CHAPTER 2

I woke up 3 days after on a strange bed in a mysterious dark hut. 

“Please where am I?” 

I asked myself after which I coughed. I was so weak; I wondered what happened to me, like my brain was reset to factory setting.

A small fire was lit by a corner of the hut which gave me warmth and light. I was even wrapped in a blanket, surprising. “oh Christ, what is going on?” Suddenly I felt a sharp pain on my left knee when I tried moving only to discover it was bandaged. In my awe, the door opened and two strange women in palm fronds kinda clothing stepped in. they looked like a certain tribe I couldn’t actually remember. They spoke some language I couldn’t understand. But from the gesture, I FIGURED OUT they were glad I was still alive. They left.

What had happened to me? I sat by the corner of the bed and tried to reason what was going on. Gradually…I began to regain consciousness

. ******

A hunter was trying to gun down the big hawk on the tree I hung myself but missed target and shot my knee. Probably he brought me to his house to battle for my survival.

I was surprised to see the hunter come in with a book; even with a ballpoint pen to be precise, I’m sure you’ll be like ‘What? He’s even learned, astonishing’. What popped me was that he could speak English. “Young man, what prompted you to attempting suicide?”

MY LIFE STORY STARTED

“I’m Chuka Okoli Uzor, life they say has its good, bad and ugly sides, but I’ve never tasted the good. It’s been filled with gloom and bad luck. I’m exaggerating right? Let me finish my tale and you would know I was making an understatement.

"Papa died when I was barely 5. On this fateful day, papa came back from work and crashed on the arm chair in the living room. I also came back from school simultaneously and just as I was barely pulling off my uniform, I heard papa “Chuka Chuka” I had to quickly rush for the living room cos I knew the consequences of not answering papa on time. “Take this N50 go get me bread from mama Chibuzor, I’m very hungry, do quick and two minutes”!

I collected the money and returned to my room to change my clothes. In few minutes I forgot I was sent an errand, busy playing the scrabble Bode my school-mate gave me. I was also juggling the two unripe mangoes Mazi Uche gave me on my way back from school till I heard papa’s roar from the living room. 'MY GOD'!! I rushed into mama’s room and so fortunately for me, I saw a piece of bread mama brought last night, so luckily she never opened it. Little did I know that it was the bread mama poisoned to kill the numerous rats in our hut. I rushed into the sitting room.

"Papa, I’m sorry, I had been back since I was in my room, here is your bread’’. I gave the bread to papa and what you expected happened!

From that day henceforth I was regarded to be a demonic child sent from the pit of hell to trouble my family. I lost friends, relatives and people. They feared I would also kill them with my misfortune.

But I never lost mama. She stood by me and believed I still had something in me to offer the world. Was she right? Let’s see.