Secrets in the Bush

The path Nora was taking wasn’t quite what I had expected.

I had heard from one of our classmates that there were houses along this path, but you’d need a strong mind to follow it. Now that I had entered the bush, I understood exactly what he meant.

The howling of owls, the chattering of birds, and even the squeaking of squirrels filled the bush. It felt like I was walking straight into a wild forest of animals. I even thought I heard the barking of wild dogs. My heart beat so fast that I almost turned back. What if something happened to me? How would I explain to Mum that I was secretly trailing someone on her own business?

Still, I kept following her. At one point, she stopped to look around. I thought she had noticed someone was following her.

She stood still for a few minutes. I think she was looking in my direction.

The way I dived into a nearby bush, you’d think I had just caught a big squirrel. I landed right inside a pothole, and my face went from fine to… well, not so fine. My curiosity made me forget we were in the rainy season.

A few minutes later, I hid as she turned off to the left side of the bush path. Looking closely, I saw there was actually a house built there.

Who could be living in this kind of bushy place? The house was patched together with wood. Bushes surrounded the place—“hairy” was the only word that came to my mind. The whole place was covered with tall grass. It even looked like the kind of place ants, snakes, and scorpions would call home.

A little later, I saw her come out with a basin of clothes she probably wanted to wash. Looking closer, I saw the zinc roof had corroded so badly that it could fall off anytime.

Not long after, her mum came outside, tying one of those native wrappers—the type that our old generational parents always tied. She didn’t look much like Sara. She was chubby and tall, her skin tone was hard for me to describe, but you could feel the mother–daughter bond in the way they stood and talked side by side.

“Who’s there?” Sara’s mum called, looking straight toward where I was hiding.

That was when I realized I had probably made a loud noise with the slippers I was wearing. When I saw Sara coming in my direction, I knew my time was up.

I tiptoed away slowly, but when Sara came too close, I quickly took to my heels.

Even though the route was shabby and rough, it wasn’t that hidden. If I had let down my guard, they would have easily noticed someone was there. Besides, there were other abandoned buildings around too. So it wasn’t completely deserted, even though they were the only people I saw from where I hid.

I didn’t even look back as I ran and ran until I reached my house gate.

I rushed in to wash off my pot hole face with a quick shower. Mum was already back by the time I finished. She was already in her room, and luckily it wasn’t yet six on the dot—otherwise I don’t know how I would explain to her that I followed that path.

Maybe she wouldn’t react as much as I thought, but knowing her, she would still give me a lecture on: “Shortcuts are not the best way to succeed.” Yes, she was that weird. Always finding inspiration or psychology behind everything. And with what happened last time, I didn’t want to bother her with my shortcomings again.

Nature could bear me witness that I gave myself a good knock on the head.

When I entered my room, I saw Lola already sitting on my well-arranged bed like she was some VIP. Well, she is .But right now, I wasn’t in the mood to talk to her. So you get why I said that.

Since our early days at Velmont Heights Academy, we had grown so close and bonded so well. She was like a second family to me. Our parents were comfortable with each other, so it became normal for her to come to my house whenever she wanted. I even let her have access to my room when I wasn’t around.

Lola looked up from my bed, squinted, and then burst out laughing.

“You look like you just finished wrestling with mud.”

She raised an eyebrow, covering her mouth like she was about to explode again.

“What’s that?” I asked, already taken aback by the twist on her face.

She came closer as she stared into my eyes.“Wait—don’t tell me you’re auditioning for the masquerade festival?”

I won’t lie, a small laugh escaped me. Lola was always sarcastic, and anytime we had a misunderstanding, if she didn’t know how to come clean, she’d just throw in some weird remark. Do you know the worst part? Today, my face actually made her jokes easier.

Still, I tried to hide my annoyance as I turned to leave.

“Oli!”

I turned and saw Andrew crawling out from under my bed, with that innocent face he always wore. He was wearing a children’s mask, which made the whole thing even funnier. His hands were tucked behind his back as he kept his head down.

I couldn’t hold back my laughter. I guess I was in for surprises this evening…