That muggy Saturday evening, my uncle,Henrick, and I decided to visit the Guaico Tamana Forest for the weekend. Beads of perspiration rolled down my slender ,caramel brown ,adolescent body. My parents had left me in Uncle Henrick’s car so that they could take a week of the July-August holiday to relax in a hotel , by themselves.
I grabbed my bags from my room and joyfully rushed to his van.As my uncle strolled into the front seat, I saw two slingshots poking out of his pocket. Was I finally going to get to hunt like I had always dreamed of ? This thought flooded me with excitement . . Little did we know , we were not going to be the hunters, but we would be the hunted .
As we arrived , my mouth opened in amazement. The lush green foliage was much more beautiful than I had expected . Many birds sat on the trees , singing merrily and the smell of flowers filled my nostrils . “Albert , go unpack, I will get the first kill,” Uncle Henrick murmured as to not scare off the birds . My eyes sparkled with glee when he confirmed that we were going to hunt.
Before I headed inside, he demonstrated how to shoot. He raised a stone, loaded the slingshot and then aimed at the most majestic Keskidee and shot it. It struck the bird and it fell. As the bird hit the ground , it made a soft thud. The poor bird seemed to be suffering and after being hit with another stone, it began to die slowly. By the time I entered the log cabin, it passed away.
Uncle Henrick sauntered into the thick forest and disappeared . While I was unpacking, I heard a rustling, followed by galloping. “It’s most likely an animal,” I whispered, ignoring the noise. Suddenly, I heard a loud “Crack!” I looked towards the sound and couldn’t believe my eyes. The sky had changed colour . Dark clouds blanketed the earth and threatened to burst . Only a few pinpoints of daylight were able to leak through. That was not the strangest thing though.
Outside , a figure stood, looking around , his hand encircling one of his dark brown, pointed ears as if listening for something . He seemed to be an old vagrant, his ribs showing through his stomach, but he had cloven feet and long legs, covered in black fur . From his waist up was bare, except for his flowing white beard and curly grey hair . In his hands was a large, bamboo staff that he was pointing towards the sky, as if he had changed the weather . He also had two short , caramel brown horns protruding from his sunburnt forehead .
This sight transfixed me and I whispered , “Is that a satyr?” A satyr was half goat, half man and came from greek mythology.
As curious as a cat, I stealthily crept outside and to my surprise, the creature had vanished . I wondered where he had gone, and seeing that my uncle was not back yet and it was about to rain, I ventured into the forest .
Suddenly, I heard Uncle Henrick scream in the distance . His words were muffled , and all I could discern were the words ,”Papa Bois,” Fear consumed me , as I realised that the stranger was actually the guardian of the woods , Papa Bois . I was about to turn around and get help, when the clouds burst . Rain banged on the earth mercilessly, and I became disoriented. The world began to spin and I stumbled under a tree , so I would not be soaked .
Suddenly , I recalled that Papa Bois would trick hunters into becoming lost as punishment for harming animals. An eerie feeling washed over me as I heard sinister laughter and I began getting wet once more . Out of nowhere, I saw my uncle bolting towards me , his clothes drenched and his bald head shining . After we recounted the past few hours of our lives, I felt a pain coursing through my arm .
All of a sudden, birds began squawking at us, as if accusing us of something . Then, they began to drop pebbles on us, as we had done to the Keskidee. The stones were sharp and pierced my skin. I began to sob, and my uncle yelled, “Papa Bois, we are sorry , please forgive us!”
As quick as the speed of light , Papa Bois appeared in front of us and boomed, “I shall let you go under one condition, never return to these woods or kill another living thing again!” We nodded and everything became dark .
When I could see again, I realised that we had been transported back to my uncle’s house . We saw our bags leaning on the wall, and the van stood outside. Another thing we noticed is that it had stopped raining. We then agreed that we would not recountthis horrifying encounter to anyone else as we should try to forget it.