Pistols at dawn🗣 (A Short Story)
🤦🏾♂Seriously, this service year has done me in. My place of primary assignment (PPA) did not provide accommodation for corps members so I had to make do with a one room apartment popularly known as "face me I face you". Living with the indigenes is fun, but today it became a bit sour as I recount my ordeal.
🏚I came back from my PPA tired to my bones and still had to do some running around till 7pm. Thereafter, I dashed to the bathroom which was reeking of an odour I couldn't fathom. I managed to take my bath, went back to my room and slept off almost immediately. My sleep😴 was sound as I didn't even know PHCN had restored power.
🔫Then I woke up to the sound of heavy banging on a door but I was sure it wasn't my door. It sounded like the main door which gives entrance into the house's passage. The people on the other side of the door started shouting, "open this door or else we'll break it down. At the count of three, if you don't open this door we will shoot it down". Then, I knew we were in trouble. We were in the midst of a heist, and one with loaded guns. I checked the time, it was 4:30am. Its almost dawn, these robbers must mean business. The standing fan was on but I was sweating, the perspiration was a testament to the fact that my mind was racing. I contemplated opening the ceiling, but couldn't.
🤢Then came the deafening sound of gun shots. At first it sounded like pistols, thereafter like automatic weapons. The door gave way, then I knew they had gained entrance. I heard a man shout, "please don't kill me, take whatever you want", but the voice didn't sound familiar. The robbers responded with more gunshots to make their intentions known. Then I heard one of the robbers whom I presume to be the leader of the gang ask, "tell us who lives next door?". Before I could hear the reply, I heard a heavy knock on my door. My mind became apprehensive.
👳🏾♀Then I heard; corper, corper, corper, it is me Mama Shade; please borrow me your matches, I want to cook for my children before they prepare for school. Still petrified, I managed to open the door and to my surprise, it was Mama Shade still in wrapper. That was when I discovered that the sounds and voices I had been hearing had been from a Nollywood home video she had been watching with its volume at its peak. I gave her the match box and checked the time, it was 5am. Still dripping of sweat, I sighed, thanked God it wasn't what I had assumed. I tried going back to sleep but couldn't.
✍
*_Ogunlana A. Owolabi_*
🏚I came back from my PPA tired to my bones and still had to do some running around till 7pm. Thereafter, I dashed to the bathroom which was reeking of an odour I couldn't fathom. I managed to take my bath, went back to my room and slept off almost immediately. My sleep😴 was sound as I didn't even know PHCN had restored power.
🔫Then I woke up to the sound of heavy banging on a door but I was sure it wasn't my door. It sounded like the main door which gives entrance into the house's passage. The people on the other side of the door started shouting, "open this door or else we'll break it down. At the count of three, if you don't open this door we will shoot it down". Then, I knew we were in trouble. We were in the midst of a heist, and one with loaded guns. I checked the time, it was 4:30am. Its almost dawn, these robbers must mean business. The standing fan was on but I was sweating, the perspiration was a testament to the fact that my mind was racing. I contemplated opening the ceiling, but couldn't.
🤢Then came the deafening sound of gun shots. At first it sounded like pistols, thereafter like automatic weapons. The door gave way, then I knew they had gained entrance. I heard a man shout, "please don't kill me, take whatever you want", but the voice didn't sound familiar. The robbers responded with more gunshots to make their intentions known. Then I heard one of the robbers whom I presume to be the leader of the gang ask, "tell us who lives next door?". Before I could hear the reply, I heard a heavy knock on my door. My mind became apprehensive.
👳🏾♀Then I heard; corper, corper, corper, it is me Mama Shade; please borrow me your matches, I want to cook for my children before they prepare for school. Still petrified, I managed to open the door and to my surprise, it was Mama Shade still in wrapper. That was when I discovered that the sounds and voices I had been hearing had been from a Nollywood home video she had been watching with its volume at its peak. I gave her the match box and checked the time, it was 5am. Still dripping of sweat, I sighed, thanked God it wasn't what I had assumed. I tried going back to sleep but couldn't.
✍
*_Ogunlana A. Owolabi_*
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