Zara's Safari

Chapter 3

But a village mightn't be that bad- now that I'd had a while to think about it.

I was very accustomed to a village.

Clay and I often hung out at the Village in Soho- trendy gay area in London, favorite watering hole and pick up joint of choice, for Clay of course. And when we were feeling rural, we sometimes drove out to Finchingfield village in Essex for the day, where we'd grab a bite at the local 18th century pub and walk the historic streets buying some divine little antiques. So perhaps a quaint village life wouldn't be too terrible after all. I could luxuriate at the spa all day in the fluffy gown having massages, pedi's and Africa algae wraps. I would stay in a shabby- chic rustic inspired cottage with an Africa flavor no doubt. There would be the usual amenities; a few darling shops, perhaps a little café and a gym. The only down side to the pretty little picture that was beginning to take shape in my head were my fellow inhabitants- the staff. I would have to put up with them, and if Riaan was any indication of what they would be like, it would be very unpleasant. But that was a detail I could iron out later, I would not let that dampen my newfound enthusiasm for my little village--

But, to my utter shock-horror, when we got there, it was not at all how I'd imagined it.

Where were the little shops? Antiques, pubs, cobbled stone streets quaint atmosphere and picture perfect postcard looks?

This looked more like a series of thatched, grey concrete dormitories. The dormitories appeared to house small rooms, with small little windows and big heavy black metal doors. There was a small patch of grass on one side with a few plastic chairs stacked on it, the remains of a ping-pong table was propped up against a wall and fire pit. All this place needed were a few camper vans, some washing hanging out the window and a dog with three legs and voila, you had a gypsy trailer park.

"Is this the..."I paused to take it all in. I was almost too scared to utter the words, in case he confirmed my worst nightmare... "Is it, um....the Village?"

Riaan didn't reply, he continued to march across the dusty red soil and towards one of the dormitory blocks. Perhaps this wasn't it; the village was obviously behind these terrible concrete cells. There was no way they would make me stay here. In this.

I followed Riaan, my hopes growing by the second as he completely ignored the first block of rooms and walked right past them. My heart practically did flick-flacks of joy when he marched past the second block too. But then, all the hopes I had accumulated plummeted and plunged to the floor as he walked up to one of the small rooms and slotted a key into the lock. The heavy metal door was sticky and old and Riaan was forced to wiggle it rather enthusiastically just to get it to budge. It finally opened with a loud grinding sound across the concrete floor.  The sound made my skin crawl.

"This is your room," He said flicking on the small single light bulb that was dangling from the ceiling by a black cable. I glanced inside; I'd never seen anything like it. The 'room' or should I say shoebox was minuscule, the size of my walk-in closet at home. There was an extra narrow single bed pushed up against the far wall covered in some kind of netting. And it was standing on bricks! 

"Why is it on bricks?" I asked approaching the unstable looking bed. 

"Oh, it's to keep the Tokoloshe away."

"THE  WHAT?" I screeched, jumping back from the bed in case there was one underneath it. "What kind of animal is that?" 

"It's not an animal, it's  a little evil creature,  that comes out and terrorizes you at night." I thought I detected a slight hint of pleasure in his voice. As if he was delighted to be giving me this horrendous news.