Okay, this is not truly a FF, but a Fic I wrote today edited to fit. So if there are any little bits missing then I'm sorry. It's an idea I had based on a dream I had last night. You can find the original on FictionPress dot com. My username is the same so search the username. It's the collection of short horror stories.
The Elephants of Tembo Kijiji
I will never forget my visit to Tembo Kijiji, translated as Elephant Village. My Dads and I had been told about this place during our stay at our hotel.
It was said that the village had control over elephants with some mystical ancient spell that hypnotised them. The elephants were an integral part of this village and it had been referred to as the eighth wonder of the world.
Or at least of Kenya.
My Daddy loved elephants so we leapt at the chance to go when we heard the tour guide was taking a group of people to the village. The bus drive was long and tiring, but it was well worth it when we arrived.
Tembo Kijiji was beside a beach that seemed to be artificial due to the fact it ended with a waterfall that seemed to flow the wrong way. I mean how could you get waves when the water was supposed to be flowing over the edge of the cliff that marked the end of the wide expanse of water that if were anywhere else would be considered an ocean? But our tour guide swore it was natural.
The green foliage surrounded the village keeping it secluded and quiet but the bustling markets selling everything from food and clothes to paintings and pottery were far from quiet. Antiques and food stalls stood side by side along the main street of the village.
It was really breathtaking. Elephants stood behind stalls or roamed around the village and no one batted an eye.
A little way away from the market were the houses. They reminded me of the houses in the film The Prince of Egypt apart from above each house was another, like flats. They were made from clay and the windows were void of glass with only bars keeping anything out.
There were no doors either, just holes. Some had curtains made of reed covering them while others were bare. There were stairs going up the side of the houses so those that lived higher up could get in.
The layout of the village reminded me of the catacombs, the way the paths between the houses were narrow, twisting and seemed to be connected. Only, you know, without the skulls and bodies.
I can't remember now, looking back, when the chaos started. I only remember that myself, my Daddy and Dad were looking at a hand painted icon of the Madonna and Child that the stall's owner claimed was hundreds of years old when we heard someone shouting something in Swahili.
Obviously, we didn't know what they were seeing, but our Tour Guide called us to him at once.
"What's going on?" A young English man asked. We had found out on the journey to Tembo Kijiji that he was on his honeymoon after marrying his high school sweetheart.
"The spell on the Elephants have broken and they're going crazy!" The tour guide told us.
We wouldn't have believed the absurdity of his words if it wasn't for the horror in his wide eyes. The truth was written there clearly.
"Run!" The Tour guide cried.
At once, we turned and ran as fast as we could as the Elephants began to stampede towards us.
I had never been so terrified in all my life.
I had watched all the documentaries about elephants and knew that one stampeding elephant was deadly, let alone a whole herd.
As I turned to look back over my shoulder, my worried eyes caught sight of a man who just wasn't quick enough. I felt sickness cover me as I watched his form got trampled by the elephants.
I looked away quickly, but it was too late. The sight was already embedded in my mind and would haunt me for the rest of my days.
Our group became separated amongst the villagers hurrying and desperately trying to escape the elephants that thundered and seemingly bayed behind us. I suddenly felt a new understanding of what it must be like for the fox as it's chased by hounds. I had always been against it, but this solidified my belief.
Only the firm grip on my Daddy's hand kept us together. We could only watch on helplessly as my Dad was dragged further and further away from us.
I had only been separated once like this from my Dad when I was a child and we went to Turkey. We had been to a show that forbade cameras and he went back to get ours once the show was over. We had wandered around for ages not finding him as more and more of the group who had also gone on the trip to the show returned one by one to the bus.
But there had still been no sign of my Dad and my overactive imagination had filled my mind full of worry and horror, causing me to have a panic attack.
I knew that now was not the time to have another panic attack and swallowed my fear, clearing my mind.
I focussed instead on pushing my legs further despite the burning and aching that filled them. It seemed to work as we ran through the narrow streets.
"This way!" Daddy cried.
We had reached a fork in the street and we took the left hand side. This led to more streets. It was a labyrinth. It was dizzying.
We ran blindly down a path and I took the lead, veering off down a side street. An enraged looking elephant was sat in the middle of it. It trumpeted and got to it's feet, beginning to lumber towards us.
I grabbed my Daddy's hand and we ran back the way we had come. My heart was thumping so fast I thought I was going to have a heart attack. This combined with the fact I was so hot it was ridiculous was making me weaker.
Daddy didn't look so good either. We couldn't do this forever.
We turned abruptly down a small street on our left and Daddy caught sight of a house without a reed door.
We darted inside and flung ourselves against the wall. The clay felt cool against the flushed skin of my back and I panted heavily, trying to ease some of the burning of my muscles from the run.
My long, brown hair was beginning to fall out of my ponytail and despite all the horror, I began to get annoyed with it. At least it kept my mind off of my Dad who was still out there somewhere. Away from me.
As I was retying it, there was a lot of talking. A man, his wife and their daughter came out of another room directly off of the fairly large, empty hall. It was basic with no proper floor or walls apart from the clay and there was only one 'door', or hole, leading to the rest of the house.
There was a window though, a barred window.
