The reality of fear

‘Crocodile!’ I heard someone scream. I turned and noticed there was a real crocodile moving up into the boat. This was followed by several screams. I was close to a tall tree next to the boat so I decided to climb it to keep myself alive and away from this beast. It seemed like everything was just getting worse by the minute. First the boat runs out of fuel and just when we are close to land a crocodile decides to feed on us. As I climbed the tree, others followed. It was too late for some of my mates. Before they could move a muscle the crocodile had attacked them. I watched in horror as it tore apart my own friends. John picked up the fire extinguisher and sprayed it at the animal. It begun to retreat because of the pressure the extinguisher produced. It turned around and dashed into the water. Kwaku then grabbed the sledge and pulled it in so it couldn’t climb back up. 

I felt a lot relieved even though I was sad that two people were killed. We were on a leisure trip! We never expected it to turn out this way. The tour guide and also the captain of the boat had mysteriously disappeared and left us in the middle of no where. There was no fuel in the boat anymore so we were just drifting to God knows where. After the third day of the one day trip, things were just going wrong. The ten of us were out of food and got incredibly thirsty. We sent out SOS signals but there was no response. We knew things were not going on well but I didn’t expect to see a crocodile tear people apart before my eyes. One of those people could have been me!

We had finally gotten to land but didn’t know exactly where we were. At this moment I was sitting on a branch on the tree. ‘Come down!’ Kwaku screamed and the five of us on the tree started descending. Just when I decided to go down I saw something that sent an even larger shiver down my spine. I saw Kwaku and Tina strangle John. ‘Wait!’ I shouted to those on the tree. ‘Don’t go down. Kwaku and Tina have gone crazy, they want to kill us.’ I said. Tina noticed that I had seen them and headed for the tree with a knife. The rest saw this and started climbing the tree further. ‘We wont let you live!’ Kwaku screamed and run for the tree too. 

I was busy climbing higher as my heart raced. I could feel my death near. I saw another tree next to the one we were on. I wasn’t the only one who had an idea but Stephanie said, ‘Jump onto the next tree. That’s our only hope.’ I hesitated a while because it was a long way down. Stephanie had already jumped. ‘Juliet, come on jump.’ She called out to me. Just then I heard a scream from below me. Tina and Kwaku had caught up with Cindy. I held my breath and jumped. I held on to the other branch and stepped on the next tree again. Stephanie and the rest were almost at the base of the tree. I got to the ground finally and run as fast as I could without turning back. ‘Even if we don’t get you, our people will get you outside there. You will never be free!’ Kwaku screamed when he noticed he couldn’t reach us. 

Just then a memory hit me and everything made sense.  Kwaku and Tina had gotten very fond of each other very quickly. When I found out Kwaku’s girlfriend was dumping him I spoke to her. I told her that if she was leaving him because she suspected that he liked Tina then she shouldn’t because they were just friends. She said something that clarified a lot of things. ‘It’s not that. Do you know what cults do?’ I asked her what she was talking about and she acted like she was joking. Tina had introduced Kwaku to a cult called Souls. The cult provided money to young people in exchange for some human body parts. It was a rumour floating around campus but I had to know the truth the wrong way. That meant there were other cult members out there. 

It was dark and the wind was blowing violently, throwing dust into my eyes as I run. Just then we heard the sound of cars. We were close to a main road. When I got to the road, two men were talking to Stephanie. One of them brought out a gun and the other called the police. ‘There’s reception here. Kwaku has probably called the others in his cult. That means they will be here soon to finish us off.’ I said worriedly to my self. There was a bus pulling over a few meters from me. ‘Wait!’ I called out. The driver stopped and waited for me. I got in and saw the others hiding in the bus. ‘They are going to find us and kill us aren’t they?’ Kojo asked, terrified. I know he was scared but I was even more scared than him. The cult was large. They could be anywhere. I sat down somewhere at the back of the bus and prayed for my dear life as the bus moved in the dark night…