Ghost Season

Idolo is a town filled up with terrific happenings that come with the season. Winter has been the season where everyone has had to glue themselves to their compound without stepping out except during the daytime. There is always a time frame on when to jump inside your house without coming out and also without stepping outside to get something.

All the market women had closed and had packed their load home. The commercial vehicles, as well as the cyclists, had closed for the day just because of the fear that's always gripping the town during winter. Udo just arrived from where he travelled to but highlighted late at night when the town had been calm without a soul outside or passing. Immediately, he was dropped by the commercial vehicle whose driver was not an indigenous son of the soil, something that dropped a deep cold in him.

“What's happening in my community, and why is everything quiet? Or have they gone to sleep?” He looked at his wristwatch and discovered that the night was still young. It was past 8 in the evening. He stood at a spot without moving.
“My house is still some tangible distance from here. Should I just start going or just wait?” He asked himself, without seeing a real answer to his question. I'm at the garage where he was dropped. He looked around and saw a seat. He sat thinking of how to get home without being caught for what he did not know.

A few minutes later, he saw someone coming in his direction. He was so excited that at least he could talk to someone who would tell him why there was nobody outside or passing by this young evening. He bent down to pick up the fruit he was chewing that had fallen. Just those few seconds, he did not see the approaching person.
“Hope my eyes are not deceiving me? I knew I saw someone approaching.” He was so surprised, as he was so sure he saw someone.

“Well, maybe it was my instinct,” he said.
He decided to sit and think of the next thing to do. As he raised his head after sitting, he saw someone beside him gazing at him. Immediately, he jumped up, and fear gripped him intensely.
“Ah, you scared me,” Udo said while still in the mood of shivering. It was just as if ice fell from above and dropped on his spine.
“How can I scare the son of the soil?” the guy said as he took his seat next to Udo.
There was still an element of fear in him as he was not comfortable sitting next to this guy. He began to feel some bodily signs.

“What had happened in the community today that everyone had gone to sleep by this time of the day?” Udo asked, facing the guy.
He looked at Udo with an exasperated manner. Such a look would send an in-depth message of distrust.

“Have you forgotten that this is winter?” The guy said.
“Oh, yes, yes ..... No wonder the community is quiet. The members are always entering their houses in a season like this,” Udo said.

He looked at this guy, still surprised. “But how come you are out this evening when others are in their various houses?” Udo, who claimed to be too smart, asked.
"Everybody is not like me, who does not get afraid easily," the guy said. Two minutes later, Udo saw someone in a white garment standing at a spot. He did not understand what was happening, but when he looked at his side, the guy was no longer there. He was glued to a spot while standing. He could not say a word but was just gazing at the white-garment man standing across the roadside.

Yusuf Timur Çelik

After two minutes, he saw the white garment approaching him. His mind was above his head. He could not run; neither could he sit. He just remained standing and glued, just like a standstill tree. As the white garment approached, he could not see the face as the image appeared blurry.

Out of fear, he fell and fainted. The next morning, Ade, who was passing by very early in the morning, saw someone on the floor inside the garage. He rushed down and after observing, it was his friend, Udo.
“Udo, what are you doing here by this time of the morning? And when did you arrive?” Ade asked Udo, who was still interested in shock.
Immediately, Udo jumped up and began to run, shouting, "Ghost! Ghost!! Ghost!!! Ade ran after him until he caught him. No one knew where he was running to until he was caught by Ade. He took him and his luggage home. After sitting for some time, Ade asked Udo to explain what had happened to him. He narrated everything.
“You are so lucky that the ghosts did not do anything funny to you,” Ade said.
“This community is not the way you left it. For some years now, winter has been the scariest season ever. This is why everyone has always been glued to their domain without coming out,” Ade continued.