In the part of the world where I grew up, we were made to believe that voodoo is real and that it can be used anywhere and at anything. A lot of the schools in my community adopted this voodoo in their sporting activities, and it was so real. My school wasn't left out; in fact, I was among those that go around looking for the ingredients to be used in preparing the voodoo whenever we are going for a sporting competition, either a race or football.
During one of the general interschool sports in my school, where all the schools in the community gathered to compete, we prepared our 'product' and buried it somewhere unnoticed in the open field. When the competition began, we saw the complete opposite of its effect; the athletes from my school were stumbling at any slight glitches, which on a normal day, the voodoo we buried on the field would outsmart all those faults and fuel the athletes more to excel.
Ugo, one of my classmates, noticed it, and he got wondering, "It seems that thing is not working because I can't seem to understand why we are taking the last positions"
"I'm surprised either, this is not what our school is known for," I said while trying to focus on the ongoing relay race.
'What could be wrong? Is it that we didn't mix the ingredients well? Could it be that we buried it in the wrong position?'
These thoughts got me curious because this voodoo is what we've used several times, and it worked well.
"Ugo, let's go and..." I was about to initiate the idea to stylishly go to the open field where we buried it and adjust it when one of the athletes, Desmond by name, suddenly ran towards us from the field and said, "Guys, that school buried something inside the school compound, and it's nullifying what we buried. Go and search for it," he rushed back to the field while pointing at the canopy housing the said school that buried the voodoo.
"No wonder!" I exclaimed.
I got charged up and felt like going to the school's canopy and chase them off because it can't be heard anywhere that an external school came to our school and demolished our hidden power. I wished it was possible for me to go and chase them off, but doing that would bring me trouble.
"Ugo, take that side while I take this." We separated in our different directions, so curious and determined to search for the buried voodoo. We knew how to detect it because we used to bury such too.
I got to my location; the back of the biggest hall in the school, which has broken bricks scattered all over the ground. I bent down and began to turn every brick up side down. I was doing that when I saw the students from the school Desmond had said were responsible for the voodoo, walked in, using their legs to raise bricks. They were up to 8 in numbers, and immediately when they saw me, they rushed me and held me on the collar of my shirt.
"So, it's true that your school buried something, that's why we're finding it hard to pick a good record. We've caught you, and we are going to report you to the sports management," the girl among them who seems to be their mouthpiece said in a loud ferry voice.
I was lost because I came to look for what they buried, so how come they're accusing me?
"Did You say, bury? I don't know anything like that; I was only hunting for african groundnuts on the ground," I said, trying to pull off the hand holding my shirt's turtle.
"You think we don't know? Who are you trying to fool?" The one holding me by the neck vibrated while tightening his grip more on my neck.
Others disengaged and began to turn the bricks in a fast manner, searching for where the voodoo was buried. That was when I knew that they didn't actually bury any voodoo.
"Leave him, let's go; it seems they didn't bury it here," one of them said after they got tired of searching.
"Count yourself lucky today; if not, you would have been dealt with, both from us and the sport management." He released me, and they left.
I took a deep sigh of relief and ran straight to where Ugo was and told him to leave the area because the students from that school was coming to search that place too.
The interschool sport ended that day with my school taking 4th place, which was unusual. Our trusted voodoo failed us.