After my release from jail, Dad drives 350 miles away from the guns, thugs, and drugs. The rolling hills and fresh air are meant to calm my restive nerves.
The rural kids are slow learners, which they make up for with loyalty—what every gang leader prizes more than guns.
Chidi Young writes from Jos, Plateau State Nigeria. He’s a teacher, graphic designer, and a photographer who loves to read and write short stories.
Time for our evening walk. I tug. She won’t budge. Not in the mood either. I release her leash, plumping myself onto the sofa. Cuddling the pillow close, tears stream down. My poodle strokes me with her tongue, staring into my eyes as if she’s saying, “Just let him go.”
Chidi Young lives in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. He’s a teacher, photographer, and graphic designer who loves to read and write short stories.
For several minutes after the accident, I lay dripping in blood. Is my wife still alive? I try to lift myself up. My body is numb. I hear the car door creak. Help is here. A hand finds its way into my pocket, pulls out my wallet, and runs off.
Chidi Young writes from Jos Plateau, State, Nigeria. He loves to read and write short stories.
Flowers, cards, and hugs arrive with visitors. Tears well up. Friends and family quickly dab them off, hugging you closer. As the condolences ebb, the last mourner leaves, and like a broken dam, you let the tears flow. The pain you’ve housed opens the window.
Now you can mourn him.
Chidi writes from Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. He loves to read and write short stories.
Curled up on his lap, she’d tell stories about cities lit by fireflies and flying to the moon on pancakes.
He watched the sparkles in her eyes fade away in deep melancholy, her defiance repelling him. He wants his daughter back, but the teen in her has a firmer grip.
Chidi lives in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. He’s a teacher and a photographer who loves reading and writing short stories.
Conscience called. I listened. Sun up, my captive was released back into the wild. Few leaps away from the cage, he paused, filling up his lungs with a whiff of the sweet smell of freedom. One leap forward, and the squirrel was airborne, caged between the talons of a hawk.
Chidi Young lives in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.