Writing the Moment

It has been about a day and a half since I have arrived at the camp and I have yet to see a man in the camp. So far, it has been women, children and less than twenty youths of around my age. Seeing the sun made me remember my mums saying, "As long as the sun has not fallen, no problem can last forever". Although, I missed my mum, I had to start to let go of sadness and focus on what is ahead.

Haven written a page, a boy approached me, he had this gentle smile and bright eyes, he could not have been more than twelve years old and he said, "I saw you pray this morning, I and my mother also pray too, my mum says that there is a God in the heaven who rules over the affairs of men, is that true?", I replied leisurely and said, "Yes, there is". He asked me again, "Who told you that?" and with a heavy heart I replied him saying, "My mother", he asked, "where is she?" I was too burdened to reply him and tried to continue writing. He then said, "What are you writing?" I didn't even know what to tell him, maybe a story book or a diary but I told him that I was writing a book. He kept asking me questions which I kept on evading as I was perturbed already. He decided to leave me alone although without the smile that he brought to me.

As he was going away from me, I pulled him back to me and hugged him with tears rolling down my cheeks. I now asked him what his name was and he told me that his name was "Ayo", meaning joy. I asked him several questions and so did he and we did make friends that day. I saw him as a sibling of mine and he was always bent on seeing me smile. He did not leave my side till sunset and he did sing some songs to me which reminded me of my mother.

The following day, at around 2:00am, I heard two gunshots which awakened me promptly and fear was all over my face and it was even present in my breathe. I couldn't sleep anymore and as such I decided to write in the book what happened yesterday. I was awake till dawn remembering my dad in prayers and praying for my safety as well. Still early in the morning, I decided to take a walk and I started to hear some voices susurrating words to each other and I heard on say, "Sooner or later, we will take them. Just take one of them along with you tomorrow to get supplies". I did not understand what it meant so I just neglected it and returned to my area.

Few hours from then, a soldier came to my front and told me to come with him. Initially, I was confused, that had I done anything wrong? In fear, I followed him, so we entered into a van and he started to drive. I was too worried to ask questions, so I just kept mute. Just a few distance from the camp, I saw two corpses lying on the ground and I thought to myself, "Could these have been the people that were shot?" We kept moving and I kept silent. In fact, the whole place was silent and I saw no one on the road. We got there and we carried the supplies which were rice, fruits, spoilt pepper and some damaged kegs of oil and we returned to the camp.

Upon returning to the camp, I met Ayo, already waiting for me at my plot. I was surprised. Before I could utter any word, he had asked his question and I told him that I went to get some supplies for the camp alongside a soldier. He asked me how the town was, but not to scare him; I told him that everything was fine. He then asked me if it was safe for him to go out and I told him that it would be safe soon. So we talked at length before I remembered that I had not asked about his parents. I asked him and he said that his dad was dead; he was shot right before his eyes by some unknown terrorists who made him and his mother to flee to the camp. I asked about his mother, he then told me that she has been sick ever before his daddy died but it worsened since she could not get medical help. He said something that really struck me and made me to remember when my mum was sick too. He said, "She is still breathing, so there is hope, she can still pray so she is strong". I saw tears already in his voice when he said this to me and I was also crying too. I hugged him and told him that all was going to be fine soon.

He talked like he was old enough to have seen the ills of life and the grief of losses. I felt for him because he shared in my dose of pain. At night, his words still continued to break me down. He made me know that life itself is a hope for tomorrow. I prayed that night for recovery for his sick mother because I did not want that smile to ever leave his face.