“And if the curse is really back you will have the hunger that can only be filled with human flesh,” Mdala said as he finished.
“This is not real, it can’t be real,” uttered Lisa.
“It is real. Did you see what happened when you yanked my arm? You almost broke me in half,” said Nyjah.
“What will happen to me when the hunger kicks in?” asked Lisa in despair.
“I will find a way to help you, Nugget. I will protect you,” said Nyjah, holding Lisa in his arms. But his face told a story of worry and of not knowing what to do.
Lisa left for home, as it was late, and Nyjah was left alone with Mdala.
“How did this happen? There was no telling that the curse would ever return, ” said Mdala.
“I could ask you the same thing,” replied Nyjah.
As they spoke about it a news report came on TV:
A bizarre case of cannibalism has been reported in the small village of Mbenenga. The suspects are two young men with reports saying they had superhuman strength and threw policemen around like sacks of potatoes.
“It has begun,” said Mdala.
“Let me gather my friends,” said Nyjah, taking out his phone and sending a message to his friends WhatsApp group.
Everybody, my house NOW!
Everybody was confused but they all gathered anyway. Sive, Asandile, and Thando all came.
“What is wrong bro? You know I had to lie to my mom that I’m coming here to study,” said Thando.
“That explains the school bag,” replied Sive teasing his friend.
“Everybody shut up and listen,” said Nyjah.
“First, did any one of you notice anything strange when coming here?” he asked.
“When did we get street lights? Because it’s bright out there,” said Asandile.
“We didn’t, that’s the whole reason you are here,” Mdala interjected and told them what was happening.
His friends were all in disbelief. Nyjah took them outside and they all ran around at superhu-man speed and they were excited.
“The problem is the people of Dukezweni and their cannibalism,” said Nyjah.
All he could think about was Lisa. Like he was reading his thoughts, Asandile said:
“And your girl is one of them.”
“We have to find a way to lift this curse,” Nyjah said with determination and conviction.
“The last time this happened, was many generations ago and went on for 13 years before an-yone could do anything,” said Mdala from behind the group of friends.
“We have to find a diviner to help us this time around too,” said Nyjah.
“The vision came to him, he did not go looking for it. We have to wait for it to come to a di-viner of this generation too,” said Mdala.
“Guys it’s happening!” said Sive as dogs began to bark in the distance.
When they turned around, they saw a group of young men running towards them. As they were getting closer, they saw the men had balaclavas on.
“Let’s not chance it, let’s get ready to fight,” Nyjah said.
***
Tell us: Will Nyjah and his friends survive the fight that was to hap-pen?