My Favourite 'Uncle' Could Not Leave Without Saying Goodbye to Me - Supernatural Writing Contest (SWC)

Been just 6 or something year old, I was full of life. I was everywhere at every time. I still find myself smiling anytime I look back at those years. I didn't had many friends and I still don't. I guess I have been very picky when it comes to picking my friends right from when I can pronounce or my spell my own name. I remembered gathering ants and making them my friends, my playthings is kind of more accurate because I sometimes would kill one of them to know and see how the rest will react and start whispering to others about their dead companion.

I was but a child, I had no care in this world. Plus I seemed like the smartest and the funniest kid in my neighborhood. Almost everyone especially the big brothers loved having me around. Though I loved to be in my own world more.
Talking of big brothers, I had them in different shades from the thug, the Indian hemps sellers, street fighters to the highly educated. They all to seemed to Love having me around. I felt safe even with the drug sellers, they all thought I was kind of Special and I should be protected from all vices...Or that was the way I felt because I was treated specially different from other kids in the neighborhood.

But i loved the educated ones more. There was something different about them, their calmness, the way they walked, they way they talked and everything about them...I sure wanted to be like one of those especially Uncle Bayo, he wasn't really my uncle and not sure if we were in any way related. He had the nicest and sweet smelling room and there were a lot of books in his room. I would enter his room, pick a book and start reading and they were all always interesting. He also helped me with my school works and difficult vocabularies.

source Or maybe why I loved him most because he was always travelling and bringing back a lot of goodies for me.

My favourite Uncle was gone on one of his frequent travelings. He had been gone for a while now I was almost forgetting him until one night I was lying down on my mat outside. It was a norm to sleep outside till 12 am to escape from the heat inside. Then I saw Uncle Bayo sitting on a well few meters away from me, I could recognise him if he was sitting many meters away in the dark. Yes, I was that used to him. I was so happy to see my favourite big brother that i jumped up immediately to go get a usual big hug from him. But strangely, he started moving away. Even as a kid, I felt something was not right. The more I tried to move close to him, the farther he drifted away. This continued until I lost him finally to the dark. It was so strange, my head was swelling and i was feeling very cold and shivering despite the heat.

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But I never give up, I kept looking for him in the dark. I was so deep in the search for uncle Bayo I did not realised I was lost...Though i thought I knew every nook and cranny of my neighborhood. I have never wandered so far away. After realising i was lost, i sat on the heap of gravel in front of an uncompleted building I had never seen before, waiting for my uncle to come back and take me home...he must have went to buy bread and akara(bean cake) for his dinner. I fell asleep waiting for him to come back for me. I was found there deeply asleep by a search party consisting mainly of my aunt and cousins. I told them what just happened. They all agreed I was sleep walking since Uncle Bayo had traveled for a while and he was not back yet. Yea, I also agreed. For my 7 or thereabout year old brain, that was a perfect logical explanation. I ended our 'night out' straight away, they all agreed we should go inside to sleep before i get lost again sleep walking.

I was woken up next morning by some noise from outside. I was very angry and sad after I gathered after few seconds of waking up the day was Saturday and there was no school. I loved sleeping ( I still do) and Saturday was the only day to get enough of it. I tried to go back to sleep but the noise was getting louder every second. Then I realised it was not just any tnoise but people wailing. I ran outside to see almost the whole neighborhood outside crying. I looked around for someone calm to ask what happened from. I only saw a girl a bit older than I was who was looking at everything so intensely with no much emotions like she was watching an interesting tragic yoruba movie. I asked her. "Uncle Bayo is dead" She said. I stood there for a long moment trying to decipher what those four words meant. As if she was waiting for that to sink in to my little brain, she continued after a long pause "He died in a motor accident two weeks ago while coming back from Kaduna and has been buried there". Finally what happened has sinked in.

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My favourite Uncle Bayo is gone...and never to come back. No more smelling his sweet perfume, no more seeing his beautiful smile (he was always smiling), no more reading good book and items in his room...no more getting from goodies him.
Realising all that, I bursted into tears. My wailing was like adding fuel to fire as many who were consoling others while holding their own tears bursted into tears. I ran to my Aunty to ask her how was it possible for me to see someone that has died weeks ago yesterday (I was sure at that stage I saw him). She replied amidst tears "O wa fara han e ni, o like e ni" ("he came to show himself to you because he liked you" in Yoruba).