Last Night

As I stared down the barrel of the M16 pointed at my face, my life flashed before my eyes. I should never have followed them, I should never have listen to my friends who convinced me that I was going to have a good time.  Instead, I had to contend with the thoughts of  losing my life to some thugs with guns, ready to blow anybody's brains out as they robbed us blind of our valaubles.

        It had been a long boring day, so I reluctantly joined my boys, Keji, Oye and Deji at the club. We had only had a few drinks when they told me they had a surprise for me. i knew their plans were always bad but i played along. Oye grabbed his car keys, stood up and headed for the exit and we all followed suit. We all got into his car and Oye drove out of the compound. A few minutes later, we were having drinks at a brothel that doubled as a beer palour.

I still thought we were there for drinks but one after the other, my frineds went in with the ladies of the night. Minutes later, my friends arrived with smiles on their faces. little did we know that the night was going to get hotter. The guys began to trade tales of their escapades all in attempts to make me want some.

"we are going in for round two now" Keji giggled as he stood up to go and join the call girl who was winking at him. Oye and deji approached new girls and went away too. I was left alone with my drink but my defenses had become so weak I was beginning to show interest.

But before I could act on my desires, three heavily armed men stormed the palour. They were dressed like thugs with masks on their faces but something appeared aweful strange about them; the way the spoke, the way they walked, I had heard and seen it before. They came in guns blazing, breaking every tableware in sight. I crawled under one of the tables and just as i most dreaded, one of the robbers came straight for me. with one hand, he pulled me out from beneath the table like a feather.

The other two armed men operated in the building like professionals. They collected money, watches, neck and hand chains; and every other valuable items in sight while the one man holding me hostage kept  the gun pointed right in my face all through the longest five minutes of my life.

When they were done robbing, I saw one of the two other guys walk over and whisper into the ear of the armed robber standing over my head. He spoke like he was convincing him not to shoot me and the arguement went on for a few seconds before he looked back at me and pushed the gun harder unto my skull as he spoke. "Na God save you, I for blow your head" . then he walked away and they were gone just like they came in.

The brothel began to echo with screams and wailing. I wasn't ready to find out anymore what could happen, i stood up and ran for dear life. I was on the bus home before i rememebered that i hadn't gone to the brothel alone. i picked up my phone and dialed Oye's number. it rang but he didn't pick up.

         I became so worried i got off the bus at his junction and walked to his house. On getting to his place, i saw his car outside and got a little wind of relief. I walked to his door and knocked. Oye opened the door and Keji and Deji were also there.

"Guys, how did you escape?" I asked. "Or were you inside the brothel all along?" I added.

"Guy na God save us, them for blow our head" Keji said.

I looked straight on at Keji. his words sounded very family. They were the words one of the robbers used, the very one who wanted to blow my brains out.  Everything now made sense to me. My friends were the robbers and  I was in the midst of enemies called friends.