Fire & Ice

JULIANNA

After dropping her six months old baby off at the creche not far from her home, Julianna briskly walked down to the bus stop to board a bus to her place of work. She didn't have to wait long before a bus came by and she boarded with two other passengers.

She had lost her husband when her baby was just two weeks old, he was a soldier who had been away from home on duty. He was on his way back home to visit his wife and newborn baby when he lost his life during a highway robbery attack.

He was murdered in cold blood, shot at point-blank simply because he was wearing a military uniform. He never had the chance to see his daughter whom he had named ''Abidemi" which means 'born during her father's absence.

Unknowingly, a tear silently trickled down her cheek, she missed him so very much and It hurt so bad. He never got to see his daughter, the daughter whom he had bonded with while still in the womb.

She remembered how he touched her belly and waited patiently just to feel the baby's kick. How he would lie down with his face very close to her belly and talk to his daughter.

She would always cry each time she remembered that he's never coming home to her, that she's never going to see him again in this life.

Thank God for her mother-in-law who has been like her pillar of strength, otherwise living would have been hell since she has been orphaned herself since when she was fifteen.

"Lady are you alright?" A voice asked beside her in Hausa. Not clear about what the voice said, she turned in confusion towards the elderly woman who just spoke to her and asked in the same language.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"What could be the problem?...why are you crying?"

"Crying?..." She asked in surprise, her right hand silently made its way to her face to feel the tears running down her cheek. Feeling moisture on her fingers, she quickly rummage in her bag for her handkerchief and wiped her face.

"Are you alright?..." The elderly woman asked again, she was worried about the beautiful young lady who has been staring into space with tears running down her face.

"I'm alright now, thank you very much, ma'am," she said with a weak smile, her voice barely audible.

"May God calm your storm and give you peace and joy that surpasses whatever it is that you are going through right now. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning...

No matter what you are going through right now, just tell it to God in your prayers... He cares for you, okay?" She said with affection, lightly placing her hand on Julianna's shoulder.

"Amen ma, and thank you, I appreciate your concern." She said to the elderly woman. After some minutes the bus arrived at her bus stop and she alighted with a much lighter heart, bidding the woman goodbye.

She hurried to the one-story building office premise she worked at, which was not far from the bus stop. When she arrived, she sat at her desk and started getting ready for the day's work by taking the necessary files that needed the boss's urgent attention to his desk and making coffee and tea, who knows what would be the boss's preference today?

She was recently promoted from the post of marketing manager's secretary to the general manager's secretary after just three months of joining the company. The former secretary who recently resigned had put in some good words for her after seeing her attention to detail and dedication to work, coupled with the fact that she spoke the three major languages in Nigeria, Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba fluently.

She still needed to further her education though. Her OND certificate won't earn her enough money to take care of herself and daughter's need, she would need to visit the state Polytechnic on Saturday to make enquires about their HND part-time program.

Even though her mother-in-law treated her just like the daughter she never had, that doesn't mean she should relax, her daughter's future would depend on what she earns today, and what she earns would depend on her certification.

And then...

"BOOM!"

A sudden earth-shattering explosion shook the building, followed by loud noises of people shouting and running outside. After calming her heart and getting her bearing, she made her way to the balcony on wobbling legs. Some of her colleagues were already standing there looking towards the bus stop with shock written on their faces.

Raging fire with thick black smoke was billowing from the bus-stop. People were running helter-skelter for shelter, some people were staggering away from the bus stop with deep gashes dripping with blood all over their bodies.

A man who had clearly fainted with half of his right leg gone was carried hurriedly in a wheelbarrow, probably to the nearest hospital which was down the road.

"What could be the problem? I just came in through there just now" she asked towards the rest of the staffs that was standing with her on the balcony. They were all panic-stricken, fear for their lives clearly written all over their faces.

"I will go and find out said a male colleague who quickly rushed towards the staircase before anybody could stop him. They all saw him went out of the gate, running towards the bus-stop.

He soon came back after like ten minutes that he left, he was crying hysterically, even as a man. He sat on the ground inside the gate and started recounting what he saw...

"Oh my God! This is terrible! How could some people be this wicked!? Somebody detonated a bomb in a fully loaded 60-seater bus that was heading towards Lagos. It is horrible! Burning bodies hung from the windows, separate people's parts strewn everywhere.

Oh my lord!" That poor, poor woman selling snacks at the bus stop..." he couldn't continue again as he put his head in-between his legs and bellow out a heart-wrenching sob.

They were all looking down at him from the safety of the balcony where they were standing, silently crying. Who would console who? They were all in it together, the terrible society they found themselves living in.

Somebody suddenly banged very hard on the gate and shouted "run for your lives, someone said they are targeting all Christians again!"

Hearing this, the image of her daughter flashed through her muddled up mind " oh God! Please no! I need to get to my baby, her creche is located inside a church"

She said to no one in particular as she quickly grabbed her handbag and ran like she was being chased by demons down the stairs.

When she got to the gate, the security men stopped her from going out since they believed the staffs were safer inside than outside, the building was owned by a retired military man. No hoodlum would dear come near it.

"You heard that didn't you!? Please open the gate, I need to go get my baby, her creche is located inside a church" she shouted at the security men with anger.

