Keepers of the Sanctuary: The Excursion

By Osafo Kofi Asante

The Monkey Sanctuary of Boabeng Fiema was the last place students from Kyerewaa Memorial would choose for an excursion. The quest to experience wildlife in its natural habitat would, however, be enough persuasion for a teacher to get six of her class to follow her to the sanctuary.

They made their journey to Boabeng Fiema, from where they secured the services of a tour guide, who led them into the sanctuary. Their expectation of a beautiful, academic excursion was crudely cut short when loud drumming and chants pierced the silence that was characteristic of the sanctuary. These loud noises were the result of very unnatural and barbaric rituals that targeted monkeys for sacrifices.

Unsettled by this, the monkeys would respond with a self-defense stance to prevent more deaths. Caught in the midst of this ensuing scuffle, Miss Brefi and her students are presented with a whole new experience that was unexpected and very unacademic.

Miss Brefi and her students must now find their way out of the forest and out of harms way. With their tour guide dead, they must work together to outwit the monkeys, who were now on a rampage to kill anything human.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: Nov 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781482809770

Osafo Kofi Asante

Osafo Kofi Asante currently lives in Accra where he finds leisure in writing and watching movies.

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 by Osafo Kofi Asante.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4828-0976-3

                eBook           978-1-4828-0977-0

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CONTENTS

Dusk

Evening

Morning

Midday

Afternoon

Dusk

Evening

Night

Midnight

Dawn

Morning

Dusk

To Obaa Yaa Dedaa

DUSK

Silence.

Damp and moist.

The chill was bone deep. It was the subsequent effect of earlier rains. The approaching darkness of the night hastily engulfed the forest as if on a mission. It did so till it was dark, very dark, darker than dark. Every animal form except the nocturnal kinds had taken cue and crouched into their folds so that not a single grunt, croak or squeal could be heard. The silence was thick, dense and almost palpable. It hung eerily like a blanket over the forest. In that moment nature found a soothing balance that held a promise of safety.

A sudden unwelcome interruption however pierced the silence and shattered nature's hard earned equilibrium. It was a sound, a human cry, a shrill ear-splitting cry from someone. It continued in pitch and frequency till the whole forest was jostled out of its comfort zone. Other voices joined then. They were voices of a dozen men and women chanting in an unknown dialect.

Drumming followed. The beat was wild and without rhythm. It rose steadily in pitch till it became a confused noise of some ritual celebration.

Suddenly it stopped, the reverberating echoes dying down with it. A million plant and animal life awoken by it began to settle down again. The settling experience was short-lived for the voices erupted again, suddenly, this time spelling loud incantations of the possessed. Other voices were heard. They were excited squeals and cries of very troubled beasts. The drumming continued. An hour later it stopped again, abruptly, like the first time except it did not continue again. Thus, leaving a disturbed forest wondering and in a state of anxiety.

EVENING

The Sun had set.

The golden hues of its rays could however not be seen from where they sat in the room. All the fasteners around the curtains had been untied so that the curtains were stretched and covered every window opening over which light could enter. The room itself was dimly lit. There were only two of them. Him and her. He was a sixteen-year old movie enthusiast and she was a quiet, beautiful sixteen-year old. They were alone in the room.

And were sitting close, much too close to each other.

She was explaining a theorem in elective math and he was listening. After a while of uninterrupted speech, she raised her head and he did same. Their eyes met. Their gaze locked. Their faces were only inches apart. He wanted to pull away but he couldn't. Rather, he pulled closer. She stayed where she was. Everything in her tugged at her sense of right and wrong and told her to pull away but she could not. She could not take her eyes away. The moment was awkward. Her heart pounded. Thud! Thud! Thud! And she felt it in her ears. The moment was never like she had ever experienced. It was new and she was curious. She had heard of it before and now she was experiencing it.

Then his lips touched her's and she pulled away in surprise, suddenly confused. God! She turned away.

He also pulled back, surprised by what he had done. He never planned it. It never was his intention. But they were so close together and suddenly he realised that her best friend was not just only good in Math but also was very beautiful. He couldn't tell when he kissed her.

Kissing.

At least that was what he knew he had done. It was however much more of the brush of a lip against the other. They were friends and they had been sitting too close together. She had pulled back the moment their lips touched and turned her gaze away. Afterwards, he shook his head in disbelief and also pulled back.

Sorry....sorry....., he said as he rose from his seat. This is not good Ama, he added and walked to the window. suddenly acutely aware of how quiet the house had become. She turned her attention, abruptly to the papers scattered over the dining table, ashamed by her untoward indulgence.

You are right, she offered. Her eyes still fastened on a spot before her.

I couldn't stop it. I really didn't know what came over me. I should have........., he uttered while he walked away from the window and into the sitting room, further away from her, avoiding her eyes as he did so. Blotches of sweat suddenly showed underneath his armpit. He sat, and we were at church just yesterday.

Shouting hallelujah and dancing, she made an attempt at humour.

Sorry Ama, he blurted out with his gaze elsewhere. He still couldn't bring himself to look