Chapter 13
The following chapter is strictly Chioke's nightmare; it explains what happened to his real family and what caused him to lose his voice
Chioke and his family are in their home, in Nigeria, as they begin to hear gun-fire outside. The mother grabs hold of Chioke and sits in the corner. While the father walks to the window to see what's going on, the older brother and sister go to the corner with their mother. As the family is in the corner, the father sees a couple men running around outside, shooting at each other.
Suddenly, a body comes crashing through the front door. The entire family is startled. A man enters into the home using the front entrance and he runs to the back entrance. The father quickly grabs his gun. As the man reaches the back entrance, two men run in through the front entrance. The two men shoot the man in the back. One of the men then points his gun at the family cowering in the corner. The father points his gun at the man and pulls the trigger. As the first man falls to the floor, the second man, the man who didn't point at the gun at the family, now points his gun at the father and pulls the trigger. The father falls to the floor. The father is now dead.
The man then walks to the family. He pushes the children away and grabs the mother. The mother screams as the man drags her away from the corner. He pins her to the floor and tries ripping her clothes off as she fights to get him off of her. Chioke, who is only four years old, stays in the corner crying while his older brother and sister try to push the man off of their mother. After the man pushes the children away again, the older brother runs over to his father. He grabs his father's gun and runs back over to where the man is trying to rape his mother. The brother then points the gun to the side of the man's head and pulls the trigger. Some of the projected blood, from the man's head, splats onto Chioke.
The mother gets up, fixes her clothing and takes the gun away from her son. Another man enters into the home from the front entrance. The mother immediately shoots him. Chioke finally stands up as his mother approaches. He raises his arms and the mother lifts him into her arms. As the mother is getting Chioke, the brother and sister both grab guns from the dead men on the floor. The family goes to the back door. The mother pops her head out to take a quick look around. With the gun-fight occurring in front of their home, the mother is hoping they'll be able to escape the area through the back.
The family leaves the home through the back entrance. A couple seconds later, four men enter into the home through the front. The family runs down the street. The mother finally runs behind a building, into the alley, with Chioke still in her arms. The brother and sister follow. While behind the building, in alley, the mother puts Chioke down and tries to calm him down as he cries. After a minute, the family notices a couple men pass by in the street. The mother lifts Chioke back into her arms and they immediately begin running down the alley.
A man who passed by, stops and walks back over because he thought he saw something in the alley. He looks down the alley at the family running away. The man points his gun at the sister and pulls the trigger. The man laughs then continues running to catch up with his buddies. As the family keeps running, Chioke is the only one who can see that his sister is lying dead on the ground. Chioke begins crying again as he wraps his arms around his mother's neck a little more tightly. At the end of the alley, the family runs behind the side of the building. The mother notices her daughter isn't with them. She looks around the corner and sees her daughter lying motionless on the ground in the alley.
The family starts running again. They run further and further away from their home. Men with guns are basically everywhere they turn. The gun-fight is more spread out then the mother originally thought. After making a turn around another building, a man notices them. He begins to turn in order to aim his gun. The brother points his gun at the man and pulls the trigger. The man drops to the ground. Three seconds later, a bullet is fired and hits the brother in the back, killing him instantly. The mother turns around to see the person the man was trying to aim at, before he was shot by her son. She points her gun and fires at the man who just shot her son. The man falls to the ground. The mother checks to see if her son is still alive. She shakes him a couple times, but he remains motionless. With Chioke still in her arms, she continues running. Chioke watches his motionless brother lying on the ground as the mother, with him in her arms, keeps running.
As they continue on, they reach an area where there's a small creek. Near the creek is the rubble of collapsed building from a long time ago. Suddenly, a stray bullet hits the mother in the leg. She and Chioke fall to the ground. Chioke rolls off a bit after hitting the ground. With his leg hurting a little bit from the fall, he then tries crawling back to his mother, but she waves for him to stay where he is. The mother tries her best to stand up. She limps over to Chioke and picks him up. She brings him over to the rubble of the collapsed building and places him inside. The mother runs back over to where she fell, in order to get the gun she dropped. After picking up the gun, a couple men enter into the vicinity and begin shooting at each other. She quickly turns to face the rubble.
"Run Chioke! Run!" His mother screamed.
Chioke is frozen in fear while hiding in the rubble. From his place of cover, he watches as his mother is hit with a couple bullets.
"Mommy!" Chioke yelled.
Chioke's eyes tear up as his mother hits the ground and her blood begins to create a puddle around her dead body. From his place of cover, tears start rolling down his cheeks as he stares into the eyes of his dead mother.
A minute after the bullets stop firing in the area, Chioke looks out from rubble. When he sees nobody is in the area, he stands up and walks to his dead mother. Chioke sits next to his dead mother and shakes her. He cries as he places his hand on his mother's head.
"Mommy." Chioke cries for his mother as he strokes her head.
After a minute, Chioke notices a couple men running around, so he stands up and runs toward the creek.
While standing in the shallow creek, Chioke turns to look back at his mother for the last time. He then turns and sees a man pointing a gun at him. Chioke's heart begins beating rapidly as he's now frozen in fear. A tear rolls down his cheek. He then closes his eyes, hoping it's a dream or that the man will just go away. A shot is fired.
Chioke falls into the shallow creek and all he hears is the splash of the water. After falling into the creek, Chioke manages to roll his body so that he's lying on his back. The running water from the creek begins to devour him as it quickly turns red from his blood. Chioke turns his head slightly, in the direction the water is moving from. His right eye is submerged in the water. The tears coming from his left eye are quickly washed away as the water crashes over his nose. Chioke tries to yell, but begins choking on the water and his own blood at the same time. He thinks he's only choking on the water, when it's actually water and blood, but he's unaware since water and blood rushing into his mouth just feels the same. Chioke begins to panic as he's having a really hard time keeping the liquid out of his mouth due to the pain.
Chioke watches as the man who shot him starts walking toward him. The man walks into the shallow creek and just laughs as he stands there watching Chioke bleed, choke and try gasping for breathe. Chioke can't help but have an overwhelming feeling of fear and pain. He's scared as he begins to shake. The man finally walks away, leaving Chioke in the shallow creek. Chioke is left in the creek to die.
Now alone, Chioke just lies there in the shallow creek. As his blood continues mixing with the water, he lies there wishing his mother was alive to come get him. He tries yelling for his dead mother, hoping she'll miraculously save him. But all he can hear is the sound of water as it crashes against his face. Chioke cries as he doesn't know why he can't hear his own voice, but his tears are once again quickly washed away. He then begins choking even more on the water and his own blood. He tries to move in order to get out of the creek, but the pain quickly handicaps his movements. Chioke panics as he just lies there helplessly in the shallow creek, choking and bleeding. His strength quickly diminishes. With not having much strength, his eyes finally close.
After a minute, Chioke begins shivering as he hears the splashing of water due to foot-steps heading in his direction. He's scared that the man who shot him has returned. He tries to open his eyes, but doesn't have enough strength to do so. A couple seconds later, he feels someone (note: the person is Arthur) lifting him up into their arms. Chioke then completely passes out.
End Chioke's nightmare
THE END
This concludes the story "Finger Swap". Coming soon will be the next story in this series. But until then, I hope you enjoyed this story. By the way, the next story won't come until sometime in February because on January 19th, I get my surgery done and will need some time to recover. But if you look at my profile, you'll at least know the title of the next story.