Contest: "Can't Sleep..." ?

Canva

After a stressful week at the clinic, Uyai came home for some weeks off. She dashed off immediately to pick her 10 year old daughter, Emaediong from her sister's house. On seeing her mom, Emaediong shouted out for joy and rushed off to hug her mom. Uyai who was also excited to see her daughter hurriedly turned to give her a hug. Mom I really missed you; she said as she looked at her mom with a face full of joy and happiness.

I am going to prepare your favourite food for you tonight, Emaediong - Uyai responded. With joy, she began singing as she followed her mom to the market. Uyai arrived at the market and got all the foodstuffs she needed for the food preparation.

She started preparing the food when she got home. Mom I want a big chicken in my food, Emaediong said out loud to her mom.
Her mom chuckles and nodded to show approval.

---

The food was so tasty, Emaediong couldn't help enjoy every bit of it. Being a single mom wasn't easy for Uyai...she lost her husband when Emaediong was just 2 years old. And ever since she has been taking the burden of the child alone; taking multiple jobs just to have a better life. Her daughter was the only joy she had left and she would do anything for her.

Emaediong slept off on her Mom's laps after eating. Uyai on the other hand couldn't sleep but was going through her wedding pictures. The thought of losing her husband crept back in and she could feel a tear dropping down her plummy cheeks. She wiped off the tears and tried packing up the picture album to avoid more tears.

She tried calling Emaediong to wake up but she was deep in sleep already. "This child sleeps like she is dead" she said to herself while trying to take her to her room. At just the entrance of the door, electrical power was interrupted, so she tried turning on the lamp to keep her child. She put her on the bed and came back to her room. Picture album was still on the floor and she couldn't take it back to the shelf.

She felt really tired and crashed into the bed without checking if she locked her doors and windows, even the dishes were still on the floor. Well she must have been tired from running around the clinic. It's never easy attending to patients every day.

By 1am, she was deeply immersed in sleep when she heard a voice. Felt like she was dreaming but she knew it was real. She was in a state of half sleep when she heard..

" Mama I can't sleep... Can I sleep beside you?"
She rolled to the edge of the mattress and at that point she froze!!

Source

She had already felt a warm body close to her on the bed very close to the wall for some couple of hours. She had assumed in her drowsiness that Emaediong walked back into the room without asking. The body shifted once or twice without saying anything.

So if Emaediong is at the door, who or what is on the bed with her?
It better be a teddy bear, she whispered.
She stretch her hands without looking and felt that it was a human body. A heart stopped for a second, she could feel some cold down her spine, her hairs stood firm and she could feel her heart thudding like the best of a bass drum.

Source

Emaediong don't come in - she whispered... 'Yes mom', she responded shakily, trying to understand what was going on.

She reached for her phone, turned on the torch and turned immediately like she wanted to attack whatever was behind her. Behold it was a boy, wearing a dirty jean like he was submerged in the mud.

He tried covering his face when the light shone on him. Immediately Uyai stood up from the bed to get a wooden chair just across her.

He stood up immediately when he saw the horror on her face "Please don't hurt me, I am hiding from people" he blurted out with fear.

"Mommy who is that", Emaediong screamed.

"Don't make a sound dear", Uyai responded but with her focus still on the boy. Could this be a ghost or a thieve?

"Please Ma I didn't steal anything, I was ru"...He couldn't continue but Uyai screamed on him to say what he was doing in her house.

"I am tired of running Ma, I was chased by some group of people and I came hiding here. Your doors weren't closed and I ran inside"

With shock on her face, Uyai wanted to call her neighbours or the police but she was confused on what to do.

The boy was with a bag and she requested that he opened the bag. In the bag was a picture and some medications.

She told the boy to keep the bag on the floor and step away to the wall. The boy who was begging was trying to tell her not to call them.

Who are the them you are referring to?; She screamed

"Some people" he said.

Uyai alerted her neighbours who came in and carried the boy outside. She followed them with the bag. She tried looking at the content of the bag and saw a picture of a woman and a baby, she also saw medications but she didn't know what there were meant for.

The boy was questioned and it appears his was really sick and needed her routine medication. So there was no money to get it and the boy went to a pharmacy to steal the drugs. He was chased by people in the hood who wanted to burn him alive, it was always a norm in that society. Any thieve caught was burnt to death; an act called jungle justice.

The police was called to handle the case while Uyai tried her best to deliver the medication to his mom in the morning. Thankfully she met her in time and administered the medication to her.
She felt better and her son was in good hands too.

She came back home and she was engrossed in thoughts. A young boy would have been burnt to death for stealing medication for his dying mother.

But what was more crazy was how he came to sleep on the same bed with her.
She kept thinking how easily every thing could have gone wrong and she hugged her daughter so tightly whispering to her that she is always there to keep her safe. But the shock of waking up to see an unknown body beside her in the dark is a memory she will never forget.

I invite @imohmitch, @davidmarkgeorge and @ujunwa01 to participate in this contest.