PROLOGUE!

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JOBA'S P.O.V

I ran, carrying my legs as high and as fast as I could, knowing fully well that, that monster in human clothing stopped chasing me a while ago. I couldn't afford to be caught, if I was it would be straight back to that prison.

After 30 minutes of running without an idea of where to go, or atleast where to sleep for the night, 14 years old me searched very hard for a place to lay for the night. it's was really hard. 

Really hard.

Everywhere I entered seemed scary, huge huge males and females occupied everywhere and they looked fearful. I entered an incomplete building filled with girls, I thought it was safe till I heard them talking about raping someone...just imagine. I carried myself out of the building making sure no one noticed me.

I sighted another incomplete building, it looked empty from afar. 

Finally. 

I Entered the building and noticed it was actually empty, the joy that filled my heart was out of this planet. 

You won't understand.

I laid the wrapper I found on a rope at the back of one house, I made sure no one saw me when I took it. I laid on it ,happy that I found a place to crash before midnight.

A lot of people asked if I was lost, some even wanted to take me to their homes or accommodate me at their place, but I refused I didn't want anyone trying to convince me on going back to my uncle's house.

I focused at the ceiling for a while, imaging it falling on me and then I die. I shook my head trying to remove the stupid thoughts. My mind drifted to my parent. We were a happy family, blessed with everything we needed, my parents tried their best to make me comfortable. They didn't deserve death even if they were to die, not the way they did. I started to think about my mom and the plans we both had for this year before falling into the hands of sleep.

The noise I heard from a distance,made me open my eyes slowly, due to the harsh sun rays. The sun in this Abuja is something else,

Omo...

I met six pairs of eyes staring down at me, I quickly got up looking around for an escape route. 

Trust no one.

"Hey!, Young lad what are you doing down here" one of them decided to speak up. 

Young lad?, Who is this one calling me young lad. Like these guys shouldn't senior me with more than 4 years or maybe 5, that this one was calling me a young lad. He looked at me like he is waiting for something. 

Oh a reply. 

I purposely don't want to answer him, so I stared back at him looking lost.

"Shey you no hear wetin I talk ni!!!?" He shouted this time,making me secretly roll my eyes at him.

"I didn't hear what you said" I lied.I wanted him to repeat himself. He should be there calling someone 'young lad'. He doesn't even know what I have gone through in this life that he is calling me a young lad. A whole me.

"I said , what are you doing here. And by the way, news flash I hate repeating myself" Mr old lad repeated the question. Yes mr. Old lad, that fits him perfectly.

" I had nowhere to sleep last night, so I then decided to sleep here just for the night" I explained. I was very surprised at how calm I sounded. These guys didn't look harmful, they looked too neat and young to cause any havoc or fear. But still trust no one, I still had to be guarded.

I still wondered what they were doing here.

"Of all places to sleep, why here?" A different voice spoke this time, it sounded oddly familiar, intimidating and very calm at the same time. 

Weird right??.

I turned to face him, he was the tallest and fairest. The boy fine sha, but his eyes , fuck me , his eyes ,his fucking eyes scared me, it looked like lasers were going to shoot at me.

I look at his face trying to form words "em...err...uhh...this w-was the only place I met empty and safe" I gathered plenty morale to say that and still look at him. He looked at me like he was trying to read my mind.

"So you just see an empty place and go ahead to sleep there. Do you have any idea of what was kept inside here?. Do you!!!??". Mr laser eyes raised his voice at me but it was still calm. Such a Weird human being.

"Ayo calm down" another guy decided to speak up. So his name is Ayo. He doesn't even live up to his name. Ayo, Ayo,his name sounded very familiar, but it's a very common name so I just couldn't place my finger on it. He turned to face the man that just spoke, looking at the man I realize he looked older than the rest but was the shortest.

"Why should I calm down?. Guy all the guns don disappear,one no even dey" Ayo said angrily. So he can even speak pidgin with all the phonetics. The fear in my heart increase as my brain finished booting what he just said. GUNS!!!.

"Alaye calm down abeg, are you trying to blame the small child. Have you called Butu?." The short man asked, looking from me to Ayo. "No I haven't called him, but he said he was going to drop them here yesterday." Ayo explained still looking pissed. 

What kind of mess have I created for myself like this??. Putting the dots together, I realized I was in trouble. Stay calm Joba, you can do this. I tried to encourage myself

"Abeg go and call him, let's know what we are doing here." The short man commanded.

I stood there watching them till Ayo and Mr old lad made their way out of the room to make the call, without saying another word. The remaining 4 stayed quiet doing their business, till I made a move to escape. I successfully took some steps away, taking the next step I heard something click, I stood at attention when I realized it was a gun. They just pulled a fucking trigger!, to shoot who!!?

I desperately hoped the gun man wasn't aiming at me, so to avoid doing something stupid I stood still. Praying to my father in heaven.

