We should have stayed away as instructed.

We just arrived at my friend's village; he has not been to the village for over 15 years for reasons best known to his parents. It felt like they were running away from something because even his late father hardly visited the village. It was obvious something was wrong; there was definitely something that was keeping them away. My friend John was also advised by his parents to not keep in touch with extended family members; his parents ensured he was cut off completely from his extended family, and that caused a lot of curiosity. He kept asking questions as to why but never got any straight answers.

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He was from the town but was also seen as a stranger in his own hometown; if not for his father's burial, I am sure he would have been forced to stay away from his own hometown for more years, if not forever. As always, the first evening in a big family house, we had to explore and get to know every corner of the house, but we noticed a wing in the house that looked like no one had stepped foot there in decades. The dust and cobwebs in that area of the house, despite the fact people claim to be living in the house year in, year out, caught our attention, and we started to walk towards that wing, and immediately we had a voice.

"Don't go in there; come back here." The voice screamed; we turned, and it was John's mother.

"But, Mom, why is this wing covered in dust and cobwebs? More like no one has been in here for years." John asked his mother.

"Just don't go in there; no matter what happens, don't you dare go in there." His mom warned, as she walked away.

How his parent's react to his questions about everything gets us even more curious about everything and more: whenever my family and I travel to the village for any event, he wishes that his own family could, even if it's just for once in his lifetime, but whenever the need arises to go to the village, his father is the one that goes, and he goes alone without him, his mother, or anybody from his family, not even his siblings. If not for the fact that his father needed to be buried in his hometown, he might still not have known his hometown at the age of 18.

"Kachi I really don't know what my parents are hiding from me; I need to find out what is really going on, but I feel my answers are on that side of the house my mother has prohibited us from exploring." John said

"I don't know your parents reason for staying away from the village and your mom's reason for asking you to avoid that side of the house, but to a point I feel it's for your own good." I responded, "I just feel like they are protecting you from something. I do not know what it is, but it just feels that way." I added as I sat on the bed.

"Are you noticing that my mom is trying to keep my uncles, aunties, and even cousins away from my siblings and me?" John asked, "Something is really going on." John added as he buried his head in his palm.

"You have to calm down; you know they say curiosity kills the cat. As much as I am curious about everything going on here, let's not get ourselves in trouble." I advised

We went to bed that day. I used to tell him stories about how whenever I visited my hometown and how I always visited the stream and river in my hometown, but since we arrived, his mom has not let us out of her sight. Despite how busy she is entertaining visitors and those who came to sympathize with her for losing her husband, she still has her eye on all of her kids. That is to show you how serious whatever she was protecting her kids from was.

"Kachi, I am going into that side of the house that no one is allowed to enter." John said to me about two days after we were warned not to go in there.

"To do what exactly?" I asked, "What if we see something bigger than us?" I asked again since I don't want to be dragged into something I know nothing about.

"I feel like that wing holds the answers to all my questions." John said as he started to walk in the direction of that wing, more like something called out for him.

He used his hands to clear off the load of cobwebs as he pushed one of the doors open; it was shocking what we saw in there. It looked like a shrine or something like that; it had a lot of statues carved out from wood, and red, white, and black wrappers, or should I say curtains, were used to cover the entire wall such that you could not see the wall, and that scared me, and I withdrew, but John wanted to proceed when his mother whispered and dragged us all out of that wing as she rushed to erase our footprints with sand.

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She held John by the hand and dragged him to her room. I was still standing there when she shouted, "Kachi, you too, come over here." Scared to my bone marrow, I rushed to meet up with them.

"You have always wanted to know the truth; well, here it comes, and I hope you are ready for what's coming because your father and I wanted to tell you everything when you have come of age and will understand everything better, but it seems like you are too curious and cannot wait till then." John's mother said with tears rolling down her eyes. "Kachi, close the door." She added before she started narrating the story that left me wishing I did not even follow them to the burial in the first place.

"Your grandfather was a native doctor, and that wing of the house was his shrine. After he died, your father was asked to carry on the mantle as the first son, but since your father had accepted Christianity, he declined and decided to leave the village and only comes back when he's needed because of the way he was being pressured to take up his father's line of work." His mom narrated and was still crying. "Also, the reason the wing was abandoned is because tradition requires that the first person to go into that wing after the current one dies has to be the one taking over from him, and since your father declined, as his first son no one has gone in there, they will want to force it on you, and now you are the first person to be in there in years. Have you seen the type of mess you have gotten yourself into?" His mother asked, still crying.

"I am sorry, Mom, but you guys should have just said something at least. The way you guys act whenever I ask questions causes my curiosity to grow even stronger and stronger. I am sorry, Mom." John apologized as he wiped her tears.

"Now your father is not here to protect us; both of you have to promise me that you will not tell anyone you went in there; not a single soul should find out, which is why I tried to erase your footprints." John's mom pleaded

"We promise it will not go beyond this room." John and I echoed as we walked out of her room.

"We should have stayed away as instructed; indeed, curiosity kills the cat." I whispered.