TYWA 2020 Nomination for The Read-Worthy Prize Grace
14 - THE DAY FIRE RAMPAGED Favour Grace Alioke lives in Mowe, Ogun (18 years old). This story was slightly edited for grammatical accuracy and to better serve TGF readers. The originality of the story is 100% intact. The sun was standing still like the policeman at Ayikara junction, making your clothes wet with your sweats as Haija was weaving your hair into six backward cornrows. Mama Halima ran into your compound, shouting, "Wuta! Wuta! Wuta tana ko'ina o! Fire! Fire! Fire is already everywhere o!" Maybe you would not have believed it if you didn't see people running helter-skelter, some clustering into one another, some pushing others away; if you didn't stretch and see fire tearing down a building. You jumped, as if frightened by a ghost, clasped your two-months old baby that was crawling on the floor, and started running too. You didn't even look back to check for Haija or Mama Halima, you just kept going where your legs were leading you, or perhaps, wh...