Rob & Rape episode 1

TIME: 1:00AM, APRIL 16 2008 ST. GABRIEL GIRLS HOSTEL .
Somto’s Story…. The sharp sound of gunshots woke me with a terrible jolt. I sprang up confused and nervous. Kpooaaaaaaa Another gunshot went off outside my window, sending me tumbling on the floor. I laid down quietly for some seconds before getting up to peep through the window. What i saw unsettled me tremendously. I saw about a dozen men standing well inside our hostel, near the gate, whispering among themselves.
About five others stood outside the hostel keeping watch. They equally were the ones firing the gunshots, because just as i looked out of the window, one of them fire another shot. I was extremely scared and lost on what to do.
I remembered the horrible tales my course mate Ujunwa told me some weeks back, when her hostel was attacked. The hostel equally was an all girls hostel just like mine and remembering the agony on her face as she told me how she was defiled, ripped my heart apart. I felt like crying. I felt like throwing up. Just that moment i heard a gentle taps on my door which quickly sent my nerves flying high.
“big mama, it’s me Jenny, please open up” a female voice begged. I quickly opened my door and was surprised to see five of my neighbours who were living in the same floor with me standing and shaking with fear. They quickly rushed into my room while i shut the door instantly.
“our hostel is being attacked. We are being robbed. They are downstairs” Jenny said with fright
Being older than most of my neighbours, plus my huge body size. I was highly respected and called Big Mama by all the girls, which kind of made me the defacto head girl of the lodge. My hostel being an all girls hostel used to be an easy target for cultists and armed robbers according to the stories i heard from older students who graduated the period i moved in. The hostel management then had to improve security by raising up the walls and upgrading the barbed wires on them.
Iron protectors were equally installed on all corridors and entrances leading to each floor. The security measures made the lodge very safe that for two years after i moved in, nobody disturbed us until that fateful night. Looking at the hoodlums, there wasn’t any doubt they came heavily prepared with enough manpower to subdue us…
The sound of cries from downstairs soon hit our ears, notifying us that the mischief-makers were now fully in control of the building.
“what do we do?, we can’t just sit and wait for them to come rob and rape us?” Jenny cried with despair, while the other girls nodded in agreement, looking up to me for a solution, but unfortunately i was the most scared….. I was forced to play down my fears and think like a leader…
To be continued shortly