Chapter 1
1. COPYRIGHT.
Copyright 2026 by Lebea N.H.
All rights reserved.
2. ABOUT THE WRITER.
Lebea N.H. is a horror writer from Greater Letaba, Limpopo. She grew up listening to stories about night visitors in Jokong Village. She was born and raised in Limpopo, she loves telling dark village stories with Khelobedu twist where the horror is not in America, but right here.
3. SETTING.
Place: Jokong Village, Greater Letaba, Limpopo.
A small, dark village with dusty roads and rondavels. No street lights. When it rains, the thunder is too loud and the lightning stays too long.
Time: Midnight. Always midnight. The Vetkoek Woman never comes during the day.
Atmosphere: Cold, quiet, and hungry. Dogs don't bark when she is near. The smell of hot oil and fresh vetkoeks in the rain, even when no one is cooking.
4. CHARACTERS.
i.The Vetkoek Woman: The main horror. She appears at midnight in Jokong Village during lightning. No one knows where she comes from.
STORY: THE VETKOEK WOMAN.
In JokongVil we have a rule that every child knows from our elders, we are always told not to buy food at night more especially from strangers. After 9pm shops closes, the road is empty and even taxis don't pass. But every night, she comes. You will just hear her shouting "Hot Vetkoek! Hot Vetkoek!". Her voice is strange, it sounds like someone who has been walking for many years. She wears a long black dress that drags on the dust, no shoes and no shadow even under moonlight.
She is always carrying a silver tray with 7 vetkoeks on it. My cousin Naledi is 17 and she was doing matric finals. She was always hungry from night studying. One night, 10:07pm, we were studying with candles because there was no electricity.
"Vetkoek! Vetkoek!"
Naledi looked through out the window. "I'm so hungry. Let me just buy one." I told her not to buy but she still did. She took R15 and ran outside to the gate. I stayed inside, watching through the curtain. The woman stopped, she was taller than she looked from far.
I heard Naledi asking her how much... The woman didn't answer, she just tilted the tray towards her. Naledi took one vetkoek, It was big, the oil was still dripping. She gave the woman R15.
It was dark but I was able to see them clearly, the woman's hand had 6 fingers and her nails were long, black, like burnt wood. She took the money and said, in a voice that came from her chest, not her mouth: "One is never enough."
Naledi came inside eating and saying he said "This is the best vetkoek ever." She ate it in 3 bites. Then she licked her fingers. Then she looked at the window again and shouted "I want more".
That night, things changed.
At 2am I woke up and Naledi was not sleeping, she was sitting on the floor, in the dark facing the wall. I valled her name several times and when she turned, her eyes were widely open but all white, no black. She said "I'm still hungry," but it was not her voice. I told grandma and she woke up, prayed and put salt at the door. In the morning Naledi didn't remember anything.
Around 10pm that next night, the woman came again.
But this time she stopped directly at our gate. And she called a name.
"Naledi! Vetkoek!" Naledi stood up like someone pulled her., she walked outside. I followed her and grandma held my hand. Naledi walked to the gate, barefoot. Like she was sleepwalking.
The vetkoek woman was waiting, same tray with 6 vetkoeks. One was missing, the one Naledi ate. I looked in to the woman's face, she had no eyes, just a large mouth that went from ear to ear. Inside that mouth there were many other small mouths, all moving, chewing and whispering "Vetkoek! Vetkoek!"
Her dress was moving by itself. She put her 6-finger hand on Naledi's head. The vetkoek woman took one vetkoek from the tray and pushed it into Naledi's mouth. The vetkoek woman looked at me and my grandma. Then she disappeared only the tray left on the ground. With 5 vetkoeks. For 3 days Naledi didn't wake up. She was breathing, but her eyes were white. She was sweating cold sweat that smelled like frying oil. She kept saying in her sleep "Hot Vetkoek! Vetkoek!" Grandma called the old healer from the next village.
The healer said it was the hunger spirit. Long ago during the drought, a woman died selling vetkoek but no one bought because people had no money. She died hungry on the road with her tray. Now she makes others feel the hunger that killed her. The healer burned the traditional herbs in the whole house, he therew 5 vetkoeks in the fire. Naledi woke up screaming and she vomited a lot of black oil.
After that she was okay, but she is different now. She never gets hungry at night, she never eats vetkoek. But the woman still comes every night around 10pm. Now she stops at our gate every night, even though we don't buy. Last night, I looked through the window and there were two of them at the gate. The tall woman and a young girl in school uniform looking like Naledi. But Naledi was sleeping inside. That girl looked up at my window and waved at me. And both of them said together: "Vetkoek!"Grandma says we must move from the village.
End of VETKOEK WOMAN.

