“The Shadow on Abeni Street,” a suspenseful urban mystery set in Nigeria. Follow Ayo as he unravels a strange disappearance in his neighborhood.
The Shadow on Abeni Street
It started on a rainy Tuesday. The kind of rain that fell sideways, slapping windows and washing away every trace of dust from the Lagos streets.
Ayo, a second-year law student at the University of Lagos, was home that week visiting his mother in the densely packed neighborhood of Abeni Street.
The neighborhood had always been known for its vibrancy—children playing, vendors yelling, motorbikes honking—but something had changed. People were quieter.
Doors closed earlier. And everyone was whispering about what happened to Baba Mofe.
The Disappearance
Baba Mofe, a retired postmaster, had lived on Abeni Street for over 30 years. He was seen every morning walking his one-eyed dog and sipping hot pap from a plastic cup. But three days before the rain began, he vanished.
No note, no struggle. His door was locked from the inside, and the only sign of life was the dog barking endlessly.
Curiosity turned into fear. Ayo, a skeptic when it came to tales of the supernatural, decided to investigate. What he found shook his beliefs to the core.
Clues in the Shadows
Ayo began by questioning neighbors. Mama Nkechi, who sold roasted corn by the junction, swore she saw a tall man in a black agbada enter Baba Mofe’s house the night before he disappeared. “He had no face,” she whispered, crossing herself.
“No face?” Ayo asked.
“It was just darkness where his eyes and nose should be. Like shadow wrapped in fabric.”
It sounded ridiculous—until he saw it too.
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Ayo’s Encounter
That Friday night, while reviewing his notes in the front room, Ayo heard footsteps in the corridor.
He peeked through the cracked window curtain and saw a figure cloaked in black standing under the streetlight. The light flickered—and the figure was gone.
The next morning, Ayo found a trail of muddy footprints leading to Baba Mofe’s door, then stopping abruptly.
Digging Deeper
He searched Baba Mofe’s home with the help of Chuka, a friend and aspiring journalist. In a dusty drawer, they found a faded newspaper clipping from 1987.
The headline read: “Three Vanish from Abeni Street. Ritual Suspected.”
They found another article—older still—reporting that the land Abeni Street was built on once belonged to an Osun priest who was buried alive during colonial land disputes.
According to local legend, the priest cursed the land: every 20 years, the street would take someone back as payment.
This year marked the 40th year since that article was written.
Truth or Terror?
That night, Ayo and Chuka set up cameras in Baba Mofe’s house. Around 2:43 a.m., the motion sensor triggered.
Ayo watched the feed in horror as a shadowy figure passed through the living room, pausing as if to look at the camera—then vanished.
The police dismissed the footage as manipulated. But Ayo uploaded it to a Reddit-style Nigerian forum.
It went viral. People began sharing similar experiences from other parts of Lagos—people disappearing, dark figures watching.
The Aftermath
In the weeks that followed, two more disappearances occurred. The authorities still claimed it was coincidence. Ayo moved back to school, but he never stopped writing about it.
His blog—UrbanMythsNaija—grew popular. And while some said he was just chasing clout, others began to whisper that he was being followed.
A month later, a note appeared on his door. One sentence written in dripping ink:
“Stop digging or be buried with the truth.”
