In the morning it was Modise who came looking for us when we were not at breakfast. Though the sun was up there was no way we would be opening the door. We didn’t know what waited on the other side of it.

“Girls!” we heard Modise call as he came walking towards our cabin. “You’re late, sleepy heads.”

When he reached the door he was quiet for a moment. “Girls? Mimi? Are you okay in there?”

“Yes,” I yelled. “Something happened last night. We’re scared to come out.”

“Yes, I can see that. Just wait in there. Don’t come out. I’ll be back.”

We heard him run away and we got even more frightened. What was outside the door? What was out there that we shouldn’t see?

Within a few minutes we heard voices outside the door. I could hear Modise and Peggy and some other people. After some time Modise said, “You can open and come out now.”

Ndu, the bravest among us, went to the door. She opened it slowly. “Everything’s fine girls. You can come on out for breakfast,” Peggy said.

Ndu pointed at the cement stoep. “What’s that?”

“A bit of blood, that’s all. It looks like a hunt gone wrong,” Peggy said. “It’s not common to see lions this side. I’m sure it’s just a one-off.”

That’s when I saw the blood dried in a stream down the wall near the door, and the scratches. I screamed, pointing at it. Modise rushed to me and took me in his arms. “It’s fine Mimi. It was just a one-off incident.”

The two game rangers we’d met the night before at supper stood over something that had been obviously dragged away from the door. Kgalalelo went to where they were standing. One of the game rangers, Themba, said, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Goodwill, the other ranger, said, “I know. Whoever heard of a lion killing a springbok but not eating it? He must be back.”

“Who?” Kgalalelo said.

Peggy cleared her throat loudly, and everyone became quiet. Goodwill and Themba lifted the springbok by its front and back legs and carried it away, without answering. Modise looked at Peggy but said nothing. “You girls get ready and get yourselves to breakfast. We have a busy day ahead,” Peggy said.

She marched off toward the dining cabin and Modise followed.

“I think something’s wrong here,” Adelaide said.

“I think you’re right,” Kgalalelo replied.

*****

I tried to forget everything that had happened the night before. We were busy all day. I was put in a group with two girls and some boys from Durban. It was a team-building exercise in which we were driven out into the bush with Themba, the game ranger, and our teacher, Ace. The vehicle left and we were given a map and a compass and had to find our way back to camp.

I was scared walking through the bush but Themba assured us there were few animals on this side of the Park, and in any case he had a gun if anything went wrong. That made me feel better.

We were successful: the first team back to camp. We sat waiting for the others to arrive. I asked Themba what he thought had happened at our cabin the night before. At first he tried to give me the standard line, the Peggy-approved story, but I could see through it. I spoke softly so the others wouldn’t hear. “Tell me the truth. I know something was wrong this morning. You and Goodwill know something.”

“Don’t tell the Dragon-lady I told you though.”

I laughed. “Deal.”

“This camp has been empty for nearly two years. There’s a problem, you’re right. There’s a lion here. He was raised by humans but then the people who raised him sold him to a canned hunting outfit.”

“Canned hunting?”

“It’s when foreign hunters come over and want to be sure they shoot a lion. So the safari people put the hand-raised lion in a small enclosure and let the foreigner kill it. It’s not hunting really, but the foreigners go home and boast they killed a lion and they’re happy. They pay a lot of money to be able to do that.”

“So this lion was raised for that?”

“Yeah, but it went wrong. He nearly killed the guy from Hong Kong who came to shoot him. He escaped. And now it’s like he’s gone mad. He just kills. Not to eat, just to kill. Anything. He’s killed three people already in this area, two women and a small boy. But no-one can catch him. When they go looking for him he’s never found. They call him Ghost. But we thought he’d moved on, or we hoped maybe he died. It’s been about six months since we’ve seen any trace of him. When Peggy wanted to hold the camp here we thought it would be okay now. I guess it’s not.”

“So do you think it’s unsafe here? Should we be going home?”

“I don’t know. A lot is riding on the success of this programme. Especially for Peggy. I doubt one lion will be enough for her to give it all up now.”

***

Tell us what you think: Should Mimi tell the others? If not, what should she do?