LIGHT IN THE DARK

It was so dark, I had never seen so much darkness in my life, and there in the darkness I saw this light, so bright and getting brighter, this yellow light wasn’t my salvation, no on the contrary it was my damnation.

The flames were getting larger and the smoke was choking, I knew I had asthma, my parents were screaming at me to get out, but how could I abandon them. My dad kept rushing into the fire, pouring water over and over again.

I kept wondering where the fire came from, an electric spark, perhaps it was their faulty extension I returned into their room. “This is my fault” was the thought that pierced my mind I stood there almost motionless watching my dad pour water over and over again.

“Ibukun leave now!” was the statement that jogged me out of my thoughts, It was my mum, she was now supplying water to my dad, I could see the hopelessness in her eyes, tears streaking down her face as we stood there hopeless. She instructed me to leave the house, luckily the flames were just coming out of their room and we could escape, but my dad was determined to save our properties.

I quickly remembered that in emergencies you call the fire department; I quickly called the emergency line, knowing they would save us, I told them our situation, and they assured me, saying “Mr. Ibukunoluwa we assure you that the fire department will get to your house.” But being Nigerian all my life I knew I was wasting my time expecting them, so I turned to the only other emergency line I knew, our neighbors; I screamed as loud as I could for help, while I was expecting an emergency of that magnitude to force everyone out like an army, I was wrong, there was no response.

My dad was still trying to douse the fire, this time my little brother joining in supplying the water, I could see the smoke was getting to all of them, they were coughing furiously. It got to me too, but I couldn’t abandon them, I couldn’t imagine what would happen if I did.

The fire was getting more and I knew it was time to abandon everything and run, “Let’s go, there’s no hope anymore” I had always been the rational one, the nihilist who understood that most times the universe works against you. And just like that my dad fell, the smoke was too much it had gotten to him, my chest tightened with fear that the worst had happened, my mum and brother rushed to his side, grabbed him and begged him to wake up ignoring the looming fire and the heat that came on it.

Then time seemed to stop, as the fire reached the fridge outside their room and it exploded, almost in slow motion as I stood there motionless. Just like that everything I loved the most in this world was gone, the only anchors I had to this world, I saw their flesh burn, as the fired raging as ever only seemed to consume more. I ran to them, my brother cried, begging me to run, not to come, but what was life without the people I loved most on this earth.

Then the flames got to, my cloth, my skin as I tried to drag them outside but then the smoke got to me too, I hadn’t had an asthma attack in years, but that familiar feeling came back. My breadth was short, I was trying to force the air into my lungs but it was only smoke, I couldn’t breathe and everything turned blurry. My eyes fell and the fires didn’t even seem to hurt anymore.

Then it turned black again, only this time it wasn’t smoke, it was empty salient darkness, almost like a peaceful blackness, I knew this wasn’t hell or heaven, because I felt nothing. It was nothing and maybe this was my heaven, but it was the best feeling in the world before my consciousness dissolved into the cosmos.