And with a start, I woke up. I checked the time. It was some minutes to 2am in the morning. I looked around, my sister was already upright, sitting on the bed, looking as though a ghost husband had been arranged for her hand in marriage, and there was nothing she could do about it. Ok, I looked left and right, trying to ascertain where those loud bangs came from. As I was about to ask my sister what made those sounds, I heard it again, BANG! This time it rang louder than before and I heard the door leading to the hostel, break.
Ok. While I was still trying to put two and two together, my sister just blurted out, "Robbers are in the hostel"....
My heartbeat raced to like 1000 beats per second. Adrenaline pumping everywhere. The initial fear, gripped me like a policeman would grip the belt region of a criminal's trouser. I immediately thought of where to hide so that I and my sister would be invisible to them. Unfortunately my room was quite open and I could be seen from any angle, no matter where I stayed. Damn! I hadn't any other alternate except to face them head on. Of course by "head on", I meant, just let them take whatever it is they can see, while I talk to them in a very calm voice, such that they are done from my room, in the shortest possible time. Apparently, my sister seemed to be thinking something similar, because she had dropped the "spirit husband" look, and now had a "Come and do and go" look. I locked the door after remembering that I hadn't. But when I looked at my door, and compared it to the one in front of our hostel, the one the robbers used a locally made shotgun, and a gigantic stone, to destroy, I felt like reopening our door so that I'll just welcome them in, sharp sharp they'll take what they came to take, and they're off, and I can go back to my sleep. Go back to my sleep? For where? I gree sleep. The adrenaline in my system was so much, that my blood must've been 50% percent Adrenaline, 50% blood. Long and short, my door was a weak door, and after some deliberations, I still locked it oh!
We heard some footsteps around the hostel, towards the front aspects and areas of the hostel, and then, some bangings on some doors, and then some threateningly loud voices, and then when we were sure they were in the hostel, I knew it was only a matter of time before they would be at our door.
Ok, so the next thing we heard, me and my sister, at our door side, was, "OPEN THE DOOR!" My heart just did like 30 beats during the duration of the statement, "OPEN THE DOOR". As in was trying to slow my heart down, We heard a louder "OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!!". So, in my mind I was thinking, "Let's not open the door. They might think nobody is arou..." "IF UNA NO OPEN THIS DOOR NOW, I GO SHOOT UNA NOW!!!". Ok, so, change of plans, we open the door. But my sister was like, "No! We're not opening the door!", in a very low but forceful voice. I replied in the same manner, "Omo, we have to oh. These guys are armed and are not in any single way afraid to use it".
But she was like, "eh, wait first, let's not open it naaa"
"No oh, these guys will not like..."
"SHADY, GO FOR THEIR WINDOW MAKE YOU LIGHT THEM!"
"Did you hear them just now!?" I said in a managed low voice. "Abeg, I'm opening the door". She was like, "Wait nauw..." In a pleading, beggarly tone. And I halted. While I was still trying to contemplate what course of action to take, I heard my window net rip, and the barrel of a gun push through. All of a sudden I noticed that I had opened the door.
As the door swung open, I noticed that the hostel corridor light bulbs had been knocked down or removed, because I didn't see them in the ensuing darkness. Also I saw the silhouette of a man, with a headwarmer and scraggly beard, pointing a barrel gun to my head.
And he said...
"Ga (guy), brin (bring) aw the money wey you ge (get) na na!". And then left to terrorize the next room.
Now, I already knew I didn't have much, if not nothing sef, but I didn't know about my sister. And I didn't know then, if these rugged guys were the types that beat peeps that don't have anything to be robbed off, which was a common trait of robbers in this part of the world. Anyway, me and my sister started digging ourselves for what we could submit to these "guys". I could only find N350 on me. The MP4 player I had at that time, which was a rave music item then, I hid well. The phone I had, the simplest version of a Nokia smartphone, I hid as well. While "they" were harrassing other rooms and collecting things, we were praying that they would collect these few things of mine and go.
Now, to add this, I was conscious actually of God and the Spirit of God in me, at this period of time, shortly after I had realized that the robbers entering my room was inevitable, and it gave me the courage to speak to them standing, unlike years before. I remember the first time ever we were robbed as a family. I was the most fearful of us all. I shook like I was suffering from shakenson's disease. Fear gripped me and I almost choked in the fear. That was years ago. I was an early teenager then. But now, I realized the fear was still there, but now there was a confidence in God I had that gave me boldness beyond what I had ever experienced before. I wasn't shaken now, I wasn't thinking of dying, I wasn't afraid of the robbers, I was just disturbed of them, and wanted them to do and go.
