I Died Before I Lived By @Peero007

It was a cool moonless September evening at my Granny's house, there I was playing with my siblings while my Mom and Grandparents discussed. "Sadiat! Sadiat!!" my Granddad called out my name, I ran with my little legs to him "emi re (here I am)" I answered,

"Ehen! wa sa're ba mi ra milo fifty naira l'odo aboki yen (please get me a sachete of milo from the vendor over there), kini mo wi? (What did I say?)" He asked

"e ni pe ki n ra milo o ni fifty naira (You asked me to buy a sachete of milo)" I responded

"Toh! oya sa 're, mo n duro de e...di owo yen mu ooo, ma je ko so nu (Hurry Im waiting for you, hold the money tight so you don't lose it)" My Granddad instructed.

I ran as fast as my little legs could carry me, all the while singing "milo o ni fifty naira" so I wouldn't forget. I got to the vendor and met Baba Deji who always exchanged pleasantries with my Granddad each time they saw each other, he also wanted to get something from the aboki- "I no fit sell anything now, I don wash my hand and leg because I wan pray (I can't sell to you now as I have washed my hands and legs in preparation for prayers)"

"Wa, j'a lo ra ni'bo 'min (Come let's go get it elsewhere)" Baba Deji said to me and I sheepishly followed. A street away, Baba Deji stopped to greet a woman by name "Iyaalaje", they talked for a while, occassionaly throwing glances my way and when they were done talking he said to me "tele mi (Follow me)" and again I followed. We walked for a while then boarded different buses before we finally got to our destination where he handed me over to another man then left.

My family became worried because I had been gone too long, they began to search for me. They went to the aboki and he told them Baba Deji and me had left his kiosk together and some other people confirmed they had seen me with him, they matched to Baba Deji's house but he was nowhere to be found. The search for me continued but to no avail as I was very far away, I was where they never imagined I would ever be.

Next day, my Family stormed Baba Deji's house with policemen from the neighborhood police station, when the Police saw him, they shouted "You again!" and he had an evil smile on his face. While all this was going on, I was being prepared- prepared to be killed, prepared to be slaughtered like an animal. The slab was ready, the knife was ready, I had taken a concoction and was ready, they just needed the right incantation to start and complete the process so while I lay there on the slab with the knife to my neck, the man called Baba Deji's phone to confirm the correct incantation but it was the D.P.O. that picked the call and said nothing! Yes! now he had evidence, perhaps justice would be served and I would be saved but Alas! I was wrong, the knife cut through my neck and my head was cut off. A few shudders and I was dead, dead and gone, yet my blood would not have the last of it for it cried "Justice! Justice!! J-U-S-T-I-C-E!!!". The police granted Baba Deji bail, even after he had confessed?, he had that evil grin as he walked out of the station, but only for a short while because the much dreaded Special Anti Robbery Squad picked him at the gate of the station on the premise that the case had just been transferred to them. A S.A.R.S. bullet through his foott made him confess more, citing how Iya Alaje was the mastermind.

I see my Mom, Dad, Grandparents, Siblings, Friends all weeping for me. I'll never be able to pay my Mom for all the suffering she has been through, I'll never go to school and become something big in life, I'll never have children of my own- I'll never be able to teach a child how to yell "stranger danger", I'll never be able to do anything but rest in peace knowing justice is being served!

I was only three years old, my life was cut short before I grew tall, it's so sad to know I died before I lived.