THE SUN CAME DOWN AT NIGHT

By Maryam Olaitan

The village became extremely quiet and every mother had instructed their children to go to sleep. I was the only one outside; I sat under the oak tree in front of our house.
A few minutes later, Mama peeped through the window, and saw that I was still outside. ‘Won’t you come inside?’ I looked at her and smiled, rouse and pretended as though I wanted to go inside and sleep. When I realised that she was no longer at the window, I ran back to the tree.

Sooner than I would imagine, I fell asleep. Suddenly, a thunderous sound woke me from sleep; I opened my eyes when I heard a noise that sounded as if the world had torn apart. Before I could calm my heart to identify the cause of the noise, I was already at the door; banging it and screaming. ‘Ebiere! Ebiere open the door before I open my eyes. I am about to die, open it.’ I shouted. I guessed Mama was fast asleep and she did not come to my rescue as quick as I expected. Tears filled my eyes and I could not help crying, I did not stop banging the door also.
After long minutes of helplessness, I decided to go and hide among the branches of the oak tree. As I climbed the tree, my wrapper fell. I was scared to go down and take it, so I held on to one of the branches and contemplated on what to do. While thinking of what to do, I heard a scary noise and the whole place became as bright as the day. ‘The Sun came down at night!’ I shouted with joy. I jumped down from the tree and started dancing because I thought it was the manifestation of the story that Mama told me two nights ago. While dancing, someone pulled my hand from behind and dragged me into the house, shut the door and forced me to the ground. I looked at the person and realised that it was Mama.
I tried to accuse Mama of not attending to me on time, ‘I have been…’ I said, but she did not allow me to finish what I wanted to say before she cut in by compelling me to keep quiet. I pushed my lips forward and frowned. I watched as she began to drain the water tank, I felt like asking her questions, but I did not want to put myself in trouble, so I did myself the favour of holding my lips.

‘Mama, what is happening outside?’ I asked, but she did not answer my question. I knew I was pulling trouble to myself, but I really wanted to know why the Sun cane down at night. ‘Mama, why are you stressing yourself?’ I asked again. I expected an answer, but she turned to look at me, hissed and started crying. ‘Mama, why are you crying?’ I asked her and ran to cling to her. ‘Those people are here again; those who killed your father and took away your brothers. They are here again; to take us away. They need females now.’ Mama said. She turned to continue what she was doing. It dawned on me; I realised that it was not time for play at all. I moved closer to her and began to help her drain the tank without saying a word.

‘Wake Ebiere from her sleep.’ She said. I shook her legs to wake her, but she did not even change her position, let alone wake from sleep. ‘Ebiere, are you sure that you are sleeping?’ I shouted. Mama came closer to us and poured water on her, it was as if she had hot coals on her body; Ebiere screamed and jumped on her feet. ‘Both of you should enter that tank before I open my eyes.’ Mama said. I did not bother to question Mama’s instruction. I dragged Ebiere and put her in the tank, then, I joined her in the tank. ‘Do not be afraid, we will survive.’ Mama said.
A few minutes later, we were distracted by a scary sound, so scary that it made me pee. ‘Who is here?’ A masculine voice asked. ‘Or do you want me to shoot you all?’ The voice asked again. I became more afraid when I heard the cries of children and mothers shouting the names of their children. Then, I realised that we were not the only ones in trouble. ‘Please, do not kill my mother, I choose to lay down my life.’ I shouted. ‘Then, come out of your hiding place.’ He replied and fired his gun. The room was deeply dark and he could not see me coming out of the tank, until I moved closer to him. ‘So, you found pleasure in wasting my time?’ He asked. ‘I…..’ I stuttered and fell to the ground. He raised his feet on my chest and told me that that moment would be my last on earth. My blood clotted when I heard that, but I could not move, let alone roll away from the pains I was getting from the sole of his boot.

‘Say your last prayer.’ He said as he cocked his gun. ‘Dear heaven, prepare for my coming. Keep Mama and my darling Ebiere, tell Papa that I am on my way.’ I struggled to utter my prayer, due to the pain I was feeling at that moment. ‘Is that all you have to say?’ He asked. ‘Yes, that is…’ I tried to answer his question, but another voice interrupted. ‘Bloodman, the boss has been shot, let us leave this evil land. I warned you all before we came here. I sensed something evil was going to happen. Let us go!’ A voice from outside said, and they ran away and randomly fired their guns at the villagers. As I struggled to breathe, Mama asked me if i were feeling well, but I could answer her question. ‘Do not scare me, please.’ Mama said as tears filled her eyes. ‘You should not have talked in the first place. I told you about them before they came to our hut, you were not deaf; you heard gunshots and you know what that means; death!’ Mama said. I did not respond to what she said and she was angry about the fact that I did not respond to what she said. ‘Why did you come out of the tank? She asked. ‘He had a gun in his hand, what if…? She asked again.