CHAPTER 1
ISOSE VILLAGE
Enogie Ukpasia found himself wondering in a strange land along a narrow, lonely hazy foot path, the sky is littered with thick clouds, the atmosphere is cold and it seem as though it was preparing to rain. There were so much dust in the air and the thunder roar after the spark of the lightening which persistently lithe up the sky. Ukpasia puts his eyes down with his hand protecting it from the dust, while he struggles his way through the heavy wind blowing across his way.
After a while of struggle and battling through the foggy route; he noticed a sudden calmness and silence, he took off his hands from his face and raised his head to find out that the dust and haze have disappeared, the weather is clear and the sun was shining bright; he could see everywhere around him clearly as he walks on, the bushes around through which the road cut across were taller and bigger than usual, the trees are not like the usual as well, everything about that place looks different from that which he knew of them; the turn at both side of the road looks sharper, bigger and stronger than usual, so he made sure he walks carefully along the road as he journeyed through the path towards the unknown.
He got to a cross road after a long walk through the wilderness and noticed that the vegetation around him at that moment is of the normal, the grasses, the trees and every stock of the forest are just in the natural state, the shades of the tall tree covering the surrounding was a respite for him. He stood for a minute taking a rest and contemplating on which path to take, he scoured vividly about to see if there was anything that was familiar around or better still if he could find his way out of the place, but nothing around looks familiar to him, every part and everything he had placed his eyes on looks the same, it was as though he had been walking in circle about a particular spot and the only distance he has been able to cover was just fifty feet from where he was coming from, he found out that he had been roaming about a spot in the forest; it then done on him that he was lost, there was no doubt about that, he had spent the last hours moving around a spot which happen to look different in the beginning but after he had journey fruitlessly, he discover that he had wasted his time doing nothing. He had been going around a spot all the while; he fell on the ground looking abstractly on a spot, he shocked that he was lost and how he got to the spot he found himself, that was a question that he wasn’t getting any answer for, so he worried himself, pondering over that point of lost and been misplaced by circumstance far away from home in a place he barely know, and what fears him more is the fact that there is no one to help him, no place to seek answer or direction so that he can be on his way home. He sat under that cool shade of the tall Iroko tree sitting in a segregated part of the forest, surrounded by meager grasses who are been stave of a better feel of sun light for them to blossom, contemplating on what to do; and in the process he noticed a young man wondering around observantly, he could see from his gesture that he was actually looking for something, stop at intervals, tracing any direction of sound echoing in from the distance wanting to follow the trail of it. Enogie Ukpasia slowly rise to his feet looking at the young man with deep sense of happiness that he had finally met someone who will lead him out of the dilemma, and when he was completely stable with the young man looking at his direction, he smiles, but the message appears not to have reached the young man, who stopped some meter away from the Enogie and looked back at the direction he came from; scratches his head, and then turn from one direction to the other looking for what the Enogie could not anticipate, the expression on his face gave the Enogie a real cause for worries, he tries to be of help to the young man by excusing him,
“Young man what are you looking for around here?” Ukpasia asked but the young man didn’t respond,
what could be wrong’ he thought, he moved close to him and tries to find out if the young man had deliberately ignored him, just to be sure; But all his attempts fails, the young man looks at his direction and away, he is baffled wondered why has the young man chooses to ignore him. He tried again to be cork sure what was going on, and again the young man didn’t noticed him, he was so engrossed in what he was doing, concern about his inability to locate his way home. Ukpasia tries again for the last time to, but couldn’t get his attention, he thought for a minute that he could be dead and that could be the reason why the young man was not noticing him; he frisk himself just to be convinced that he was still alive, which he was still skeptical about, just no quite sure if what he was thinking was exact, or maybe his mind was playing a trick on him. So he decided to battle with the doubt to eliminate that possibility for him assuming to be dead while he could still alive and to accept that fact that he is still alive and well, and concluded that the young man could be carried away by something else.
Imade was busy trying to decide on which route to take, his faith was hanging by the balance, the situation he had found himself has dappled him more than he expected. While he was still trying to figure what solution could be best for him at that moment, An old haggard woman dress in black cloth (Edugie), come forth from nowhere, pretending to be walking by, Imade quickly accosted
“Good day ma, I am lost I need to find my way home” he said
Ukpasia still observing, the old woman stop, and turn to him slowly
”Where are you from?” Edugie asked Imade scratches his head “I can’t tell exactly, I have never been home all my life” he replied “I really do not know which of this route leads home” he added Edugie looks at him suspiciously and asked “But you just said you have never been to your home all your life” she noticed that Imade was confused, so she decided to be of help to the him “where have you been staying, i mean who are your parents” Edugie asked
“my mother name is” he paused, then he realizes he does know his mother’s name or where she come from, he almost lost his footing on realizing that he had no knowledge of who his parents were and where they are from, “my mother passed on when i was still an infant, for my father, i don’t know him, i don’t know if he took responsibility for my mother’s pregnancy, i cannot tell his story” replies scratching his head and looked away
“didn’t your mother tell you whom your father is? She asked
“i just said i lost her when i was an infant, i have no knowledge who my parents are or where they are from, i have been wondering about lost all my life is ruin” he further explained She turns slowly to the direction points to one of the route
“Go through that route my child” she said
“only through that route you will find the answers to that which you seek” she said, Ukpasia suddenly started shaking his head perfidiously in disagreement, he shouted but none could hear him, neither of them heard him “Don’t go through that road my son No” he stresses
Imade didn’t hear him, so he walks towards the route and disappeared and the old woman disappeared as well leaving Ukpasia in a devastating mode as he cries in pity for the young man whom he doesn’t even know. Ukpasia forced himself out of his bed and discovered that he was only dreaming, he sat up and began to wonder what the dream could be all about, he became disturbed by it.