"Ga, wey d money?"
"Bros, na only this one I get oh"
He looked at the N350, paused a bit, like he was taking time to reason what he should do to me now for giving him this less than paltry sum, then pointed the barrel gun to my head again and said in his quite deep, low, "igbo laden" voice (by "igbo" I mean indian hemp):
"Ga, eyu (if you) no won mae (make) I shoot you na, you go go insai (inside) na afain (and find) me sortin (something) SPECHIAL! (special)"
I don't know if he was using jazz, or if he was a trained orator, but the word "spechial" never left my head during that period, and even afterwards. I wanted to chuckle because of the wrong pronunciation of the word "special", but I dared not when the robber was within earshot. Even my sister felt the tension in the room reduce, just by the deep "bini" accent of the robber's broken english, and his recent "gbagaun". Of course, we had to "form" that we were terrorized of their presence so they don't suspect insolence, which might trigger insecurity on their part, and might lead to complications I wasn't really ready for.
So, I frantically started ransacking my own room, like someone looking for a treasure in his own room as if he didn't know where he kept it. My sister followed suit, and eventually when the robber came back to our room, he just stood watching us scatter our previously arranged room.
"I no sen you da wan o"
"Chairman, abeg na all we get be dat" I replied with some drama in my voice.
"Ga, fain me sorti spechial na" he coerced.
Then one of the robber's assistant dashed into the room, almost knocking me over and shouted, "WETIN DEM DEY TORK? DEY NO WON ANSWER YOU? OYA SUBMIT THE MONEY NOW!!!"
Apparently, my sister felt she needed to do something more, and acted on impulse. The impulse being the liquid fear pouring from these guys and the desire for it to just stop. The next thing I know, she's giving them some amount of money she got out of somewhere apparently unknown to me. And I was like, "Eerrr, where was that all the while, and even if you had it, why give them now?" (In my mind of course). I looked at her for some facial sign for me to understand her presently executed course of action. All I saw was the same old "Do and go" face. I was like, "Do and go it is then". And the two robbers apparently were done, and left our room, going to and fro, seeking for other rooms to.... Err, to plunder and terrorize. They closed our door by themselves and told us not to come out.
And then there was quietness...
BANG!
The room before ours just got invaded. Now, that room, from what I heard later that day, after the robbers had gone, was quite resistant to the advances of these guys. One of the roommates even threw his pillow at the window when he heard one of them at the window say that he should open the door to his room. So one can imagine the aggression they used to march their door down. And just like the walls of Jericho, it did fall down flat with a loud bang.
"Na you dey form stubborn abi?"
"Sorry bros! Sorry bros! We no know! Abeg! Anything you want, you fit collect"
And from my room, I could hear some "brushing" sound effects, coming from their room.
"I go just off you now"
"Aah ah, no bros, abego, ABEG!" (With tearful voices). And the brushing sound effects continued. All the while, the tension from the other room seemed to permeate our own room, like they were still there. We were like people that had taken 10 cans of Redbull, and were using the energies to be tensed up.
A while later, we heard the "guys" upstairs. Another while later, I heard a female voice, wailing loudly, "Don't do this! Please don't do this! Abeg, have mercy!". It was later we heard that there was a guy upstairs who sold recharge cards, and that it was that guy, that was the main reason the robbers targeted our hostel. He apparently made some good money from his business, and these robbers had had prior information about him. So, that day, or that night, they expected to cash the big monies from this guy at least, and it appeared he wasn't having all that money with him at the time. So they felt he was lying and threatened the worst. It was his sister that wailed so loudly, in defense of her dear brother, but thanks to be to God, they didn't make good on their threat.
And so finally and eventually they left. With all the loot they procured, they left. And some of the occupants of the hostel, out of fear, didn't bother to come out of their room, till one hour after they had gone. When they came out from their rooms, the gists began. It went on and on and on. I also came out to partake of the sharing of our personal experiences with these dudes. Eventually though, I went back to my room, because I was still thinking of how to sleep. And as the gistings continued, it became a laughing arena as people began to plant humor in the telling of their experiences. I laughed a bit myself, even from the little I heard from inside my room.