"Please open the gate for her so she could go get her baby" A female colleague who was a Muslim interjected. She quickly removed the long Qimar she was wearing leaving only a small scarf covering her hair and handed it over to Julianna.

"Take, wear this to cover youself from their evil eyes, may Allah be with you"

Another Muslim male colleague who owned a bike offered to take and drop her halfway because he had to go see to his own family too.

He took her on high speed through shortcuts, roads she was not familiar with before stopping the bike on a secluded dirt road.

"This is as far as I can go..." he said with his heavily assented Hausa English. "May Allah be with you"

"Please wait...where is this place? I'm not familiar with this road, how do I find my way to where I'm going?"

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to Badariya-Church"

"Okay..." He paused for some seconds like he was considering something, then he bent down and removed his shoes, then the socks he was wearing underneath before handing the pair of socks over to her.

"Wear this, your bare legs are visible under the Qimar. Women don't dress like that in this part and you have to blend in if you don't want to draw attention to yourself."

"You have to be brave, do not let them see fear on your face because this route..." he pointed to another dirt road by her left "...is faster to Badariya, but filled with all this uncultured almajiri boys.

They might stop you to ask you to go back home, just tell them you are looking for your son whom you sent on an errand. How's your Hausa?"

"Very fluent"

"Very good then, go straight down, it's about ten minutes walk and it leads to the major road that links Badariya. You should be able to find your way from there. May Allah's protection be upon you"

"Amen, thank you very much"

Julianna ran then, she ran like her life depends on it. Her daughter's life depends on it because the faster she gets there, the earlier she's able to save her daughter.

She kept murmuring words of prayers to God as she was running...

"Father Lord, help me, she's the only family I've got left. Please protect her for me. It would kill me if I lose her. Protect her for me in Jesus name..."

Thank God she's almost at the exit of the dirt road because she was now out of breath, just as she slows down to quick steps, she heard a noise from behind her.

Her heart nearly jumped out from her mouth with fright when she looked back and saw mobs of youths armed with clubs, machettes, and jerry cans of petrol roamed the streets, attacking suspected Christians, burning their homes and property, and chanting "death to the infidels".

"Oh, God!" She said with exhaustion as she picked up her pace and started running again till she got to the major road described by her colleague. Getting to her daughter should be easy from here since she was familiar with the area.

Now panting heavily, She has been running hard for more than ten minutes now and for someone who did not use to exercising, it was hard and she was already getting tired.

She slowed down into quick steps again, everywhere was in a state of unrest and disarray. Burning cars, tires, and whatnot, billowing with black smoke were all over the road. People's shops were being looted and their owners were nowhere to be found.

A shop owner that was trying to lock up his shop to protect his business was dragged out on the road screaming and mercilessly being beaten till he fell unconscious.

Nobody stopped the assault on the man, they were either watching helplessly, running for their lives, or in a hurry to get home to theirr family like Julianna.

The situation was horrific. Julianna counted more than ten bodies, lying half dead or dead on the streets. Some burnt and others clubbed or stabbed. She started running again and cross to the other side of the road into another street that leads to Badariya.

Walking briskly, she started thinking about her baby girl, 'Abidemi, Abimbola, Abike' so named by her husband, herself, and mother in law and her mind automatically resumed praying to God for her safety till she got to Badariya.

Badariya-Church was exactly what her mind has been praying against. It was scary when she saw the horrific scene of what was left of the place that has been her home for the past three years.

Being an area where almost seventy percent of the occupants were predominantly either Christians or Igbo and Yoruba origin. she was suspecting it was going to be bad, but she wasn't expecting the attack to be this awful.

All the Christian-dominated blocks of flat and privately owned buildings were on fire, including the block of flats that used to be her home. Seeing this she started running again down the street to her daughter's creche.

Few blocks to the creche, she stopped, she didn't need to go further for her to realize that the church too has been set ablaze.

God please, no! She cried as her face contorted in pain. Her two hands covering her mouth but couldn't stop the ugly screech coming out. "Abimbola!!!" she screamed her daughter's name.

'No! My daughter is not in there. I refused to accept that my baby is in that fire. Somebody must have saved her...' She kept muttering to herself crazily right in the middle of the road. Suddenly somebody pulled her by her arm with force, nearly toppling her over.

The cold hand of fear gripped her heart and sweat trickled down her back 'now it's finished' she thought as she was dragged and pushed into an uncompleted building on the street by guys covering half of their faces with pieces of clothes and handkerchiefs.

She came face to face with a group of men and teenage boys, ranging from twenty-five to fourteen years old. When they removed their masks, she recognized four of them as boys that lived in the area, she was friends with some of their parents, she even tutored two of them to get an extra income back when she was searching for employment.

One of them was Abubakar, called Abu by everybody in the neighborhood. He was one of the twins she had tutored when they were preparing for the West African Examination.

'...but Abu is such a good boy from a good home, what is happening?' She thought

"Teacher follows me", he said in English while pulling her along with him.

Thinking the worst, 'Have they been brainwashed? why are they dragging me into an uncompleted building? Being raped and murdered by a group of teenage boys...oh no! God have mercy!'