The sound of the gunshots woke me up from sleep. I heard little children screaming outside. I quickly put on a black t-shirt and a short lemon nicker. I ran outside and saw a death pool of catholic sisters and some children, blood flooded the whole environment. I ran to where the other children were and I saw them crying with blood stained hands and clothes. Tears filled my eyes but I couldn't cry because I knew it wasn't the time for emotions. I closed the door of the room where they were hiding and told them to keep shut. All of a sudden, the whole place became really quiet, then I could hear their voices. I peeped through a small hole in the door and saw them with guns, cutlass and all sorts of arms. They walked through the dead bodies and made sure no one was alive by shooting them twice. There was no conscience in their eyes. There was no pity. At some point, I asked myself if they were humans, because I knew every human being was created with emotions. But these people sold theirs to the devil, they killed without thinking twice. Before I knew what was happening, I heard one of them saying '' somebody dey dere, oya bring that cutlass for me''. I gently moved to another hole in the door to see exactly what was happening. I saw Sister Loveth lying on the floor so weak, crying for them to have mercy on the little two years old child she was holding. She told them to take her instead and spare the live of the child. One of the men slapped her but it didn't stop her from begging them. She held his trouser pleading for mercy. He held her by her hair, brought out the cutlass and slit her throat. The little child sat on the floor crying. The same man held the baby, raised his cutlass up and threw the baby to the air. As the child came down, her little heart made contact with the edge of the cutlass and it slit her heart into two. When I saw that, I put my two hands on my mouth to prevent me from shouting out loud. I sat on the floor weeping silently and bitterly. I knew I needed to do everything in my power to protect the remaining children with me and if crying was going to spoil all of that, I needed to man-up and keep shut. I went back to the door to check what was going on and I saw them piercing the already the dead people with their cutlass. After a while, a man with a blue bandana gave them signal to start going. They thought they had killed everybody. When I saw that, I had a huge sigh of relief that everything was over. As the men were about to enter their vehicle, we ( me and the men ) heard the cry of a baby. The men took their guns and cutlass trying to trace where the sound was coming from. I also listened to locate where the sound was coming from, the sound seemed so near. As I turned to check, I saw a baby girl about three months old among the children. Immediately I saw these, the only thing I could hear was my heart beat. '' The men will find us and kill us all, why was that baby here, what are we going to do now, where can we run to, where can we hide '', these were the thoughts that came to my mind. I quickly rushed to the child to stop her from crying, but I was too late, they had already located the place. They broke the door open and brought all of us outside. The little children with me started crying, they were so scared. They told us to kneel down while they surrounded us with ammunitions. I already saw death so close to me and I was already giving up on life and accepting death, their leader gave them a signal to hold fire. He came close to me and slapped me. He told them to put us in their truck. At that point I felt relieve and thought '' live to die another day ''.
They dragged us out of the trucks and pushed us to move forward. Our eyes were covered with black bandana so we couldn't see anything. While we moved closer, I heard people scream and gunshots in the air. I heard a particular woman scream '' you won't win this war, all of you will die that's the real truth'' and then a gunshot. I didn't hear her speak again. After a while, the men told us to stop walking. They opened our eyes and I saw we were in the middle of a thick jungle. They opened a door in front of me and pushed us into a small dark room. I didn't see the baby with us, so I looked outside the door and saw her on the floor crying. I ran to her and carried her inside with me. One of the men pointed a gun to me and threatened to kill me if I did that again. They closed the door heavily on us. The room was so dark. The only thing that gave light to the room was a small lantern that was already going dim. I held my children with me, making sure everyone one was there. I realised I couldn't find Amina amongst them. I screamed her name several times but there wasn't any reply. Suddenly I heard someone speak from the dark. '' She is with them now don't worry yourself ''. I was so scared, I thought we were the only ones in the room, I didn't know other people were there. A young teenage boy at about fifteen came out of the dark. His appearance made tears flow from my eyes. He looked so thin with so many scars on his body. He saw the way I looked at him and told me not to bother to feel any pity for him and that I should feel pity for Amina because they had taken her to make her their sex slave. '' No they can't do that '' I said to him. Amina was just twelve, why would they be so heartless. But the more I thought of it, the more I saw the possibility of it happening, I mean they killed a little child, so they can do anything. I sat on the floor crying, I couldn't even imagine what she would be going through. I asked the boy if there was anything we could do to save her and he smiled at me. He came closer to me and removed his shirt. I thought I saw enough scars before but this was much. He told me that each scar he got was trying to save all of his friends that the men took and killed. He told me that it was remaining just him and his sister. I told him to show me where his sister was. He carried me to the other part of the room and showed me the little girl. She was only about three, four thereabout. She laid on the floor shaking uncontrollably. I asked him what was wrong with her and he told me that she had been sick for the past seven days and he had not been able to do anything to help her. He looked at me with tears in his eyes '' there's no hope anywhere madam. As sad as it seems, we will all die, that's the bitter truth. This men keep on coming and they never rest'' he said as he sat on the floor crying. I carried the child and her body was burning up. Tears filled her eyes but she didn't have the strength to cry. I knew if I didn't do anything quick, she wouldn't make it. I told the other children to stay close to each other and that I would be back soon. One of them held me and told me to come back alive. I smiled at her and told her that God wanted us to be alive for a reason that's why He protected us from dying initially. I told her not to worry about me, that I would be fine.
I went to the door when we entered from and hit it to attract attention from the men. One of the men opened the door and dragged me outside pulling my hair. He asked me what I wanted and I told him I wanted to urinate. He told the other younger boy there at about seventeen years of age to escort me. The boy held a gun and followed me to the bush. I went behind a tree and pretended to urinate whereas I was looking for herbs to give the little girl. I studied botany in the university, so I knew the exact plant to treat her malaria. It took a while but I was able to recognise it. I took some and put it in my pocket. When I was done, he walked me back to the room. While we were walking, I asked the young boy why he joined this men to kill people. He told me to mind my business because if I don't it can be very deadly. '' What's more deadly than what you people have done to innocent souls'' I asked him as I walked back inside. I could tell that the word hurt him hard, but at the end that was what I wanted to gain.
I ground the leaf in a way that the little girl could use it. When I was done, I administered the drug to her and carried her on my laps for her to sleep. Late at night, the cry of the baby woke me. I knew she was hungry. I didn't know how to feed her. Her mother could have died in the gun fire, how would she breast feed. I knew if I had left her longer, it would be detrimental. I hit the door again, I was expecting the men to beat me up this time around, but to my greatest relief, I saw the boy............
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