As I staggered down the dark lonely street of Lagos. I could feel a dusty wind powdering it's way across my face, ruining my hunger for food with the gritty taste of sand. My rat-eaten feet kept brushing against hard gravels that made every step a living hell. With no one to turn to or trust, every sound of knockouts and bangers i heard immersed me in a pool of trepidation. One more and I was sure I would lose it. And there it went off with a loud bang that shook every spine and bones in my body. I stumbled a few steps against the iron bars of a nearby shop, holding it close to my bosom and sliding myself down to the ground. I wept bitterly with every vein in me as flashes of that horrific night filled my soul. It was definitely the worst day of my life.
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Gazing at myself in the mirror, I could see the proud look in Inna's eyes as she applied kadanya (shea butter) on my fair skin. Mother was filled with so much joy as she anticipated my marriage ceremony to Audu the next day.

"Aisha, I know you will be the most beautiful bride in all of Kano" she said as we both giggled

"Yes Inna.... I have always waited for this day all my life" I replied as she hugged me tight as though it was her last. For some reasons it surely did feel like her last.
There was a knock on the door perfectly timed to ruin this beautiful mother-daughter moment. It was my younger sister, Farra, who looked so radiant in her red sari, jewelries and henna painted fingers.

"Inna, papa requests your presence in the parlour. Audu and his family are around"

"Okay dear, I'm coming" Mum said wiping off light tears from her eyes an making for the door. Farra always had that natural graceful look that made heads turn and me envious too. I knew tommorow was going to be the happiest day of my life if the joyous laughter I was hearing was anything to go by. Just then I heard a loud bang and screams. A gunshot was fired to the roof and it threw me off my chair. What really could be happening? I could hear voices of men chanting "Allahu Akbar" in a devilish joy. A masked man in black stormed into my room and dragged me by my hair to the parlour. Before I could assimilate what was happening, Audu's head was rolling on the floor. Gunshots started to rain and his entire family was wiped out. We were still in shock as the men kept chanting Allahu Akbar.

"Wanda shi ne mutum na haikalin?" The man holding the boko haram flag barked asking who the man of the house is.
Q "Shi ne I, but please, don't harm my family" papa said trembling
"Allahu Akbar" A thin tall man screamed and his fellows responded. Papa was dragged to the centre table and forced to kneel. One more chant and in a flash his bloodied head was on the floor. His headless body shook splashing his blood on my face. Mama, Farra and I watched in horror as papa was being mutilated by these animals. We were speechlessly in shock. Mama sprung free from the man holding her, rushed towards a man jumping for joy, grabbed his gun and shot the bastard that killed papa. The sect members were in rage and they blessed her with a rain of bullets. A short ugly man ripped my shirt off and his fellow did the same to Farra exposing our unclothedness. They all brutally took turns to rape us continually with their large manhood. The beasts feasted on us to their satisfaction till Farra gave up the ghost. I cried watching the pain in her eyes as she succumbed to the grasp of death. I wished for death to come quickly. The shock of everything knocked me unconscious. They left us dead for good excitedly.
Only God knows how long it took for me to wake up to the thin line of sanity. i was bleeding profusely but the sight and stench of lifeless bodies was driving me nuts. The lifeless bodies of Audu's relatives, papa and audu's head, their headless bodies,mama's gun riddled body, Farra's half nude abused corpse and the ocean of blood was horrific. I tried standing but I felt a sharp pain in my cervix. I had to use my sari to cover my private part. I wept for centuries and generations to come. Where had we gone wrong? What had we done to deserve this?

After a while, I got up, had a quick shower, dressed up and fled. How I got to Lagos still remains a mystery but ever since, I have lived live a pauper. Resorting to begging to survive. It's a merry season around the world. It is a brand new year, a week straight up from the Christmaas celebration. Everyone seems happy. Children dressed in black blinding glasses, oversize clothes and heavily colourful boots, Santa Claus sharing resemblance with the horrific masquerade in ny village, bangers and knockouts booming around, unending street carnivals filled with drunk personalities already in high places, parents filled with smiles and everyone is joyous but just very few spend their time with the less privileged. I have witnessed the pain, hardship, hunger, tears and so much more beggars feel. Please if you are reading this, don't wait for anyone to do you good. Do good to someone. Please touch a life today. Don't forget the reason for the season...Make this season worth that reason

Let's not forget this as January draws to an end and as we proceed in the year. God bless us all

Source: http://naijatopaz..com.ng/2016/01/don-forget-reason.html

cc: Lalatiscala Ishilove seun

Hmmmmm....