THE TRAGEDY!
Episode 9
“Miebaka! Miebaka!” I called on Miebaka after rushing to the room
Mama Bisi had ran back to her house as soon as she saw the crowd running out of the barracks.
“Miebaka where are you?” I called again
Confusion set in as men and women ran in opposite directions, some people fell and were stepped upon, I saw a little girl being used as a stepping stone as people ran past one another, Miebaka and I stood still, we had little time to decide whether to join the band wagon or to make another decision.
Me: “What do we do now?” I asked him as we both saw the thick smoke wiping in the air from a very far direction
Miebaka: “I do not know…I am more confused. We do not even know anyone in town, where are all these people going to?” he pointed at the confused crowd, then paused and continued,
“You will have to wait here, I will go to the market and rescue Aunt Engee”
Me: “Wait where? I don’t want to die, and I don’t want you to die either. Mama Bisi said aunty is in a bad shape, if you go out there that will be two lives out there…plea-se don’t make this bad for us. Aunt Engee is smart, she would find her way back. God will not take her away just as he took my parents away” I ran to him and held him close
Miebaka: “…but if anything happens to her, I won’t forgive myself. If we were in her shoes she would risk her life to keep us alive”
Me: “I know she will be fine, I don’t want to lose you, Miebaka” I cried to him
We were both shaken by a very loud gun sh0t from nowhere; I found myself rolling down the stairs, he gr@bb£d me, pu-ll-ed my arm and dragged me back to where we had stood and the second gunsh0t f0rç£d us ma-king way back into the house. He shut the front door, ran to the back door to see if it was bolted and then c@m£ back to me
Miebaka: “Are you ok? Are you alright?”
Me: “I’m fine, what about you? Did you hear that?”
Miebaka: “Where was the gunsh0t coming from?”
Me: “I really don’t know. Could it be that the bombers have come into this barrack? I thought the barracks was the best place to be in times of crises. What do we do now?” I bur-st into tears
“Aunty where are you, plea-se do not leave me just like mama and papa did…”
Miebaka: “St©p saying this, nothing is going to happen to her”
Me: “Mama Bisi said her two legs have been b!own off”
We heard a knock on the door, Miebaka went to check, it was Mama Bisi
Mama Bisi: “Ah Una still dey here? Me don dey go with my children o. I hear say Engee don die, and those boys don enter barrack. Dem don plan to kill any woman wey dem see. Make una come make we go oo…” she turned around to see if her children were still standing where she left them
She turned back at us and asked again, seeing that we had not decided, she gr@bb£d her kids and fled. We quic-kly locked the door and looked throu-gh the window to get a better view of what was happening outside, then we saw Mama Bisi and her kids fall one after another, to the ground as they ran towards the gate. The view was terrific, we did not know who was shooting, but we sure knew he was a professional. Miebaka, seeing this, pu-ll-ed me from the window and covered my eyes; we were both shaking, our hearts beating too fast.
To be continued!