Flash Fiction: 'One does not simply walk into Sambisa' by Fu'ad Lawal

“One does not simply walk into Sambisa.”

“One does not simply walk into Sambisa.”

The words on the rumpled piece of paper travel through his eyes to his brain. Confusion. Only two things make sense; the handwriting, and Sambisa. It is his ten-year old son’s. The one that had gone missing two nights ago. Why would he even think about Sambisa? He knows Sambisa is the last place any human would want to be. Fear. He blames his wife. She wasn’t watching him. Rage.

“Explain this!” he thunders to his family. No one could. No one but his teenage daughter.

“One does not simply walk into Mordor.”

More confusion.

“It’s from a book,” she says, “the Lord of the Rings.”

“What sort of books are you allowing these children read?” he asks his wife even though it’s more of an accusation.

There are more questions but all answers lay at Sambisa.

They are only few hours into the journey on the highway, when they see a boy with a backpack. He’s not hard to miss. His heart stops when he sees his son, not because there was a present danger, but for fear of what would have befallen him if he reached Sambisa forests.

After a few threats from him amidst tears and pleas from his wife and daughter, they drag their son into the car.

“What were you thinking,” he asks his son as they drive back, after they have adjusted to the stench of dried sweat and dirt.

“Someone had to something,” his son says.

“So you want to rescue the girls from Boko Haram, alone?” he mocks.

“At least I tried. I didn’t have to wait before the kidnap my sis-”

“Shut up!”

He wasn’t hearing anymore of it.

For the first time, he worries sincerely what the kidnapped girls were going through.

 

Fuad Lawal is a poet and copy writer. He blogs at rebelliousflash300.wordpress.com

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