Aba. 22nd, July, 1998. Papa burnt down Mama’s farm the day we left. It had rained heavily on the night Mama had finally asked for a divorce. She had called me the previous evening, her voice [...]
It had been a tough day for Mutero whose career as the football coach of Tembo High was teetering on the brink of collapse after the humiliating defeat at the hands of Masii High. With a frown on [...]
A small body is impaled on the other side of my broad sword. I watch in horror as the life fades from the little boy’s eyes. His mouth agape, the remnants of a bloodcurdling scream. Hooves [...]
“Maama!” Ssekandi exclaimed. “Denge, come and see.” Deng made his way towards the group. The group comprised three boys and two girls. There were similar groups all around, varying in composition [...]
They say when you’re about to die, your life flashes before your eyes in a myriad of pictures. For me, there are no flashes—just the inner voice of my mother saying, “Be organised, dammit. And do [...]
I heard the hooting of a barn owl on my thatched roof this morning. People said seeing an owl in the morning was a bad omen. The sky was tar black, blotting out the old blue ambiance. At a [...]
A body has been found. I, Detective Constance Nkosi, loom over the body of a young female, dumped in a field near a quiet street. Between the smell and the state of the body a foul taste fills my [...]
A catalyzed, malnourished, and self-evident coldness from the grief of his father’s recurring waist-down paralysis he accidentally encountered before the toll gate massacre, and his brother’s [...]
Master Odinaka kept suppressing the impulse which had begun to transform into an overwhelming force with every passing second, and coercing him to go berserk. Even as he tutors the [...]
As Wura settled in for a chilly night, the last words from her husband reverberated in her mind. He’d phoned earlier that day pleading for forgiveness and promised to be home the next day to make [...]
