15/08/2026
# THE WOMAN WHO CAME BACK AFTER 20 YEARS
# # Episode 1 — The Return
Twenty years ago, a young woman named Adunni walked into the forest... And never came back. Nobody knew what happened to her. Some people said she was kidnapped. Others believed she had been taken by something that lived deep inside the forest. But her mother never stopped waiting. Every evening, she would sit outside her house, staring at the road, hoping that one day... Adunni would return. Twenty years passed. The little girl who once played around the compound had become nothing more than a faded photograph hanging on the wall. Her mother had grown old. Her hair had turned completely grey. And everyone in the village had accepted one painful truth... Adunni was gone. Until one rainy evening. It was almost midnight. Heavy rain was falling across the village when the sound of footsteps came from the road. Slow footsteps. Step... Step... Step... An old woman inside her house heard the sound and looked towards the door. She thought it was one of the villagers looking for shelter from the rain. But then someone knocked. Three times. KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK. The old woman froze. She slowly walked towards the door. Then she heard a voice. A woman's voice. A voice she had not heard in twenty years. "Mama..." The old woman's heart stopped. She opened the door. And standing outside in the rain... Was Adunni. The same face. The same eyes. The same young woman she had watched disappear twenty years ago. Not an older version of Adunni. Not a woman who looked similar. It was her. Exactly as she looked twenty years ago. The old woman stared at her daughter in complete disbelief. Her hands began to shake. The cup she was holding fell to the ground and shattered. "Adunni?" The woman smiled. "Mama... it's me." The old woman couldn't move. She couldn't even speak. She reached out and touched Adunni's face. Warm. Real. Alive. Then she began to cry. But there was something strange. Adunni did not look happy to be home. She looked frightened. Very frightened. Her mother pulled her inside and locked the door. "Where have you been?" she asked. Adunni looked towards the window. Then she whispered, "I don't know." Her mother stared at her. "What do you mean you don't know?" Adunni shook her head. "I remember walking into the forest. I remember hearing someone call my name. Then everything became dark." She paused. "And when I opened my eyes... I was still there." Her mother grabbed her hand. "For twenty years?" Adunni looked confused. "Twenty years?" She looked at her mother. "Mama, I have only been there for one night." The old woman stepped backwards. One night? Twenty years had passed outside... But for Adunni... it had only been one night. Then Adunni said something that made her mother's blood run cold. "Mama... why did you leave me there?" Her mother stared at her. "Leave you?" "I never left you." Adunni's face changed. "But you were there." Her mother shook her head. "No, my daughter. I searched for you for years." Adunni slowly looked towards the window. Then she whispered, "Then who was the woman that looked exactly like you?" Suddenly... There was a loud knock on the door. KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK. Both women froze. Another knock. This time... it was louder. KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! Adunni grabbed her mother's hand. "Don't open it." Her mother looked at her. "Who is outside?" Adunni's eyes filled with fear. "I don't know. But..." She pointed towards the window. "I saw her following me." Her mother slowly turned towards the window. And standing at the edge of the forest... Was a woman. Watching them. Even from that distance, her face was clear. It was Adunni's face. The exact same face. The same dress. The same long hair. The same eyes. And then... The woman in the forest smiled. Adunni began to tremble. Because she knew something her mother didn't. She had seen that woman before. Inside the forest. And the woman had told her... "You can leave. But I will come with you." TO BE CONTINUED...