The man began to talk to us in Swahili.
"We don't talk Swahili." I told him.
The man nodded. "What are you doing?" He asked in a heavy accent. "Why are you here?"
"The elephants have gone mad. They're attacking people." Daddy told him now he had caught his breath.
The man looked worried. He turned and relayed what we said to his family. The little girl cried out and the wife gasped, saying something to him.
The man nodded. "My wife says you can stay here. It's not safe out there."
Daddy and I breathed a sigh of relief and I glanced out of the window. It was if it were a miracle.
Dad ran past the house and I felt my heart leap with joy. I ran to the window.
"Dad!" I called.
My Dad skidded to a halt and looked round until he saw me in the window. "Rachel? Is your Daddy with you?"
"I'm here Leroy." My Daddy called as went to the window.
"Hiram, you're alright!" Dad breathed a sigh of relief.
"Come inside, quickly." Daddy cried, his brown eyes looking around the street behind Dad, ignoring the piece of brown hair that fell in front of them.
He was meticulous with his hair and this was definitely a sign she was worried. We all were. In fact, I think Dad's once pitch black hair had turned slightly greyer in the time we had been separated.
The moment Dad got inside the house, Daddy and I engulfed him in a crushing hug. We had never been more scared in our lives.
My heart near stopped as I looked over Dad's shoulder and caught sight of a large, brown eye staring back at me through the window.
An elephant had heard us or seen Dad enter the house and was looking inside the house for more people.
We screamed as the elephant tried to reach us through the window. It tried to ram it's tusks through the window, but the gaps in the bars were too thin. So it tried to reach in with it's trunk.
We moved back towards the far wall and the trunk snaked towards us. For a few heart stopping moments I was sure it was going to reach us.
It fell short an inch.
The elephant made a frustrated sound and gave up. We held our breaths and listened as it stomped away in search of someone else.
I suddenly felt as though I could breathe easier and slowly sank to the floor, taking deep breaths and silently thanking whatever deity I could think of that we had survived so far.
Dad broke the spell. "We have to get out of here."
I looked up at him. "How?"
"We get back to the bus, or at least out of the village." Dad replied, crossing to the window to check for elephants.
"But that's insane! We'll never make it." Daddy cried.
"We will. I was with one of the local shaman. He said that the elders were working on a spell to get the elephants back under control." Dad said.
Daddy shook his head. "You can't tell me you believe in all that."
Dad shrugged. "If it works, it works. We need to get away though. We can't just sit here."
"He's right." I agreed softly.
Daddy sighed. "I suppose so." He turned to the family whose house we were hiding in. "Are you coming?"
The man shook his head. "The elders will be able to cast the spell. We'll wait it out." He said.
"God bless you." Daddy whispered, his eyes bright with unshed tears.
"God speed." The man returned.
Dad checked the coast was clear once more and we carefully left the house. This time staying together, we ran down the streets.
We hadn't run into any elephants and I couldn't believe our luck. It was then I heard the clatter of a stone being kicked.
Maybe our luck had run out.
My Dad found a stick underneath a tree that seemed to be randomly growing in the gap between the houses we were passing by. He raised it like a weapon and prepared to swing.
Another two humans came into view and the woman cried out in shock as Dad began to swing. Dad stopped in time and we just stared.
It was the English Honeymooning couple.
"We thought you were an elephant." Daddy breathed.
The English man looked at Dad. "What were you going to do? Poke it? Hitting it would only aggravate it."
Dad looked sheepish and he dropped the stick. "It was instinct."
"Todd." The woman whispered to her fiancé. "Let's not fight. Let's just get out of here."
The man, Todd, nodded. "Sorry." He said to Dad. "It's just been stressful. Not knowing when you might be trampled or something."
Dad just smiled. "I understand. Let's head to the market. We can use the bus to escape."
So together, my family and the English couple, we made our way towards the market. We were all on the alert.
Finally, we saw the bus sat on the edge of the market. We pushed ourselves further, vaguely noting that there were more people trying to reach the edge of the village too. But we could only focus on getting out of there.
We were so close when we heard a voice break out over the terrified cries and noise of the escaping crowd.
"The elephants are hypnotised again!" A woman cried.
"The shaman's spell worked." A man called.
Relief rippled through the locals and everyone stopped, some cheering, embracing their families, and some trying to find their relatives.
For some it was in vain. They would never see them again.
But we just wanted to go back to the hotel and forget this day.
But I will never forget our trip to Tembo Kijiji. It will haunt my parents and I till the day we die.
As soon as we got home, Daddy took down all his elephant ornaments and either sold them, broke them or put them away to never see the light of day again. Suffice to say, Elephants are no longer his favourite animals.
As for my Dad he refuses to look at anything with elephants on. If he turns on the TV on and there are elephants on there, he turns it off or changes channel. If he's reading something with elephants in, he puts it down and won't look at it anymore.
As for me, whenever I see an elephant, like in a zoo or something, I always check their eyes for the glint. The glint I saw in the elephant's eye in Tembo Kijiji. I've tried to forget it, but I still have nightmares.
All because of the Elephants of Tembo Kijiji.
Please Read and Review. It's a silly idea, but it's one that refused to quit. So what can you do but write it?