Anarchy

I woke up with a start. The dream felt so real. You know, that kind of dream you have where you think you are urinating in an actual toilet only to discover you have wet your bed. I heaved a sigh of relief as I realized I had not wet my bed. I hastily stood up from the bed I shared with my siblings, Pam and Jyang and went out to use the washroom. This was the part I disliked about my family house- the toilets were outside the house. Same with the kitchen. So every time one needed to use the restroom, you’d have to exit the main building. It actually seemed like a pattern in the village though, the main buildings were usually small bungalows and had toilets at the back.

I must have sleepwalked to the toilet as I didn’t take note of surroundings. I gasped as I noticed the skies were lit as though there was a huge bonfire. And then I saw them. I froze in fear. They were approaching my house, and shooting sporadically in the air. I thought of my parents,my sister and brothers still sleeping and gasped. I had to warn them! By now, several more houses were on fire. No sooner had I tried to run into the house that I felt a hand draw me back forcefully.

“Don’t! It’s too late, you can’t do anything. They’ll just kill you too” The voice whispered. It was Dalung, my neighbour’s son.

He pointed to the direction of his house and I saw it in flames. I watched in horror as one of the men burst into my house. Then I heard screams. Then gunshots. More screams. And silence. I knew then that my whole family had perished. Just like that. I died with them that day.

“We need to go and hide somewhere before they discover us”. Dalung’s voice jolted me back to reality.

“What about your fami..” I tried to ask but he didn’t let me finish

“They are all dead Lydia. Woke up, heard a noise,came out to check and that was it. No time to go back. Nothing. We have to go or they will kill us too”

At that point I just wanted to die. I followed him quietly as a sheep going to the slaughter. We walked past his burning house. The kitchen was still intact. He asked me to hold on and went in. He came out with two cutlasses and handed one over to me.

“Don’t hesitate to defend yourself. These people have no mercy o”

I nodded sadly.

We walked hiding behind shadows and bushes, careful enough not to make ourselves conspicuous. We were walking in the direction of the next village, to see if we could get help. We weren’t sure if they were other survivors besides us.

I turned to look back towards our village already in flames. At that point, I felt like the wife of Lot in the bible, who looked back when Sodom and Gomorrah was in flames. And then I felt a sense of more gloom.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain on my shoulder. It was at the same time I watched in horror as Dalung fell to the ground, his hand clenching his throat with his blood gushing everywhere. We had been shot!

I fell to the ground as well, just beside Dalung’s now lifeless body. Our assailant moved closer to check if we were dead. And then with all the energy I could muster, I raised my cutlass and dealt him a blow. And then blacked out.

 

#fiction

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