The Cottage.

In June 12 2005, I visited an aunt( my mother’s sister).I always love her sense of humor, kindness, food, but for her disciplinary act, hmmm! she was brutal. my cousins were the best folks ever, we were good at gossiping, creating havocs and playing most often.. My aunt( Mrs Laura) warned us never to stay out late and we adhered to her instructions but this particular day was different.

On Tuesday during dusk, it wasn’t a pleasant experience, on this occasion my youngest cousin and myself decided to visit the farmland. we were asked to come back early, we nod our heads promising to return before 6pm.

We played games at the farmland, ate fruits, laughed over jokes and gossip about our classmates., we both raced among other neighbors farmland. and We forgot about our aunt warning.

Dawn came like a wind, it quickly reflected in our heads, we decided to hurry home. walking along lonely path, we had missed our way home, but we weren’t scared because”boys don’t fear”.
In a Twinkle two men arrived from Nowhere, carried us on their shoulders, at this point I couldn’t scream, i couldn’t shout, my breathe was higher, my heat beat increased and my eyes were red.

There took us into a “cottage”, inside was dark and scary, full of cobwebs, ropes and old belongings. our little lips was sealed, our legs tied with a chain, our hands with a rope, and our clothes changed( I wondered why there changed our clothes).

This was the worst moment I could ever picture, my cousin was afraid and for me I was more scared, I always read stories of kidnaps and killing this got me crying in silence. “ I will die? I kept asking my self and thinking fast. my cousin was so afraid till he urinated in his pant.

We heard the door open, a girl was brought in, she was kidnapped too, I saw the kidnappers faces; there looked like ferocious lions, with long beard, scary eyes and monster face. There smelled so bad and looked like wizards.

Our lips was unsealed, at this point I could breath freely, I began thinking of my aunt, I understood why she warned us against coming back late. the two men stepped out.

I began thinking of an escape plan, my cousin With tears in his eyes begged me to save us all, he claimed I was good at getting us out of troubles at home. In dismay I laughed, because it was the first time he accepted and proclaimed that i was wiser and good at plans than himself. His words gave me courage and a little bit of pride.

yes!! I recalled, my cousin had a per knife in his left pocket trouser, we used it in the farm to peel oranges and cut down sticks. We both struggled and brought out the knife. we cut the ropes and loosened the chains. We all ran out like we were been pursued by a snake. we walked through the narrow paths.

We walked as fast as we could, there was a relief Atleast we all saw the trees again. The girl( Lucille) knew her way back to her farmland but we didn’t know ours. My cousin and I decided to follow her, from there we could find our way home. My cousin thanked me and promised to give me his meat for 5 days. With a wide smile I declined his offer, after all it my duty to protect him always.
We were very thirsty, our throat was dry and we knew we might die of thirst

Luckily!!, we found a path with water, it wasn’t pure but “dirty water doesn’t kill anyone”we all drank and continued our journey. We were sure never to see the kidnappers again, and we prayed not to see new ones. My cousin eyes were red, he was scared of our punishment. I was scared too. We were sober while the girl(Lucille) asked us to pray to God.

we had reached the girls(Lucille) farmland, Her parents were happy to see us, there knew my aunt.
we were taken home, there we told the whole story. we shifted back thinking my aunt will get a whip, instead she laid down on her deck chair trying to grasp for fresh air, looking so tired and exhausted. We felt bad for causing her anguish, we apologized and promise never to flaunt her orders. We were served dinner.

I turned to my cousin and gave him a wink. It was An experience we can never forget.