It's been five hours since Chibuike went to the church. I kept on looking through the route he followed to know if he is coming back, but there was no sign of him. I still tried to concentrate on the customers that came to the shop. After a little time, we heard noises and saw people running, from” Cikkin Geri”. Cikkin Geri was the inward part of Monguno. Everywhere was in disarray, even Muslims were running to their houses. People were running, the Almajiris were chanting some words in Arabic and were stoning people. They were chanting lā ʾilāha ʾillā -llāh meaning “There is no God except Allah”. The boys that normally help at my mum's shop had all left except for one person. He was already taking some of our goods inside. I guess he suspected the reason for the chaos. Dad thought there was a fight not knowing there is a lunar eclipse. It was only on such occasion that the Almajiris come out at night stoning and chanting those words. They did it for fun, not because it was a religious activity. I looked up and saw the moon, half of the moon was quite vermilion. I wanted to put water in a bowl and tried to look at the water in the bowl to see the reflection of the moon in it, but there was this superstition we had when we were little that if we tried it, we will become blind forever.

Meanwhile, Chibuike was not yet home. Mom shouted at me to come inside, when an Almajiri threw a stone at me and I dodged it, it hit our Coca-Cola fridge that was stationed outside. I ran inside bending down close to the deep freezer. By now the scent of tear gas filled the air, I knew it was the police. Dad had managed to close the doors of the shop. I kept on hearing the sounds of stones on the doors, and I remained down on the floor. Mom was already wailing because Chibuike was not yet home. It was one of the boys that closed the Coca-Cola fridge that was stationed outside.

It was already morning and Chibuike was not home yet. My parents were so worried and I was too. We couldn't sleep, we were praying and hoping that nothing happened to him. Last night was horrifying and people were in jumble. This was the usual practice by the Almajiris whenever there is an eclipse of the moon. They throw stones at people. We managed to come home last night amidst the plagued swivet. We stayed longer at the shop because we were thinking Chibuike might show up. I tried to comprehend the affinity between the lunar eclipse and the vex that occurred last night and I wished I had looked at the moon from the water in the bowl, so that I will know if the superstition was correct. Am I not crazy? If it were true then I would be blind by now. At about 8am we heard a knock at the door, I rushed to open it believing it is Chibuike, even my parents were expectant, they were just looking at the door and mom was alerted.

Source: www.Facebook.com/ezeaniolivia

Part 3 please...

Part 3 please

Worldhopper:
Part 3 please...

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