CHAPTER 2

" Haaaaa!" loud screams coming from different places woke me up from my sleep. I opened my eyes and bent to see what was going on. Only a few girls were on their beds, fast asleep, others ran from place to place. By this time of the night, it was forbidden to even talk, what more screaming. The scene before me got me confused. I got out of bed, tightened my wrapper on my waist and moved slowly to the room door. I looked outside my room into the corridor and the first thing I saw made me freeze.

Dami tried to run but slipped on the floor. She tried to crawl away but it was also too slippery. Each time she tried, she just couldn't move far and that made it easier for him. A man stood not too far away from Dami. What caught my attention was the knife he had in his hand. I looked at Dami's body and noticed how much cuts she had, it was her blood that made the tiles slippery. The man took his time and moved closer to her. Moving to her back, he raised her head backwards, making her throat more visible. Dami cried uncontrollably and struggled to get out of his grip but he was stronger.

" No!", I whispered as tears fell out of my eyes.

In less than five seconds, he slit her throat open from left to right and her body dropped lifelessly as her blood spilled out. As I watched this, it dawned on me what had happened. My eyes grew wider than an elephant and my chest pounded more than the sound of women using mortar and pestle to pound yam. The hoodlums had found a way into the school, they had gotten in. It was no wonder why girls were running anymore.

Due to what I had seen, my fear heightened. Questions began to pop up in my mind alongside their images. What if I was killed like Dami? What if other girls were already long gone? What if the house mistress was also dead? Where were the security men? Were they all gone too? What about...

" Ife!", I whispered. " No no no no no!"

More tears poured out of my eyes as I thought about my cousin. Was she okay? Most importantly, was she still alive?

"Hey you!"

I sighted another man behind the one who had killed Dami. He had a knife in his hand which he pointed in my direction. I quickly put my head inside and rested on the wall. What was I going to do? The tall black muscular red-eyes man had sighted me. I could hear heavy footsteps as they approached the room I was in. I refused to move. I covered my mouth so that I wouldn't make any sound. They walked into the room quickly and moved straight ahead.

"Over there!", the man shouted.

It was over! Totally over! My plan had failed at the very start of it. They had caught the other girls who were asleep and who I had planned on waking. I needed to get out of the room as fast as possible at the same time quietly. I needed a change in plan and the first thing I was going to do was to make myself invisible. The few lights that were turned on weren't going to help me, in fact, they were in my way. I stared at the lights as I thought of what I was going to do and it came in. An idea bulb shone on my head. My first move was clear. I was going to cause a total blackout

Thankfully, the main switch box to our hostel's electricity was on my floor and once or twice, I had seen the electrician working on it so I could figure out something, I hoped. Walking slowly with my back on the wall inorder not to attract attention, I sneaked out of the door and surveyed the floor properly. Girls were running about, the ones that were once asleep were now fully awake. I still walked slowly looking around until my leg hit something that laid on the floor. My house mistress's body laid on the floor lifeless. She had her usual white t-shirt and her yellow wrapper tied on her waist. The only difference in her clothing was the patches of blood stain. I couldn't spend more time looking, otherwise I would start crying or even worse, I would end up like her. I took a turn to my right and finally the main switch box was in sight.

I quickened my steps and finally got to the box. I climbed the chair that was always placed underneath it and tried to open it. I at least tried to bend the handle but all my efforts were in vain there. The man who had closed this box was too strong, there was no hope of reopening it. Another scream made me jump and reminded me that I was running out of time. The quicker I did this, the more lives I would save. I got down from the chair and tightened my loosened wrapper. I thought of what to do as I surveyed the area for anything that could open the box.

A bucket of water a girl had probably fetched to use to bathe the next morning, stood not too far away. That left me with only one thing in mind to do. Dangerous but I didn't have a choice. I had to pour the water on the box. I hoped the box was not so tightly closed that it had no space for water. I walked over to the bucket and bent it a little so that about half of the water could pour out. Picking up the remaining half, I walked to the front of the box and took a reasonable amount of steps back. If this didn't work, I didn't know what else I was going to do.

" Here goes nothing."

I put my right hand at the top edge of the bucket and my second hand at the base. Gathering enough energy, I moved the bucket back, and when I moved it forward. The water poured on the box. I tried to do that quietly and failed terribly at it. I looked at the box anticipating at least a little spark. As I looked, a net door opened and closed forcefully and I knew that this time, they had found me.

"Get that girl for me. Don't let her go. 'E ma je ko sa lo o'!", One of the hoodlums shouted. I looked to the opposite direction and saw one walking fast from a distance towards me. Tears began to form in my eyes as I shook my hands the way a child would when they were in trouble with their father. "If only this thing would spark and cause the lights to faulter or should I be saying my last prayers?" Those were the only two things I could think of. I turned and looked at the box again but nothing, I looked back at the man and saw he was getting closer. I myself began to take little steps back. I looked down to be sure I wasn't going to hit anything but by the time I looked up to the man, he had stopped in his steps. He looked confusedly at the box and I turned to look in that direction too. The sparks! I would have been happy but my work wasn't complete.

" Wetin this pikin do?" the man said to himself as he wondered what I had done.

He turned and looked back at me before he continued in his steps. I let out a shaky breath as tears began to fall from my eyes. This couldn't be it. The water I poured made the ground slipper and so as I moved back, I fell down. Just like Dami, I had made things easier for the man. He opened his legs and stood over me, raised his knife up and all I could do was to wait for the impact. I counted down to three in my mind with my eyes closed but when it didn't come I opened my eyes. It worked! The lights went out!

**********************************************

Thank you so much for reading up to this point. For those who do not understand the languages up there, the meaning of those sentences are:

- Ma je ko sa lo o -- Don't let her run away.

- Wetin this pikin do? -- What has this child

done?