PROLOGUE

I woke up with a start remembering I had to wash my school uniform. Checking the window I saw how late it was, I had slept off while doing my math assignment earlier on. On my way to the laundry I passed the living room I saw my mom and elder brother Emmanuel watching TV and eating the spaghetti he made while my younger siblings Isaac, Gideon and Zipporah doing their assignments while Emmanuel was helping them out. Greeting them, glad that my mom was feeling better I made my way out.

While I was washing I saw my brother going out to check our dad's clinic which was a fence away from our home. My dad is a doctor and my mom a nurse, they both work with the state hospital but Dad also works at his clinic early mornings and evenings.

I waved him over to come keep me company but he gave me a hand sign that he was coming back and that he had interesting gist for me. I told him ok cos that's how we've always been, the besties siblings. We tell each other everything, stand up for each other (well mostly him ) and he's very protective of me when his friends or other guys try to hit on me to the extent that he claims to be my boyfriend which won't be hard to believe because of how close we are to make them stay away. He could be annoying sometimes but he's the best big brother everyone would ask for.

Snapping out of my thought, I saw my brother coming back with some weird men wearing kaftan(long straight gowns for men) with shawl covering their head but one was wearing a jean pants and yellow t-shirt in tow. I assumed they were emergency patients coming to see my dad which happens a lot because the man right behind my brother was carrying something covered with a cloth which I assumed was a baby.

I finished my washing and was about to spread my clothes when I heard my mom shout calling out my dad's name before I saw my brother and mom being rushed out with the men two of them remained, one with yellow t-shirt and kaftan.

They were looking at me and talking which I found weird before they walked out as well. Little did I know that my life was about to take a drastic messy turn.

I went back to the living room and saw no one there so I assumed my siblings went to bed (or so I thought). I put the music channel on and Wizkid's song 'tease me' was playing when I heard the sound of gunshots rung twice successively and my mom's scream, trying not to be scared because the state was under an 8pm curfew because of the insurgency situation and it was 8:20pm at exact moment so I assumed the men went out and the soldiers saw them and reacted that way and I was hoping they were alright. My aunty that came over earlier on to stay with us came and asked me about what's happening so I decided to go check with my mom and brother.

As I stepped out, I wished I could go back and turn back the hands to time and clear my obliviousness and maybe I could have helped and things could have been avoided

I saw the door to my dad's office open so I went to check, I only wish I didn't. I saw my brother Emmanuel faced down in his own blood and my mom cradling his body crying and that's when my head started spinning and I went insane didn't know what I was doing just running and screaming. I didn't know how I took myself to inform my aunt everything was just in a blur. Getting myself together I saw the hospital staff that were kept hostage at gun point trying to get help but with whatever bad luck casted on us the whole service providers were out of coverage, I went to look for my dad whom I realized was hiding in his bathroom when the men came into the house while I was obliviously washing not knowing that death was staring right at me. I went back to the clinic and saw my brother and realized that he was shot straight to the head and his left thumb was chipped off. The staff then came and moved his body from the floor to a bed and I took my mom out as we waited for authorities to take him to the morgue.

As the night ended I knew I didn't just lose my elder brother, my best friend, my comfort, my stable all-round father, I also lost myself because without him there's no me we were an all in one package.