Shortly after most of us had realized they had gone, I noticed that I was hearing Don moen play from someone's room. Then I also picked another christian song playing from the room before mine, whose door the robbers marched down. And I was like, "These are the same guys who play Tupac tracks, Snoop Dogg tracks and the likes, morning till night, everyday. Now, they're playing christian songs like it's a norm with them. Ok". Of course, I believed the experience we just had, kind of in a way, drew them closer to God, because for some seconds, they stared death in the face. Of course, about one to two hours later, those playing christian songs had reverted back to the norm of Tupac and Snoop Dogg and the likes.
It was some minutes to six o'clock, when I finally slept.
Facebook - Odusola Aanuoluwapo
Twitter - @odusolar
BBM - 2ACA8612.
Ok. While I was still trying to put two and two together, my sister just blurted out, "Robbers are in the hostel"....
My heartbeat raced to like 1000 beats per second. Adrenaline pumping everywhere. The initial fear, gripped me like a policeman would grip the belt region of a criminal's trouser. I immediately thought of where to hide so that I and my sister would be invisible to them. Unfortunately my room was quite open and I could be seen from any angle, no matter where I stayed. Damn! I hadn't any other alternate except to face them head on. Of course by "head on", I meant, just let them take whatever it is they can see, while I talk to them in a very calm voice, such that they are done from my room, in the shortest possible time. Apparently, my sister seemed to be thinking something similar, because she had dropped the "spirit husband" look, and now had a "Come and do and go" look. I locked the door after remembering that I hadn't. But when I looked at my door, and compared it to the one in front of our hostel, the one the robbers used a locally made shotgun, and a gigantic stone, to destroy, I felt like reopening our door so that I'll just welcome them in, sharp sharp they'll take what they came to take, and they're off, and I can go back to my sleep. Go back to my sleep? For where? I gree sleep. The adrenaline in my system was so much, that my blood must've been 50% percent Adrenaline, 50% blood. Long and short, my door was a weak door, and after some deliberations, I still locked it oh!
We heard some footsteps around the hostel, towards the front aspects and areas of the hostel, and then, some bangings on some doors, and then some threateningly loud voices, and then when we were sure they were in the hostel, I knew it was only a matter of time before they would be at our door.
Ok, so the next thing we heard, me and my sister, at our door side, was, "OPEN THE DOOR!" My heart just did like 30 beats during the duration of the statement, "OPEN THE DOOR". As in was trying to slow my heart down, We heard a louder "OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!!". So, in my mind I was thinking, "Let's not open the door. They might think nobody is arou..." "IF UNA NO OPEN THIS DOOR NOW, I GO SHOOT UNA NOW!!!". Ok, so, change of plans, we open the door. But my sister was like, "No! We're not opening the door!", in a very low but forceful voice. I replied in the same manner, "Omo, we have to oh. These guys are armed and are not in any single way afraid to use it".
But she was like, "eh, wait first, let's not open it naaa"
"No oh, these guys will not like..."
"SHADY, GO FOR THEIR WINDOW MAKE YOU LIGHT THEM!"
"Did you hear them just now!?" I said in a managed low voice. "Abeg, I'm opening the door". She was like, "Wait nauw..." In a pleading, beggarly tone. And I halted. While I was still trying to contemplate what course of action to take, I heard my window net rip, and the barrel of a gun push through. All of a sudden I noticed that I had opened the door.
As the door swung open, I noticed that the hostel corridor light bulbs had been knocked down or removed, because I didn't see them in the ensuing darkness. Also I saw the silhouette of a man, with a headwarmer and scraggly beard, pointing a barrel gun to my head.
And he said...
"Ga (guy), brin (bring) aw the money wey you ge (get) na na!". And then left to terrorize the next room.
Now, I already knew I didn't have much, if not nothing sef, but I didn't know about my sister. And I didn't know then, if these rugged guys were the types that beat peeps that don't have anything to be robbed off, which was a common trait of robbers in this part of the world. Anyway, me and my sister started digging ourselves for what we could submit to these "guys". I could only find N350 on me. The MP4 player I had at that time, which was a rave music item then, I hid well. The phone I had, the simplest version of a Nokia smartphone, I hid as well. While "they" were harrassing other rooms and collecting things, we were praying that they would collect these few things of mine and go.
Now, to add this, I was conscious actually of God and the Spirit of God in me, at this period of time, shortly after I had realized that the robbers entering my room was inevitable, and it gave me the courage to speak to them standing, unlike years before. I remember the first time ever we were robbed as a family. I was the most fearful of us all. I shook like I was suffering from shakenson's disease. Fear gripped me and I almost choked in the fear. That was years ago. I was an early teenager then. But now, I realized the fear was still there, but now there was a confidence in God I had that gave me boldness beyond what I had ever experienced before. I wasn't shaken now, I wasn't thinking of dying, I wasn't afraid of the robbers, I was just disturbed of them, and wanted them to do and go.
