Angela Jonah @fairy

There is this day that I went out to an event that ended late in the night at around 10:00pm, initially I did not want to go, but since I went with four other people that lived in the same compound with me, I was okay with it because there was five of us. It was a concert where top musicians, comedians and artists were invited, and that also moved me to attend the event.

We were four girls and only one guy among us, we had a good time in the event, made ourselves comfortable and of course there was plenty of food and drinks for us to chose from. The guy went and brought a drink I had never seen before and I decided to taste it, to my greatest amazement, the drink was extremely sweet and hurriedly took more without hesitation.

The last thing I remember is me still taking the sweet drink, and the next thing, I saw myself in my house, laying on the floor, my clothes were very dirty, and it was morning already. I was shocked and began to ask how and what happened, my neighbors that I went to the concert with, started narrating how I got drunk, I still find it hard to believe that the drink was alcohol, it was so sweet.

They went further to tell me how some thugs started coming after them on the way back home and how they left me and all ran, they said I ran too, and that is how I fell inside a dirty and stagnant water because I was really drunk, I can't remember any of those things happening. I immediately remembered my handbag and phone, and looked around for it, but couldn't see it, my neighbors told me that I threw away everything I was carrying while I was running without direction, and it's certain that those thugs must have carted away with those items. Hot tears in my eyes, I went to a concert late at night and took a drink that I've never took before, I did this to myself, and there is no one else to be blamed for this.

This was during holiday season that I will never forget, my uncle and aunty came to visit our family, they brought with them a lot of gifts and there were lots of fun, they took me and my siblings out to places that amazed us because we had never been there before. We visited places like rivers, cinemas and other places of high value. My uncle and aunty are siblings from the same mother and father.

One morning during this holiday, my uncle promised to take me and my siblings to somewhere later in the evening, that he wants to go somewhere with my aunty and so we should prepare so we can all go to the places once he returns with my aunty. My uncle drove out with my aunty and it was as if we should fast forward the time, because we couldn’t wait to find out where they wanted to take us to.

Later that afternoon, a very heavy rain fell for hours, deep in my mind, I was praying that the rain stops before evening so my uncle and aunty can return and take us to this exciting surprise place. The rain fell till evening and later stopped, me and my siblings were set to go on this outing, but my uncle and aunty didn’t return. We waited till night, and we were sure at this point that the outing won’t be possible anymore.

My uncle and aunty later returned in the night around 8 pm and they came home without the car they drove out with; they were soaked in water from head to toe, and their clothes were very wet. While the rain was falling, they were driving along a construction site where a big and large pit was dogged, there was water everywhere, even the pit was filled up with water and they drove into the pit. The car was completely submerged underwater and water filled up everywhere inside the car. Water covered my uncle and aunty, and they started gasping for breath, their lives flashed before their eyes.

Luckily for them, they were rescued by people that were passing by when this happened, the car was towed to the workshop, the engine and all electrical equipment in it was damaged. My uncle and aunty came home traumatized because they had thought that it’s their last moment on earth, if not for the people that came to their rescue, although we missed the outing we planned to embark on, we were happy that their lives was not lost, it would have been a very tragic incident.

My mum wanted to let us know the power of prayer and decided to tell us something that happened to her while she was still very young and wasn’t married at that time. My siblings gathered around, including me, to hear of this incident that she didn’t forget for such a long while. My mum was triggered to tell us this story because of our last born who likes to sleep whenever prayer sessions are going on in the house, as a way of encouraging all of us.

She said that on that faithful day, she had finished dressing to go out to somewhere, and as usual, she prayed before leaving. But the moment she stepped outside, a voice told her to go back inside and pray, she went back inside and prayed as the voice had told her. After praying, she left the house, and again the voice told her to go inside and pray again, she started wondering what could be wrong, but she obeyed and went back inside to pray. The voice still told her to go and pray the third when she wanted to leave again, and she obeyed and went back the third time to pray before finally leaving for where she was going to.

My mum said that she was still living in her village that time, and the place was very undeveloped as at then. She navigated a road that was very lonely, quiet and bushy. A man stepped out from the bush and blocked her, while calling out to another man inside the bush to bring something which later turned out to be a cutlass. According to my mum, she was still standing there and didn’t attempt to escape. The first man carried up the cutlass to strike my mum, but his hand became stiff and he couldn’t execute the action no matter how hard he struggled, it was as if something was holding his hand so he could not swing the cutlass. But he was able to put the cutlass back gently, the second person decided to try and the same thing happened again. They gave up after they could not swing the cutlass at my mum, looked at her in shock and made way for her to pass.

My mum passed and got to where she was going safely, that voice that told her to pray must have been God and He had delivered her from death that day. She saw the two men in church the following Sunday, they miraculously repented after that encounter, they also wanted to find out and get involve in wherever my mum worshipped, because it was very clear to them that it was not an ordinary being that protected her, it was the supreme and almighty God. We were very much surprised to hear this story of hers.

It was very lately in the evening, at around 7:00pm, I wanted to go and dispose my refuse bin with my elder sister. The waste dump site is a bush track that is always very dark at night, I thought of how needful a flashlight will be to us regarding the fact that it was late already. But she disagreed by saying that it might not be safe to go with any item, so that we won’t be robbed, we agreed and went without any flashlight.

My sister and I were having a discussion while walking down the waste dump site bush track, the moon was visible, so at least we could see ourselves and have a dim sight of things around us. We would have gone earlier to dispose the waste, but we were just too lazy to do that during the day time and we didn’t want to keep the waste any longer since it was already stinking.

We were almost close to the dump site when my sister spotted something moving right in front of us, upon close inspection, my sister realized it is a snake, a huge one, and it was moving towards us, I don’t know if the snake could not see us or something. My sister and I have this one thing in common; we hate the sight of snakes and cannot stand the sight of it.

Without any hesitation or further delay, we threw away the refuse, turned back and took to our heels, we ran like never before. I lost the left leg of my shoes while running, I could not stop to pick it up, a new shoe that is barely two weeks old. We ran till we were home and regretted going at the hour of the night to dispose refuse and without flashlight. I went back the next morning to look for my shoes but could not find it, hot tears boiled in my eyes. We never went to that road in the night again, and conscience of the fact that flashlight is needed wherever it is dark.