Prologue
“Nooooooooo!!!!”
That cry ricocheted and bounced around his head, it refused to leave his mind, refused to let him flee in peace.
It was worse than the wet foliage blocking his path, worse than the bullets of raindrops assaulting his skin and mingling with unnoticed tears, worse than the darkness lit only by distant fires, worse than the blood dripping from that gash on his head from a narrow escape, worse even than the popping that sounded so different from the Chuck Norris movies his uncle never tired of watching.
He did not dare stop to catch his breath, at this point it was hard to tell if he was running because he did not want to be caught by them or because he needed to stay ahead of his mind.
An hour ago life was normal. He knew this because the moon had just made its presence known when his mother had yelled his name echoing the voices of other mothers calling their errant brood to supper. He had been threatening to kill Moses, like those soldiers he heard his mother gossiping about with the Bini woman, because the stingy boy refused to share his new catapult. Abandoning his quarry and walking home he perceived the fufu from the window of the Tombo man’s kitchen and remembered how there were rumors that the Tombo man had hid….
Was that a rustling he heard just now?? What was he doing!! He needed to stay focused!
Eyes wide, small palms over mouth, he stopped, crouched and listened, and waited…
Hearing nothing after several frantic heartbeats, he resumed his swift exodus.
He knew this route as well as he knew the wrapper of his father’s favorite concubine whom he had watched playing that rough play with his father on too many occasions. But he was scared, the once familiar mango trees now looked menacing like those masquerades he had seen 3 Christmases ago and he wasn’t following the usual path, cleared regularly by the Mother’s Union women because it led to their church, nor was he following the well beaten path used by truants going in an opposite direction from the women, his was forged solely by his own feet for the purpose of his survival.
Hearing voices ahead of him, he stopped again and crouched lower this time…had they found him?? His small fingers dug into the soil as if his escape lay there, then he heard a voice…a very familiar voice, unable to make out what was being said, he crept closer to the sounds. Then he recognized him and ran to his salvation.

Okay...so this is the first time i'm writing for an audience this vast and anonymous, and as much as I hope you enjoy my story I know there'll be critics, so let's keep it constructive and reasonable. I'll try my best to paint out a vivid story the way it's happening in my head, so just sit tight and enjoy the ride. Hopefully updates will be as regular as I intend.[color=#990000][/color]