"Take one more step and I'll make you crippled for the rest of your fucking life." The person decided to answer my question. This voice was new, he didn't sound angry he just sounded frustrated. That was a good thing atleast.

I said it, TRUST NO ONE!!!

His statement made the rest of the guys to look at me. I still hadn't turned around, I was too scared too but I could feel all their eyes boring holes into my back.

I think this is where I'm supposed to turn around. 

God please help me. Help your child. I have been a good child and I'm sorry for running away. God I promise if these people leave me I'll go back to Uncle balogun's house and never run again. Please dear lord, I don't want to be crippled or die now. I prayed to God before turning.

I turned around slowly, just to meet eye to eye with the gun. This guy was aiming for my head and he said he will make me cripple. What an illiterate. He was going to kill me. Looking at the gun man's face properly, he didn't look bad if you would ask me, I'll say he is a 75.99%. All the guys here are actually fine... Oh sorry you don't use "fine" for guys, they are all handsome. If not that they were looking for guns and they had guns on them I would have thought they were models for an agency. 

I mentally slapped myself, Joba a gun is pointed at your face and see what you are thinking about.

The gun man didn't look angry or pissed, he just looked tired and less concerned. But I have learnt from experience, times without number not to judge a book by its cover. So I won't do that here. Just respect yourself Joba, you are innocent. I consoled myself

"Where do you think you are going?" He asked. I had a huge feeling that I wasn't supposed to answer, so I let him continue.

"You are not leaving here till we find what we came here to get. Do you understand me?".

There was something about his voice this time around, he sounded a bit angry.

"Yes. I understand you." I managed to answer looking at him straight in the eyes. 

Too much courage. My subconscious mocked me.

The gun man returned the gun to where he got it from.

"sit" he ordered.

"Where?" I asked him back. Like there was obviously no where to sit. Obviously!. Except he wanted me to sit on the floor, ooh...he wanted me to sit in the floor. The look he gave me hastened my trip to the ground. These people are bullies, see the way they are harassing me.

Playing with sand and stones on the ground I heard a new voice "what's your name?".

"My name is oluwajoba, Joba for short." I didn't bother looking up at the questionnaire as I answered.

"Look at me when am talking to you." I look up following the voice to look at the person that just spoke. I could tell that he tried hard to sound serious. Ngl, these people are driving me crazy with the way they are talking. 

"My name is Joba." I answered him the way he wanted, staring at him dead in the eye. Like this one even looked closer to my age than the rest.

"How old are you and where are you coming from?" He asked. AGAIN. What's with all the questions?. I didn't want to answer, but what was theree to hide.

"I'm 14 years old and I'm coming from my uncle's house."

"Why did you leave your uncle's house?" And he didn't stop asking questions.

"Peter, stop disturbing the child abeg, that's not what we are here for. And as you can see the child is still small" Me? Child?, Small??. These people!. Thankfully the gun man spoke up, cause if I had spoken I won't even like what I would have said.

"Dubem abeg free me, when you were threatening the boy with a gun you didn't know he was small then." Hearing his voice he actually sounded nice and harmless, but he didn't stop there "Joba bah??, Please answer my question" he face me again. Do I really have to answer. Goshh.

"My parents died a year ago, after their death I had to move in with my uncle and his family. I left there because I was always maltreated by his wi..." I was cut off by the announcement. The 2 guys that left earlier were back, what took them so long??

"The guns were delivered." Mr old lad confirmed from the entrance of the room, his announcement made everyone face him.

"You talk wetin?" Dubem asked with a stern face.

(You talk wetin- what did you say)

"Baba talk say dem drop am yesterday"Ayo answered his question while glaring at me

"Where are the guns?, Where are the fucking guns??" He asked me. Why in God's name is he asking me. Omoo see wahala.

(Baba talk say dem drop am- the man said they dropped them yesterday)

I didn't see any gun talk more of gunsss. It's official, I'm dead."I didn't see any gun when I got in here." I answered looking obviously confused.

"What do you mean you didn't see any g...!!" Ayo said to me as his voice raised with every word, a voice cut him off. Thank the almighty. I turn to face the speaker, it was the short looking man. 

"It's okay" He said that with a lot of command in his voice. Looking at his face I realised he looks older than every one of them. Good thing, they have a responsible leader.

"This is what you get for procrastinating. How many times have I told you guys to stop procrastinating?, assuming you came here yesterday when you all were supposed to, this won't have been the story. But anyways..." He trailed off and turned his face to mine.

" You're a gift from the most high to replace the missing guns" he turned towards the gun man, dubem. "Carry him" Dubem started walking towards me. wait, are these people taking me away??

Dubem brought out his gun again, pointing it at me. This was really happening, these people were going to kidnapping me.

"I don't want to carry you. So move, and don't do anything funny, my baby is loaded" Dubem says returning the gun back in his pocket. Who was I to run?. I didn't want to become a cripple, or be among the dead, respecting myself I followed. Atleast I would have somewhere safe to be sleeping.