimming its eyes at me intermittently. Something told me I was in for it as the animal looked determined to wait until I was ready to surrender myself to it. I was wondering what to do and I got an idea. If I could cut off a branch of the tree I was to throw it off to a distance, perhaps the animal would be tricked away. I got myself well balanced and with one hand cut a little branch. I was still severing the leaves from that branch in preparation for the throw when I watched the tree on whose branch I was rising up on its roots. The next moment, it had started to drift away from its former spot. I was greatly terrified. But for the wild beast around, I would have jumped down from the tree without minding the consequence but right now, all I did was to hold on to the branch on which I was more firmly. The animal itself was scared as I saw it now moving away very quickly.

At a point, the tree stopped its usual movement. I was not prepared to wait another second on it. I quietly went down from it. I landed on the surrounding saplings and I was still trying to tip-toe away from the place when I suddenly saw a big boa which had almost attacked me as it was in full fighting position before I realized it.

I quickly bolted a way. But I blamed myself for hurrying away the way I did. It would have been better to be attacked by a snake than what I now had to face. I was confronted by the king of all animals which I had all the while been trying to avoid. I knew the end had finally come as there seemed to be no way of escape. I watched helplessly as the animal got set to attack me. It dived ferociously towards me and another dive was only all it needed to make me its prey. Just then, I felt the unknown hands on my shoulders again and that was all I could remember at that moment.

I woke up later to find myself in a place that looked like a desert. There was no single tree, yet, the whole place was covered by dried leaves. I wanted to rise up but something pressed me to the ground tightly. Then I heard a strange voice

“THIS IS THE PRONE REGION…CRAWL ON TO THE ICE RIVER LEADING TO THE ESHINRIN, THE HEAVEN ALTERNATIVE…..”

The voice came again and again for a while and then stopped but its echoes pervaded the whole place. Looking above me, where I lay on the ground, I saw sheaves of arrows flying in all direction. I thanked my stars that I had not got up for I would have been hit by them.

Before I started to crawl as I was instructed, I was still bent on surveying the surrounding the more, especially trying to detect where the arrows were coming from. It was however, an impossible mission and my only solace was that a few meters beside me. I found two big roasted yams. Though I could not figure out how they came about, I was too hungry to care. I consumed everything within a short moment and after resting for a while, I started to crawl on the ground like a snake ensuring that my head did not rise above the ground considering the danger involved. Then the voice came again and what I discovered was that after it had gone, I found a small calabash containing a liquid somewhere in a dry leaves. Moving closer, I tasted it and discovered it was water. I had already emptied all the contents to satisfy my thirst before I remembered that what I did was bad. I was prepared for the worst since I had found everything happening to me quite in explicable. The only thing I realized was that there seemed to be some unknown hands now directing my life. I could not tell what the intentions of those hands were but I realized that if all my experiences were anything to go by, then I could conveniently say that there were out to torture me to death as a deterrent to others, but I could not be to certain in that conclusion for I could see another good side of those hands, for instance, my rescue from the clutches of that lion was still a miracle to me.

Having drunk the water and rested for a while, I forged ahead. I realized that apart from the fact that I was beginning to feel general body pains, the region was a bit safe as there was no single wild animal to threaten me, how could any animal even survive in such a region, with all the arrows flying about threateningly and where there was no plant? It was simply impossible.

My thoughts went to the message of the voices that were coming continually. Prone region… Ice river… Eshinrin, the heaven alternative…I wondered what all those meant. Could it mean that I had died and was already on my way to heaven? I looked at myself all over where I lay, trying to convince myself that I was not dreaming. I touched all my body and gave myself a dirty slap for more certainty.

I could still remember clearly that I had entered the strange forest due to my hopelessness in the world of men. Then I remembered those hands. Could it be that I had become dead person ever since and was merely going through what dead people experience?...…to be continued on Tuesday.

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