The Mountain of Illumism

THE FINAL-YEAR PROJECT

I had always believed that the most difficult part of final year would be finishing my project.

I was wrong.

At the time, my greatest concerns were my supervisor's corrections, deadlines, presentations and the constant pressure that came with being a final-year student. Every week seemed to bring another academic problem. If it wasn't an assignment, it was a meeting. If it wasn't a meeting, it was our research project.

Then came the announcement that would change everything.

Our department had approved a field excursion for our final-year project. We were expected to travel to a remote mountain community, conduct interviews, observe the environment and gather information that would contribute to our research.

Our project title was:

"An Exploratory Study of the Socio-Cultural and Environmental Factors Influencing Community Health and Well-Being among Mountain Communities."

It sounded serious enough to impress our supervisors.

To us, however, it sounded like an excuse to travel.

The destination was Lumi Mountain.

I had never heard of it before.

When the coordinator mentioned the name during our first briefing, I quietly searched for it on my phone. The pictures immediately caught my attention.

Lumi Mountain was beautiful.

Mist covered the upper parts of the mountain almost every morning. Thick vegetation surrounded the slopes, while narrow paths disappeared between enormous rocks. From some of the photographs, the mountain seemed to stretch endlessly into the sky.

It looked peaceful.

It looked untouched.

And, most importantly, it looked like somewhere we could take plenty of pictures.

I was going with fourteen other people.

There was Mosun, who was one of the most outgoing people in our group. Emmanuel was always ready to make everyone laugh, while Patience was usually the one trying to keep him out of trouble.

There were also Amos, Fatimah and Sarah.

Then there were Keji, Charles, Anabella, Lateefah, Adeife, Wonder and Lateef.

Lateef and Lateefah were twins.

And there was me.

Aliyah.

I wasn't close to everyone in the group. In fact, there were only two people I could honestly call my closest friends among them.

Lateefah.

And Adeife.

Lateefah and I had been close for a long time. She understood me in a way most people didn't, and Adeife was the person I could sit beside for hours without feeling the need to fill every silence.

The three of us had already planned how we would spend the trip.

"We're taking pictures before we even unpack," Adeife declared.

"Of course," Lateefah agreed.

I laughed.

"We're going there for research."

Adeife stared at me.

"Aliyah, please."

Lateefah burst out laughing.

"Don't let her start acting serious now."

I smiled.

I didn't know then how much I would later miss that laughter.

Our trip became even more exciting when Mosun revealed that her father owned a house on Lumi Mountain.

"We won't need a hotel," she told us.

Charles looked suspicious.

"Your father has a house on a mountain?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Mosun shrugged.

"He likes the environment."

Charles shook his head.

"Your family is strange."

Mosun threw a bottle of water at him.

Everyone laughed.

The journey began early in the morning.

The first few hours were ordinary. We talked, played music and shared snacks. Some slept while others took pictures through the windows.

But as we got closer to Lumi Mountain, the road changed.

The smooth road disappeared.

The vehicle began climbing.

Higher.

And higher.

The road became narrow and steep.

I looked out of the window and saw the mountain rising beside us.

"Wow," Adeife whispered.

I turned toward her.

She was staring through the glass with wide eyes.

"It's beautiful."

"It is," I admitted.

But there was something else.

The higher we climbed, the quieter everything became.

Eventually, even our conversations became less frequent.

Then the vehicle stopped suddenly.

Everyone jerked forward.

"What happened?" someone asked.

The driver pointed ahead.

Large rocks had fallen across the road.

A few of them were so big that the vehicle couldn't pass.

We all had to get down.

"Perfect," Charles muttered. "Mountain adventure."

We started clearing the road.

As I bent to move a smaller stone, I noticed footprints in the mud.

I stopped.

Bare footprints.

They led away from the road and disappeared into the trees.

I looked around.

Nobody seemed to notice.

"Aliyah!"

Lateefah called me.

I quickly stood.

"Coming."

I glanced at the footprints again.

Something about them bothered me.

They looked fresh.

Very fresh.

But I convinced myself that someone must have walked there recently.

After almost thirty minutes, we cleared enough of the road for the vehicle to continue.

Eventually, Mosun pointed ahead.

"That's my father's house."

Everyone looked.

The building appeared through the mist.

It was much larger than I expected.

It stood alone on the mountainside, surrounded by trees and enormous rocks. It had several floors, balconies and a number of separate apartments connected by long corridors.

When we finally arrived, everyone was exhausted.

I dropped my bag as soon as I entered.

"I am not moving again."

Adeife laughed.

"You'll move when you're hungry."

"I'll die hungry."

Lateefah dropped beside me.

"Same."

For the next hour, we simply rested.

The house was old but beautiful.

There were wooden floors, large windows and long corridors. Some rooms looked recently renovated, while others looked as though nobody had entered them in years.

I noticed several doors without numbers.

One particular door at the far end of the corridor caught my attention.

It looked different from the others.

Older.

Darker.

I was staring at it when Mosun walked past.

"What's there?"

She glanced at the door.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Just an unused apartment."

"Can we enter?"