BURIED THE WRONG WOMAN

I BURIED THE WRONG WOMAN

What happened in Umuofia that night was something no living person could explain. And the most terrifying part? Let me walk you through… 👀



In a village called Umuofia, there lived a beautiful young woman named Amara, who was married to the wealthiest man in the village, Chief Obinna.

Obinna had two wives, but Amara was his favourite. He bought her beautiful wrappers, gold jewellery, and everything a woman could wish for. Whenever he travelled to the city, he always returned with gifts for her.

His first wife, Nneka, was the complete opposite of Amara. She was quiet, hardworking, and had given Obinna three children, but her husband treated her as though she did not exist.

The villagers often pitied Nneka, but nobody dared to challenge their wealthy chief.

Then, one rainy Thursday evening, something terrible happened.

Nneka was found dead inside her hut.

Nobody knew what had killed her. There was no wound on her body, no sign of a struggle, and no poison in the food she had eaten.

But what frightened everyone was the expression on her face.

Her eyes were wide open, and her mouth was twisted into a terrible smile, as though she had seen something so frightening that her soul had left her body before her heart stopped beating.

The women who discovered her body ran out of the compound screaming.

By sunset, the entire village had heard the news.

Chief Obinna was devastated.

At least, that was what he wanted everyone to believe.

He ordered a grand burial for his first wife. Cows were slaughtered, palm wine flowed freely, and the elders gathered to pay their respects.

Amara wore black and cried louder than everyone else.

But there was one person who watched her throughout the funeral without shedding a single tear.

It was the oldest woman in Umuofia, Mama Ejiro.

Mama Ejiro was said to be over a hundred years old. Nobody knew her exact age, and nobody could remember ever seeing her visit the market or attend a village celebration.

People said she could tell when someone was about to die simply by looking into their eyes.

As the coffin was about to be lowered into the ground, Mama Ejiro suddenly stood up.

"STOP!" she shouted.

The men carrying the coffin froze.

Chief Obinna turned angrily towards her.

"Old woman, have you lost your senses? What kind of disrespect is this?"

Mama Ejiro ignored him.

She walked slowly towards the coffin, leaning on her wooden walking stick.

When she reached it, she bent down and placed her ear against the wood.

For several seconds, the entire village remained silent.

Then she straightened up.

"Who put this woman inside the coffin?"

Chief Obinna's face changed.

"What sort of foolish question is that? My wife is inside!"

Mama Ejiro looked at him.

"No," she whispered. "Your wife is not inside this coffin."

The crowd erupted in confusion.

Some people laughed nervously, believing the old woman had finally gone mad.

Others began to pray.

But Mama Ejiro was not finished.

She pointed her walking stick at Amara.

"That woman knows what happened here."

Every eye turned towards the second wife.

Amara's lips trembled.

"Mama, please. I don't understand what you are saying."

The old woman moved closer.

"Then tell me why you have been visiting the evil forest every night for the past seven days."

Amara screamed.

Chief Obinna immediately grabbed Mama Ejiro's arm.

"Enough! I will not allow you to disgrace my family!"

But the old woman pulled her arm away with surprising strength.

"Your family?" she asked bitterly. "You mean the family that buried a living woman and is preparing to celebrate tonight?"

Nobody moved.

A baby began crying somewhere in the crowd.

The chief's youngest son suddenly ran towards his father.

"Papa, please, don't let them bury Mummy!"

Obinna slapped the boy so hard that he fell to the ground.

"Take that child away!"

Two men rushed forward to carry the boy away, but he clung to the chief's wrapper.

"Papa, Mummy came to my room last night! She told me she was hungry! She said you locked her inside the red room!"

The chief went completely still.

Amara began shaking uncontrollably.

Mama Ejiro slowly turned towards the chief's compound.

Then she said something that made even the bravest men in Umuofia step backwards.

"Bring the coffin back to the village square. If you bury it before sunset, every firstborn child in your family will die before the next new moon."

Nobody questioned her again.

The coffin was carried back.

The chief ordered everyone to leave, but Mama Ejiro refused to move.

She demanded that the coffin be opened.

When the lid was finally removed, the villagers screamed.

The woman inside was wearing Nneka's clothes.

