TELL MY WIFE I DID NOT RETURN __NOV 1ST

My grandfather said that marsh behind our school was cursed. We used to run past it when going home because our mothers warned us. "Don't near that water."

So that Tuesday when school children came running shouting "they found it!", everybody rushed.

Police was there. And some elders.

In the middle of the black water, something was shining. At first we thought it's bottle. One man entered with stick. He poked it.

It was a box. Small iron box. Locked. But old old. Rust everywhere.

They pulled it out. Nobody wanted to open it. Because in our village, you don't just open what marsh gives you.

The oldest woman in the community was called. Mama Nnukwu. She looked at the box and her face changed. She said "this is Mazi Okoro's box. The one that missed 20 years ago".

Mazi Okoro was the richest man in our village before. One day he just disappeared. People said he travelled. But his family knew he went to that marsh to wash something and never returned.

Mama Nnukwu said he must have thrown the box inside before water carried him.

They forced the box open. Inside, no gold. No money. Just one folded paper and a small child's shoe.

Paper was wet but you could still see writing: "If you find this, tell my wife I did not run. The water took me."

Nobody talked on our way home that evening. We all just walked fast past the marsh.

Some places remember what people forget.

image source AI