Memories of that that day will forever remain evergreen in my train of thoughts. The day when the fear of God was instilled in me. It was long ago when I still lived at harmony estate with my parents. Harmony estate was located in a remote part of town, far away from other streets and areas in my state. The estate had it's own electricity transformers, telephone lines, water supply and basic social facilities.
I remember it was around evening when i woke up to the clamouring in my neighbourhood. My parents had travelled with my siblings to a wedding party in another state. And as the eldest son, I had been left at home to look after the house.
Early that morning, I was on my best behaviour, trying to please my parents as I always did before they travelled. Immediately my parents and siblings left, I was so happy that I would be finally getting some alone time and freedom to do as I please. Before afternoon, i had begun chatting up my girlfriend and asking her if she could come over. It took some cajoling but eventually, she concured to my invitation.
Me and Timi spent the whole afternoon hanging out, joking and playing, she even cooked for me and after I had my fill we began making out and in no time we had sex on my parents' bed. We both slept afterwards, tired and exhausted from the active service we had both participated in.
A startling noise from the neighbours woke me and when I went outside to make enquires as to what happened, I was informed that some masked gunmen had suddenly arrived the estate in black trucks. Our whole estate had been surrounded, every way in or out had been blocked. They had raided the police station and cut off our electricity supply. The telephones were down and no one could get service to call the outside world. We were trapped in our own estate.
I woke Timi gently and slowly explained the situation of things to her. At first, she thought I was only trying to get rid of her but after several explanation, she relunctantly put on her clothes. As we came out the back door, we were jumped by someone who was probably a member of the community that had come to loot since the whole estate was being raided and people were in disarray.
The boy jumped over me and in a minute, we had begun struggling to over power one an other on the grass. It turned out the boy was way stronger than I was and he was over me, trying to break my head with gis fists. I'm no sexist, but that day was the first time in my life that I thought of females as useless. My girlfriend just stood there screaming like a broken stereo.
Fortunately, my next door neighbour was around. His parents were also out of town and he seemed to be enjoying the disorder in the estate as he had already dressed himself up in black nose mask and a hoodie. He had a baseball bat in his hands and he ran to my rescue, cracking my assailant's head like fresh coconut.
I pushed the boy's dead weight off my chest and stood up. Timi came to hug me and I gently pushed her off as I was in too much pain. My face!. I whispered a thank you to my neighbour who I believed was snickering and checking out my girlfriend. I didn't say anything because I had no proof he was doimg any of these plus the situation was already messed up enough.
After a few considerations, Reuben, my neighboured considered allowing me and my girlfriend to tag along with him after I carefully asked. He already knew what to do and how to react, a consequence of playing excessive video games and visiting the gym regularly.
Timi and I scurried behind the bigger Reuben. Half frightened, half relieved that we had finally found someone who could help us out of this messed up situation. It didn't take long before we started hearing gunshots all around us.
We hid behind a small container and when we peeped through one of the holes in the wood, I saw Alfa Rasheed, my barber take a bullet to the chest. I saw his body fall limp to the floor. Saw a few more people get pierced in different part of their bodies with the fast flying bullets. Saw blood splatter all around the sidewalks, into the gutters and onto the faces and bodies of others kneeling beside them. I had to hold Timi's mouth so she didn't shout.
Apparently, two gunmen had rounded up a few people and put them on their knees. They were using them for target practice. I watched Reuben look around for a route to pass, unfazed by the killings that had happened on the road. Reuben gestured to me and I followed his pointed hand. He was pointing at a truck. A truck?
What did he want me to do with a truck? Reuben whispered into my ears, aaying I should distract the gunmen that we were going to save those people from being shot at. I looked from the dead people on the floor to the ones on their knees, crying and probably begging God to save them. God wouldn't come down to earth to save anyone. Well, not in this age. This mass killing, wiping out of an entire estate was synonymous to the wipping out of kingdoms we normally read about in the holy books. Was this God's wrath? Were the gunmen angel of deaths. They had to be something similar to that as their precision and accuracy in carrying out their task had been spot on.
I closed my eyes and said a short prayer before i ran towards the truck on the other side of the road. Reuben had to hold Timi and wrap his hand around hee mouth so she didnn't follow me or alert the guards with her cries. Once inside the truck, i placed my hand on the ignition. There was no key. I was about to panic when I remebered how my Dad got his old car to start when he lost the key. I checked in the glove's compartment and got a screw driver. Silently breaking the area around the ignition area, i brought out the ignition wires and took two deep breathes before I put them together. Once I did that, the car roared to life and I was momentarily overjoyed.
My Joy soon wore out as I saw that the two gunmen had looked up at my direction. My heart skipped a beat when I saw then running towards me. I immediately put the car in reverse and floored the accelerator after releaseing the hand breaks.
The windshield shattered after four... No, five bullets pierced through it. The seats beside me, behind me were all hit, spreading scattered foam all around, the smell of burnt leather filled my nostrils. I lost count of how many bullets were hitting the car and I almost didn't hear the loud whistle that distracted the gunmen.
Their was a loud impact behind me and i was thrusted out the front of the Vehicle. I looked uo, my eyes blurry and body shaking from all the adrenaline. I looked at the truck and saw that I had revved into a wall. I saw the legs of people walking around me and the last thought I had before my vision blacked out was that I had at least ensured that my girlfriend and the others were safe.
When i woke up, I saw Timi sleeping by my bedside. I tried to stand up and realised that i had a fluid being inject into me through a drip. I took out the needle as it was discomforting my arm. When Timi woke up and saw me, she enveloped me in a hug. Soon, my parents came in and every one was smilling. It was then that I realised the numerous amount of wrapped gifts and get well soon cards that filled the room.
My parents explained what had happened after I had rested well. I was told that while the gunmen were chasing after me, the estate vigillantee has arrived and scared them away. And because I was able to distract the gunmen from killing the others, I was awarded the title of hero and a day had been selected to mourn the deceased.
But my mom was however blunt in expressing her dislike for my reckless action and the fact that I had a girl over while they were away. But then she couldn't deny the fact that she was happy because i survived. Because, I survived the massacre.
This is my entry to @Julietisrael's contest
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