She had Nneka's face.

She even had the small scar above her left eyebrow.

But she was not Nneka.

Because Nneka had a birthmark shaped like a crescent moon on her neck.

The dead woman had no birthmark.

Instead, there was a strange black symbol beneath her ear.

Mama Ejiro began to cry.

"I warned your father," she whispered to Obinna. "I warned him that the day your family tried to cheat death, death would come to collect twice."

Obinna fell to his knees.

For the first time in his life, the great chief was afraid.

"Mama, please," he begged. "Tell them to leave my family alone."

But the old woman turned away from him.

"Take me to the red room."

Amara screamed.

"No! You cannot enter that room!"

Mama Ejiro stopped walking.

Slowly, she turned her head.

"Why?"

Amara fell to the ground and began pulling at her hair.

Then, in a voice barely louder than a whisper, she confessed.

"Nneka is not dead."

The entire village fell silent.

Amara pointed towards the chief's compound.

"She is inside the red room. But the woman you buried is the woman I brought back from the evil forest."

Mama Ejiro closed her eyes.

"Then you have made the greatest mistake of your life."

They hurried to the chief's compound.

The red room was locked with seven heavy chains. Obinna carried the keys with trembling hands.

When the final chain fell, the door slowly creaked open.

Inside, sitting on a wooden chair, was Nneka.

She was alive.

Her hands were tied, her lips were dry, and her eyes were filled with tears.

But the moment she saw Amara, she began to laugh.

It was not the laughter of a happy woman.

It was the laughter of someone who had waited a very long time for revenge.

"You came back," Nneka whispered.

Amara backed away.

"Nneka, please..."

Nneka stood up.

"You took my husband. You took my children. You took my position in this house. And when I discovered what you were doing in the forest, you decided to bury me alive."

Obinna covered his mouth.

He had believed his first wife was dead.

He had never imagined that Amara would go so far.

But Nneka was not finished.

She looked directly at her husband.

"Obinna, do you remember the night your father died?"

He nodded slowly.

"Do you remember what he told you before his last breath?"

Obinna began to shake his head.

"Please, don't..."

Nneka smiled.

"He told you that nobody in your family must ever marry a woman from the village of Eziama."

Mama Ejiro suddenly dropped her walking stick.

"Eziama?" she whispered.

Nneka nodded.

"My mother came from Eziama. And before she died, she told me the truth about your family."

She stepped towards Obinna.

"Your father did not die of sickness. Your grandfather did not die in a war. And your great-grandfather was not killed by robbers."

The chief began to cry.

"They were all taken," Nneka whispered, "because your family stole a woman from Eziama and buried her in this compound many generations ago."

Suddenly, every lamp in the room went out.

A terrible wind swept through the house.

From somewhere deep beneath the floor came the sound of a woman singing.

Mama Ejiro began to pray.

But Nneka only smiled.

"She has come," she whispered.

"Who has come?" Amara screamed.

Nneka turned towards her.

"The woman you buried."

Then a voice came from inside the coffin outside.

A woman's voice.

A voice that sounded exactly like Amara's.

"Amara, my daughter, why did you bury me?"

Amara fell to the ground.

Because she suddenly remembered something she had spent her entire life trying to forget.

She had never known her real mother.

And the woman she had buried that afternoon...

Was wearing the same necklace Amara had worn as a baby.

Mama Ejiro looked at Amara with tears in her eyes.

"My child," she whispered, "you were never supposed to return to this village."

Then the coffin lid slammed shut by itself.

And from inside it, someone began knocking.

Three times.

Then a fourth.

Then a fifth.

The villagers ran screaming towards the village gate.

But Mama Ejiro remained standing beside the coffin.

She looked at Amara and said:

"Now you must choose. Either you open that coffin and discover who your mother really was, or you leave it closed and watch every person in this village die."

Amara slowly stood up.

She walked towards the coffin.

She placed her trembling hand on the lid.

And just as she was about to open it, Nneka shouted:

"AMARA, DON'T!"

Everyone turned.

Nneka's eyes were completely black.

She smiled at Amara and whispered:

"Because the woman inside that coffin is not your mother."

She paused.

"She is YOU."

TO BE CONTINUED...