Dear ZedTears. Kojo by Tambu Geeray

So young Kojo ran as fast as his feeble legs could carry him. He knew he couldn’t outrun his pursuers but had to keep going.

Qotari’s voice echoed through the forest as though from a thousand sad choirs. “Run Kojo, run!”

He had just seen Qotari go down like a tree without roots. Was he dreaming?

“Shoot him, shoot his legs you fools”, he heard one of the men say.

What was happening? Who were these people and where have they emerged from? Would a lovely day turn bloody in split seconds? Was that the last he saw of Qotari?

Immersed in this sea of thoughts, he kept running and wouldn’t stop.

He was gasping for breath and in need of rest but the angry voices behind made it a luxury he couldn’t afford.

He would rather go down like a haunted endangered specie than see it coming…he thought with defiant finality.

The gunshots kept ringing behind him with bullets ricocheting against iroko trees all about. He heard a loud cry, more like a roar. That was the last he heard of Qotari, he knew.

“Shoot the kid! Don’t let him get away you bloody amateurs!”, he heard their leader yell out again.

Still buried in his thoughts while running, Kojo tripped on some undergrowth and went tumbling down a steep cliff into what turned out to be a cave.

Exhausted from the entire ordeal, he opened his eyes and looked around. A lion’s den, he thought. He was going to be devoured by whatever beast lived there, he realised helplessly.

There would be no rescue. He clenched his little fists in anguish and sobbed uncontrollably, convinced that it would end there.

Finally he opened his eyes facing the ceiling of the cave, he could only hear the angry voices of an angry lot. He gazed at all that lay around and above him, all he saw was sticky walls full of Spirogyra and stalactites.

Qotari was gone, he would follow sooner or later, vanished in a nightmare.

…The beginning…

_By Tambu Geeray

Tambu Geeray sent me a brief introduction to a book he is currently writing inspired by an African folklore. The story of Kojo, hailing from a tribe on the verge of extinction similar to a fictional documentary project I worked on about the life of Tora.

Worth checking out “Not Just a Pretty Face” also by Tambu Geeray. Great stuff!

Design, Art/Creative direction, Illustration, Post
By Philip Abang
Credit: Tambu Geeray - Kojo