Angela Jonah @fairy

Just few days back, I had a very scary encounter in the midnight. My house has a protector, I returned from work very late in the night, and during the process of trying to prepare food to eat, take my bath and maybe cool off from the day's stress, I slept off before i knew it, leaving my key in the padlock that locks my protector, it was very careless of me.

In the midnight while I was sleeping, my phone rang, it was my brother that called, and immediately I heard some noise from my protector. I moved outside and saw that my protector had been unlocked with the key I forgot inside the padlock, the person took off immediately my phone rang, leaving the protector widely open, and the padlock on the ground.

I was scared and confused, sleep vanished from my eyes, the thief would have sneaked into my house and maybe steal my phone or any other thing he sees fit to steal, because I was too tired to have been woken by a little noise, my phone rang out loudly, and I don't think there is anyone sleeping close to the phone that would have not been woken by the loud ringing tone.

The call from my brother at that time of the night and at that particular time had saved me from being stolen from or robbed, I was lucky. When I called my brother back, he didn't really have anything to tell me, he just wanted to hear my voice and that is why he called. Such a careless act would have given me deep regrets, I'm happy I still have my phone with me, and there's no way I'll sleep again without making sure I don't forget the key in the padlock again.

It was around 5:45 in the evening, I went to fill my gas cylinder, I was really hungry and needed to cook. The gas station is not far from my house, so I just walked down there, looking very tired because I had just returned from work. I met a queue at the gas station, it was not much, but for a hungry human being like me, I felt I might faint if I stood a little longer without getting my cylinder filled.

It was my turn to get my cylinder filled and all of sudden, I saw some group of boys with matchets and guns, chasing down one guy, just across the gas station. They held the guy down gave him a beating of his life with the matchets, and started shooting bullets in the air. Everybody ran for their life, I was not an exemption, initially I was looking weak like someone who is at the point of collapse, I was surprised to know that I had that much strength left in me, I left my cylinder and ran with all my strength.

I branch a compound and took cover until the gunshots had gone completely and it was safe to come out, I slowly walked back to the gas station, on guard to take off in case I hear any further gunshots or see the guys that shot the gun. They were gone, leaving only the guy they had beaten seriously with matchets, it's obvious he was one of them, and he must have tampered with the rules. The police soon arrived and the guy was taken to the hospital. I returned to the gas station only to find out that they closed immediately because of the incident that just occurred.

I was left with no other choice than to take my empty cylinder home, the hunger came back worse than before. On my way home, I met some students singing funeral songs and holding a picture flex of one of them who died, rumors has it that he was killed by his fellow cult members. My thought shifted from hunger to how people willingly endanger their lives by getting their selves involved in ungodly groups, therefore cutting their life short. I bought some snacks, and that was what I took for dinner, I wasn't satisfied, but it helped. At least I was alive, got my cylinder filled the next day.

It was the third term in JS2, I still remember how I had to say goodbye to my friends because of my father who is a pastor, and was transferred to another station and I was going to change school too. During the last days of exams, I told my classmates and friends of how we won't be seeing and might never see each other again after the end of the term, it was a very heart breaking period for me. The friends I had made always made my day bright and fun, smiles is sure to be on my face anytime I set my eyes on them.

Although in JS2, I used to represent the school in quiz competition, and so I was known by the principal and all the teachers and students, I was well loved, and the pains of giving up such a sweet environment was just too much. My best friend back then; Cynthia, she gave me her phone number to call her when I finally have a phone, I got my first phone when I was in SS1 and I called the number, but it was never reachable. I remember how some of my classmates even asked where my father was transferred to, so they can know where to find me, it showed how much they cared about me.

On the day of closing for the third time, I knew I would never see them again after that day, and so I cried so much, and my classmates couldn't hold their tears too, my principal and teachers gave me a farewell hug, I was a brilliant student with a constant first position and the students I used to help do home works felt like it's the end of the world for them. It was a very emotional moment, I cried till I was home. Few days later, we packed and moved to my father's new station, I remember seeing about three of my classmates while I was in the vehicle that drove us to the new station, I waved at them till I could not see them anymore, I still remember them screaming my name on top of their voice, hot tears ran down my cheek and I felt pains in my heart, I felt like going back.

A new term came and I was now in JS3, got enrolled in a new school and certainly made new friends, but the friends and classmates I had in my JS2 were still very fresh in my head, I still remember their names till today and it's as if it was just yesterday. But the painful thing is that I have never seen any of them again, except on Facebook for some of them. The same thing played out again when I got to SS3 where we graduated and left secondary school, I have only seen few of them over the years, the rest are either married or single parents, and that connection was totally cut off after our secondary school days. I got to realize that life revolves, and no matter what, our set of friends will keep on changing till our last day on earth, you keep the ones you can and feel pains for the others you're unable to keep in touch with. But to me, the memories of friends I have had, will always and forever be in my heart, they will always be remembered.

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.