Thread by @eketiette

It was 1:18 a.m. when the shots rent the night air, shredding the silence.
I recall the exact time, as I’d just checked it on my phone, and told Ti-Abasi that it was too late in the night for her to be giggling so loudly. I hadn't even put down the phone when the pops went off.

They were so loud like it was right inside the compound. Startled, we stared at each other.

“What’s that?” Ti asked, breathless.

Gunshots. My realisation was mirrored in her eyes. She dove for the light switch and next thing, the room was cloaked in darkness, save for the dim

illumination which seeped through the curtains, from the halogen street lights across the road.

Blood pooled in my head, and it began to pound, and then buzz like the sound of a thousand bees. My mouth went dry, and my heart’s rhythm abruptly changed. It began to thump fast,

so fast, that I quickly pressed my hand against my chest, afraid that it might pop out. I could taste something acrid on my tongue. Fear.

Across from me, Ti wasn’t faring any better. I could hear her breaths come short and fast and the soft whistle of air, as if she was

breathing through her teeth.

I felt around until I found my phone. Holding it facedown to the floor, I turned it off and stuck it under my mattress. Not the most ideal of hiding places but I couldn’t even begin to think of any alternatives.

I couldn't bear the thought of it

being taken from me. Apart from the fact that Uncle Ediomo had gotten it for me as an Easter gift, it’s my mobile office and storage facility. I’ve got so many pictures, songs and funny videos on it. I easily found Ti’s phone because an indicator light was blinking.

But my hands shook so bad, I dropped it twice before my forefinger found the power button and turned it off.

Ti’s breathing grew worse. I followed the sound until I bumped against her knee. Then I sat on my haunches and drew her into a tight hug.

“Calm down,” I whispered, rubbing small circles on her back. “Everything is going to be alright.”

She latched on to my arm like it was the air she was so desperately drawing into her lungs. Between her and my thundering heartbeats, I was certain whoever was out there,

would have no trouble finding us.
The silence outside was unnerving. On a passing thought, I hoped that it was the police and that we had nothing to fear.
But it suddenly dawned on me that the vigilantes who customarily mark every hour of the night by clanging some kind of metal

had not done so around one o’clock. When another round of shots rang out, my hope was buried with no epitaph.

Ti-Abasi and I gripped each other tighter. A third single shot was followed by a crash and screams. A woman’s voice began to implore, while a child wailed.

Overcome by a fresh wave of panic, my entire body shook like a flapping flag on a windy day.

“I SAY LIE DOWN!” someone ordered in a deep baritone.

“IF YOU MOVE, I SHOOT!”

Silence. The baby resumed their crying.

“Shut that baby up or I shoot!”

The bawling petered out.

The voices became a murmur with occasional cries and screams. New screams and pleas replaced the old ones; they were moving from apartment to another.

In an urgent whisper, Ti said, “We should pack our shoes from outside.”

Her words were so out of place, I briefly forgot the

situation and spoke in a normal tone.

“You say?” I asked.

“Sshh!" she rasped. "I said you should remove our shoes from in front of your door.”

My brows rose all the way to my hairline. What was happening? Had fear robbed Ti of her senses?

“Why? Ti, are you okay?” I asked.

“So that when they get to your door and see no shoes, they’ll assume that no one is around,” she explained.

Surprised into muteness, I said nothing. But as the minutes ticked by, her odd suggestion began to make sense. But what if I open the door and get caught?

What if they were next door right then? I shook off the insane urge to do what she’d said.

“I’m not opening any door. You can go and carry shoes if you like.”

“Why me?” she asked. “Is it not your house?”

I bit my tongue, hard. "Let's get through this night first, Ti.

Then you and I will have a talk about whether you mean me well in this life," I whispered.

The scrape of metal against metal put paid to any further talk. Next came two silent clicks as a key was turned in the lock.

God of my ancestors! Ti-Abasi was unlocking the door.

If I could’ve throttled her right then, I tell you, I would have. Instead, I began to pray, fast.

God, please don’t let them hear her. Don’t let them find us. Don’t let me die tonight. Lord, please forgive me for that time I asked Marilyn to sign the attendance for me in

Mr Nweze’s Industrial Law class even though I knew I wasn’t going to attend the lecture. God, I promise you that if we escape this whole thing unscathed, I’ll never do that again. Lord, Lord, Lord…

My eyes had become accustomed to the dark. As I muttered on, I watched in horror

as her shadowy hands unlocked the padlocks on the burglar-proof and inch by agonizing inch, pulled the door away from the frame until there was a crack big enough for her hand to pass through. It seemed like an hour had passed before she shut the door again. As she locked it,

I let out my the breath in an audible whoosh.

“I’ve carried all my hand could reach,” she said as she settled down beside the bed. Her voice was soft and sad. “I hope my parents are safe.”

I cleared my throat and opened my mouth. Honestly, nothing came out. After what seemed to

be an eternity, I was able to say, “They’re fine.”

“It seems like they’re upstairs,” said Ti.

For sure, this girl was going to get us killed. Who talks this much at a time like this?

“If they’re upstairs, that means that we can sneak out and run out of the compound.”

