32. Mr. Kutiriko

The traveller Mr. Kutiriko (A staff of central bank of Nigeria) is on route travelling to Enugu on Sunday where he is to resume work the following day being Monday as a transferred staff from the central bank headquarter in Abuja to Enugu’s central bank’s branch, Mr. Kutiriko is to drive in his own personal car all by himself in the middle of a winter season, on a journey that is 446 kilometres far from the place of his initial work station, to have 156 kilometres of the of the journey on a treacherous road filled with pot holes and floods, Mr. Kutiriko got on the road by 10pm of a journey that is to last five hours, having driven for one hour thirty minutes already a heavy cloud starts formulating, now worries starts growing up for Mr. Kutiriko understanding fully well that he has to report at the office tomorrow morning 8:00am prompt, so he could not stop even after seeing the cloud formulating already in a winter season, it was another thirty minutes again of his travel and there the inevitable happens a heavy rainfall like never before unfortunately for Mr. Kutiriko it all had to rain on the treacherous road path of the journey when he has drove exactly 156 kilometres already far from previous destination, the flood could not allow the travelling cars to move as the pot holes were drenching down, and there, there was a roadside hotel named (Night crawlers Hotel) every other traveller at that night had to stop by and find shelter in, as the journey became impossible to be continued at the current situation, the hotel is said to be built 100 of years ago a constant renovation kept the hotel alive, Mr. Kutiriko was the last traveller to book into the hotel with only one vacant room left in it.

Not long enough the travellers start hearing strange voices outside the windows of their rooms, it was a very very long rainfall night, there was no power supply and the generator ran out of fuel, a long night of darkness unfolds as the strange voices starts murmuring closer, the travellers all become frightened everybody came out of their rooms with the same feelings that something is wrong somewhere, they all gathered in the reception collectively as the fear began to rise in their minds this all began when a historian has told a tale about the existence of the hotel, how it was built and why it has stayed for that long, the myth was of a spiritual sacrifice that is made at a very particular time of the year, now they all are at the wrong hotel at the wrong time of the year, for all the travellers the night now seems longer than daylight to them, they yarn for morning like they could just call open it, not long after the rain starts dropping with heavy wind racking the roof top of the hotel, according to the historian’s further tale someone has to be offered as a price to be sacrifice or all of the occupants of the hotel except the receptionist will die a horrible death, the travellers happens to be traders mostly except Mr. Kutiriko so there was no connection between them all, nobody is to sacrifice for another and yet the tale said non could live if there is no price offered to appease the spirits.

Now the deadline is usually 2:00am and it was 1:30am already according to the tales briefing if they could all live the hotel before 2:00am they will all be safe, while the hotel is on lock down in total darkness and incessant heavy rainfall, they all( travellers ) wants to survive.

Mr. Kutiriko happens to go on hunting during his youth age so he stepped up to take the lead, he instructed that they all are to move collectively leaving no one behind, he believes they could not be harmed if they moved collectively, it is 20 minutes left till the deadline, they most find a way out of the hotel, the hotel happens to have a mystery path which is said to be sacred, it was told by the historian that the spirits do not will the power to pass through it, the adventure of the last twenty minutes is to find that sacred path.

Mr. Kutiriko is the only hope left as he has the ability to magically foresee but due to the number of years he had left hunting he forgot the proper incantations, it was five minutes left and he has just four minutes to remember the incantations.

It is the next five minutes one seconds and they are all safe outside the hotel area, Mr. Kutiriko remembered the incantation, he said them and the path was found, the rain stopped and they all went back to their respective cars.

Mr. Kutiriko made it to Enugu and reported in the office exactly 8:00am that day.

• Written by Aliyu Abubakar