An encounter with a cannibal

A friend had asked me to write a horror story. This is an old one repeated for his reading pleasure and for the new followers.

It was late evening. I was sitting in the lounge of a hotel in an interior African city.

” Hey, new to this place? Would you like to see a cannibal?” asked a tall and big man from the adjacent sofa.

I had nothing specific to do and readily agreed curious to see something strange.

In a few minutes we drove outside the city to what seemed a forest and were face to face with a bare bodied black tribal man with shrunken face, matted hair, unkempt beard and beads on neck seated before a bonfire to ward off the cold. There were lines in white and orange on his face and body.

There was a look of surprise and his eyes glistened as he smiled showing his yellow teeth. He made no attempt to talk but made some gestures that I could hardly comprehend. A shudder passed through me as he looked at my white skin with interest.

I looked around for my companion. He was not seen. A lump arose in my throat when I heard a loud thud. My companion had hit the black man hard on his head.

“Don’t worry” he said as he plunged his sharp teeth with relish on the black man’s shoulder and added with a large grin showing his blood filled mouth, “I am lucky today. Black and white would make a great combo.”

As he slowly stood up with a vicious look and blood dripping from his flesh-filled mouth, I stood frozen still and dazed like a deer caught in the headlights.

” Trinng, trinng, trinng,” the phone came alive with the receptionist in her sweet drawl announcing, “Good morning,Sir. This is a wake up call. It is 4 am and your flight is at 6 am.” Highly relieved but still dazed, I thought of the terrible nightmare looking at my sweat drenched shirt.