Lord have mercy!

“Are you crazy? I exclaimed in a very fierce whisper, staring in disbelief at the general area where she was seated. “Da, iwud ufon? Is your head correct?”

“But we’re only going to sneak out and go to the next compound.”

“Oh,” I drawled. “I see. It's just the

next compound. I thought you were talking about us running all the way to China.

By the way, when we get over there, then what? Knock on doors and ask someone to let us in? Do you think they didn’t hear the gunshots? What if there's a lookout at the gate? Thought of that?"

Of course, she had nothing to say.

Another door crashed and I flinched. They were still here. Had someone been able to call the police? Were these thieves only after our properties? What if they wanted more from us? Like, you know, sex? Would they rape us?

It'd happened to my neighbours back home, you know. After the robbery, those demons, four of them, took turns on the girls in each house. I was fourteen then; Papa hid me in the ceiling. I don’t know how they didn’t hear me that day.

Because even though I muffled them, I couldn’t stop sneezing from all the dust and cobwebs up there.
Afterwards, nobody ever talked out loud about it. But it was whispered through the grapevine. No, no. Don’t think about it, Idara. It won’t happen to you.

I was still trying not to think of the worst as a woman began to scream over and over. Again, my heartbeat and blood pressure went sky.

“Please don’t kill me! Mere’m ebere. Jesus! Biko. Biko!”

I recognised Ukamaka Igiri’s voice.

“Mechionu! Shut up!” a gravelly voice replied.

“Shut up or I shoot.”

Whether she was too frightened or past caring, I don’t know. She kept on screaming.

“Biko, egbula’m o! Please, don’t kill me! Biko, biko…bi….”

Thwack!

Flesh smacking hard against flesh, one after the other, were punctuated by deep, distressing groans

and more cries.

Mr Igiri alternated between shouting at the robbers and begging with his wife to calm down. I began to sob. The ruckus subsided but there was still the occasional commotion going on upstairs.

“Do you think they’ll rape us?” Ti-Abasi whispered.

Wow! See the way she just put those words out there in the universe.

“Ti?”

“Yes?”

“Shut up!”

“Wha…,”

“Ke akpaniko, if you ask me one more stupid question, I’ll push you out of this room so you can go and ask those robbers by yourself. Ah ah! Nso k’edo?!”

Angry, I crawled away from her to the window and carefully pulled aside a corner of the curtain. Maybe I could spot if there was a sentry at the gate. Except that the angle made it impossible to see anything. I sank down on the floor, back against the wall, and hugged my knees.

Suddenly, there was a loud shout. Back to the window, I went. Dark figures stealthily moved around outside. Were more robbers coming to join their comrades? I wilted until I was flat on the floor. It was as if the fear I’d felt before had a learner’s permit.

The terror I felt now was so intense, I became quite lightheaded. What was going on?

“Dagger, wetin dey happen?” someone called out down from upstairs into the quiet.

There was no reply. “Dagger, identify.”

I was right; there was a sentinel manning the gate.

Imagine if I’d listened to this crazy Ti and made a run for it. We’d have been dead. But where was he precisely? Who were the shadows creeping about?
From the first floor, someone went down the stairs at a rapid pace. Footsteps walked past my room.

My mind spun with several scenarios as many pairs of feet ran down the stairs. Sounds of what may have been a scuffle ensued. More gunshots.

Then it was as if the compound was transformed into an active battlefield. I kept my head low and prayed none of those bullets,

the ones marked to-whom-it-may-concern, would find their way inside my room.

The gunfight raged on for what seemed like an eternity. Sporadic rat-tat-tats first, replied by staccato booms of a machine gun? Maybe. Then as suddenly as it had begun, the battle ended.

“Come out o. We don catch dem.”

“Make una come out. O ndi vigilante! We, the vigilantes are here.”

A trick, for sure. These people want us to voluntarily step our houses, so they’d rob us all at once. Nah, I’m good. I’ll lie here; let someone else go first.

Not everyone thought the same because I heard doors from the other apartments opening. Ti, scrambled up from the ground and went to the window. Whatever she saw out there gave her the courage to run the door and start unlocking it.

Wait. True true, it was the vigilantes?

Glory to God! I got up, checked through the curtains, and saw Frédéric emerge from his house.

Mr Igiri was close behind him, as were some of my neighbours. Everywhere was illuminated by lights from torches, the halogen security lights and the interior lights from each flat.

I joined them outside. The first thing I saw once I was in the quad, were six men lying face down on the ground, their hands tied behind their backs.

Two of them had gashes on their heads and blood seeped steadily from the wounds. Everybody was talking at the same time.

“God will punish you for slapping me,” said Igiri's wife as she hurled curses on one particular thief.

“I’m sorry, Ma. It’s the devil that caused it,” he replied.

“Thunder fire you there!” Anozie’s wife exploded. “May the devil use your destiny to mop dirty floors! Anu ofia!”

TO BE CONTINUED....

This is an excerpt from my book, a fiction novel titled Compound Matters. Coming soon to bookstores and online book platforms near you.

Stay tuned.