Unwanted Guests

Photo credit: customsleeves

It was about 3am when I realized that the plastic drum in the bathroom was empty. I had five children who could wake up at anytime to use the bathroom and the last thing I wanted to happen was to be out of water. This was in Enugu where buying water from water tankers was normal. I woke Ikechukwu up to accompany me outside to get water from the big tank. 

Ikechukwu, my children’s carer walked ahead of me and while I wondered why he suddenly halted, I heard someone scream at him “move back”. In my mind I thought that my brother-in-law who was our host that year sounded too harsh. He had been working in his home office earlier that night and I imagined that he was tired and wanted Ikechukwu to go back into the house so he could lock up. 

As I moved closer to tell him that I was with Ikechukwu, that was when I came face to face with them. Their faces were covered in cowboy scarves and as soon as I realized that they were the dreaded unwanted guests I took off only that the other exits were locked, if I’d seen a window honestly I would left Vic and the boys to go and get help.lol! 

The only place to run to was the bedroom, and I woke Vic up to let him know we had guests. As I was speaking to him one of them kicked the door open and asked us to lie down pointing his gun at us. 

We went flat on the floor as another one ransacked the room. Vic raised his head to look at them and the one who held the gun screamed at him that he would blow his head off. In my mind I said, “see this man oh, I’m too young to be a widow”

He laid back down and after they took all they wanted, the thief asked me to pick Kaoranu (who had woken up and was wailing) then he marched us to another room and locked us in there. In that room, was another house guest, he visited on that day and decided to spend the night, Vic and I were sure that he was dead. He was motionless on the bed, and after the armed thieves locked us in there with Ikechukwu we began to call his name, “Emeka Emeka Emeka” but there was no response. 

Fear is bad indeed, we couldn’t even move from our positions to touch him, Vic knelt just beside me. I looked at my husband as a small boy made him kneel down like a child serving punishment 😁

Vic looked at me and asked in a whisper if Emeka was dead, I told him I didn’t hear any gunshot. We were still talking in low tones when Emeka gently turned his head and said, “I’m alive” in that situation I almost laughed but I was concerned about my children; they were in another room with their nanny. 

The door knob started to move and we all went back to position, Vic and Ikechukwu went face flat on the floor and Emeka died again😂. I held my baby and looked down not sure what their next move would be. I said all the prayers that I could remember. They pushed Nwamaka into the bedroom and asked her to lie down then they locked the door again. 

I asked Nwamaka the nanny about my boys and she said that they were alseep. God made them sleep through the whole nightmare. Nonso was locked in his office and we were locked in a room. 

Somehow Nonso freed himself later that morning; he was able to break the door after several attempts that came with a lot of screaming, which reminded me of the movie, “Kingkong”.  

He let us out of the room and it was a relief to see that the boys were still asleep. I had PTSD afterwards for a while, I couldn’t stay in the same place one more night, I couldn’t sleep through the night for a long time. 

The thieves locked the gate to the compound with another padlock and so even when help came we were still inaccessible. 

Now we laugh over the incident; we laugh at how I would have escaped if I found an available exit, how Vic wanted to see if he could fight the thief, how Emeka died temporarily and how Nonso screamed and screamed as he tore down the barricades that the thieves put up to lock him in his office. 

That fateful night could have been worse but it wasn’t. Today, I am thankful that we survived that incident. 

If you have ever survived a robbery attack please say "Thank You Jesus"