If I told you i had the perfect family would you believe me? We were not rich but we managed whatever we had as one without quarreling or fighting and still no one would know when we had much and when we didn’t. We lived in one of those northern states and we moved there because life in the east became so hard for us. I remember vividly although still very young the day we were moving and my mom’s friends were all crying and saying that they would miss us. I had just one friend then and I remember telling him that I’ll always come to visit.
We moved and in no distant time we settled down. Starting school was not easy for me and worse still coping was the most difficult because of the language barrier. I couldn’t even make friends because I didn’t trust anyone. With time I and my two brothers and my youngest sister got used to the lifestyle in the north and we started to eat their foods too. In fact I started to make friends and I must confess they are really nice people. I would share my food and money with them and they would do same with me. Soon I forgot Nedu my friend in the east and I was so comfortable wit life here in the north.
My parents noticed that I was enjoying my time and they were happy. Some times we won’t have food to eat and I and my siblings won’t get bothered because we would go to play with our friends . My mom Mrs Kamsi sells in the market while my dad Mr Kamsi worked in a construction company. Friends would follow us from school and I would serve them food from the house. Our town was so peaceful and it was so good that people stayed up late till mid night. I saw life here as endless till one day…
Mom rushed home from the market one early afternoon and was panting. She called my teacher and I could hear my teacher talking in a way that showed she was scared while she kept looking at me. So she gave the phone to me and my mom said “Eze pls you have to start coming home with your siblings now because something bad is about to happen”… I paused and with fear all over me I asked “mom what is it pls” and she wouldn’t let me talk and she said “I said come home immediately and stop asking stupid questions”… I knew there was trouble and so I quickly ran to my youngest sister’s class first then to my two brothers classes and took them even without giving tangible reasons for my actions.
Just as we left the school I noticed some rowdy movements in the street and was even more confused. As we walked hastily my younger brothers kept asking me what the matter was and I kept saying “mommy said we should come home”… My youngest sister kept holding on to me like her life depended on me. We got home and my mom quickly asked us to go to our rooms and shut the door. I was still very confused and so were my siblings and we stood staring at each other… My mom quickly called my dad and I could hear her saying “honey pls you need to come home now, there is fire on the mountain”…
The she moved to the kitchen and I couldn’t hear her again. I was 14 at the time and I sat on the bed wondering what had happened to mom and why she was panicking. Less than an hour later my dad returned and then rushed in with utmost urgency. Mom was a little relieved but she was still filled with fear…my dad rushed to our room thinking the reason for the emergency was because of us but we all stood up as if we were to engage in a racing competition… He left our door open as he returned to mom… I could hear although faintly mom crying and trying to narrate what had happened… I tip toed and tried to eavesdrop and what I heard my ears couldn’t hold…
Mom was telling dad about what had happened in the market and how the market had scattered… A neighboring community was planning a reprisal attack on our community and it had started in the market when some spies came to the market to buy something and had deliberately started a fight and in the process killed an influencial woman and then started shooting and everyone started running… The woman who was killed was the ex wife to the king of our community… As they were shooting they kept announcing their arrival saying “we will wipe out everyone in this village”… 8 persons were killed and my mom managed to escape…
She then showed the bruises she got when she fell down while trying to run… Just as she was still speaking a breaking news came in from the radio
“eight persons have been killed in Lanka market in a reprisal attack while twenty four others have been injured…currently DREAM BIGGER school is under attack now and we can confirm that 28 students have been killed…” and before they could finish i jumped out and shouted “mom that is our school”… Oh my God! Mom and dad shouted and my siblings all ran out of the room… We all stood transfixed with mouths opened wide… The war just began…
© Written by Mc wireless