HAUNTED PARK

Chapter 2

MAURICE

“Fiona was my girlfriend and we had plans of getting married immediately after college. We were so much in love and I couldn't think of my future without thinking of her.” Josh tells me as he gets up.

His shirt is tattered by the paws of the animal that later changed into a woman. Shallow wounds are also visible and I reach out to my first aid kit but he restrains me. “I seriously need a cigarette, get me one, please, and don't lecture me on the safety mumbo jumbo.”

I walk back to the dismembered tent and take his bag which I presume contains the cigarettes and take it back to him. I find him seated, his head facing the clear sky and he's mumbling some song.

“Here, take your cigarettes and tell me the whole story,from the very beginning because I need to understand what I just saw.” I tell him.

“Thanks.” He says as he fills his lungs with smoke. He later puffs the smoke away, a little cloud drifting into the cold night. In the dense forest downhill the howl of the animal starts again, joined by others to form a choir

“Listen," he says, looking at me, “as I told you Fiona was my girlfriend until she got lost in this forest years ago. She was in a group of tourists who toured this country for a safari drive and she never came back. Her companions came back without her, reporting that she disappeared in the forest and they searched everywhere without success.

The search was extended to include government officers and embassy officials but still nothing was found. Not even her body

One month later after her disappearance the embassy announced that it had presumed her dead. The news shattered me. I refused to accept that my Fiona was dead. I had to find her. That's my purpose in life,the Rhinoceros story is just a facade, the real purpose for this journey was to find Fiona, and as you can see, we have succeeded. We have found her.” He pauses to listen to the now increasing howl of the animals down the slope

I am still in shock and in need of apprehension. If Fiona really was the animal I saw, how did the transformation take place? And from what I saw, was she really friendly?

And if she has managed to change into an animal again, is she part of the howling down in the forest?

“A friend came to this forest a few years ago and he saw her, walking this forest, only that she had changed a little.” He continued.

“The changes I have seen can't be described as little.” I respond. “Josh, look at yourself, you are bleeding from wounds inflicted on you by your Fiona. She isn't the same girl that came here those years ago, she is now a dangerous animal, or even a ghost we never know. I suggest we give up this mission and go back to town.” I notice midway that he isn't even listening to me.

He walks towards me menacingly, his weapon held tightly. “We are not going back without her. What she has undergone is just a trauma that can easily be reversed by a good doctor.” I can't hear him properly because the animals have increased their howling and as we were talking they made their way up the slope coming towards our direction.

“Watch out Josh, our lives may be in danger." I warn him as I see the silhouettes of the animals closing on us. I have already identified the tree where I will seek refuge when the need arises.

“Fiona can't harm me. I'll wait for her here, to take her back home. I have found her and I am not going anywhere without her." He says and I start wondering what kind of creep I am dealing with who doesn't value his life.

“Well, I am not going to wait here and find out what these animals have in store for us. I will be up that tree if you need me." I tell him as I dart towards the tree. I barely make it there because some of them come after me, growling and gnarling menacingly.

I reach the top of the tree just in time to witness the gory details as Josh is devoured alive by the animals. He screams for help but I am helpless, with my small gun I can do nothing to help him. If only he heeded my advice.

They scramble for his meat, cracking his bones even his skull and I witness everything in shock.

Then something happens that shakes me to the core.

Every animal turns into a human, men and women and they walk back down the slope.