"Ga, wey d money?"
"Bros, na only this one I get oh"
He looked at the N350, paused a bit, like he was taking time to reason what he should do to me now for giving him this less than paltry sum, then pointed the barrel gun to my head again and said in his quite deep, low, "igbo laden" voice (by "igbo" I mean indian hemp):
"Ga, eyu (if you) no won mae (make) I shoot you na, you go go insai (inside) na afain (and find) me sortin (something) SPECHIAL! (special)"
I don't know if he was using jazz, or if he was a trained orator, but the word "spechial" never left my head during that period, and even afterwards. I wanted to chuckle because of the wrong pronunciation of the word "special", but I dared not when the robber was within earshot. Even my sister felt the tension in the room reduce, just by the deep "bini" accent of the robber's broken english, and his recent "gbagaun". Of course, we had to "form" that we were terrorized of their presence so they don't suspect insolence, which might trigger insecurity on their part, and might lead to complications I wasn't really ready for.
So, I frantically started ransacking my own room, like someone looking for a treasure in his own room as if he didn't know where he kept it. My sister followed suit, and eventually when the robber came back to our room, he just stood watching us scatter our previously arranged room.
"I no sen you da wan o"
"Chairman, abeg na all we get be dat" I replied with some drama in my voice.
"Ga, fain me sorti spechial na" he coerced.
Then one of the robber's assistant dashed into the room, almost knocking me over and shouted, "WETIN DEM DEY TORK? DEY NO WON ANSWER YOU? OYA SUBMIT THE MONEY NOW!!!"
Apparently, my sister felt she needed to do something more, and acted on impulse. The impulse being the liquid fear pouring from these guys and the desire for it to just stop. The next thing I know, she's giving them some amount of money she got out of somewhere apparently unknown to me. And I was like, "Eerrr, where was that all the while, and even if you had it, why give them now?" (In my mind of course). I looked at her for some facial sign for me to understand her presently executed course of action. All I saw was the same old "Do and go" face. I was like, "Do and go it is then". And the two robbers apparently were done, and left our room, going to and fro, seeking for other rooms to.... Err, to plunder and terrorize. They closed our door by themselves and told us not to come out.
And then there was quietness...
BANG!
The room before ours just got invaded. Now, that room, from what I heard later that day, after the robbers had gone, was quite resistant to the advances of these guys. One of the roommates even threw his pillow at the window when he heard one of them at the window say that he should open the door to his room. So one can imagine the aggression they used to march their door down. And just like the walls of Jericho, it did fall down flat with a loud bang.
"Na you dey form stubborn abi?"
"Sorry bros! Sorry bros! We no know! Abeg! Anything you want, you fit collect"
And from my room, I could hear some "brushing" sound effects, coming from their room.
"I go just off you now"
"Aah ah, no bros, abego, ABEG!" (With tearful voices). And the brushing sound effects continued. All the while, the tension from the other room seemed to permeate our own room, like they were still there. We were like people that had taken 10 cans of Redbull, and were using the energies to be tensed up.
A while later, we heard the "guys" upstairs. Another while later, I heard a female voice, wailing loudly, "Don't do this! Please don't do this! Abeg, have mercy!". It was later we heard that there was a guy upstairs who sold recharge cards, and that it was that guy, that was the main reason the robbers targeted our hostel. He apparently made some good money from his business, and these robbers had had prior information about him. So, that day, or that night, they expected to cash the big monies from this guy at least, and it appeared he wasn't having all that money with him at the time. So they felt he was lying and threatened the worst. It was his sister that wailed so loudly, in defense of her dear brother, but thanks to be to God, they didn't make good on their threat.
And so finally and eventually they left. With all the loot they procured, they left. And some of the occupants of the hostel, out of fear, didn't bother to come out of their room, till one hour after they had gone. When they came out from their rooms, the gists began. It went on and on and on. I also came out to partake of the sharing of our personal experiences with these dudes. Eventually though, I went back to my room, because I was still thinking of how to sleep. And as the gistings continued, it became a laughing arena as people began to plant humor in the telling of their experiences. I laughed a bit myself, even from the little I heard from inside my room.
It was some minutes to six o'clock, when I finally slept.
Facebook - Odusola Aanuoluwapo
Twitter - @odusolar
BBM - 2ACA8612.
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