TAKEN

This story is about a young man called
Emmanuel Micah who was taken by unknown gun men from one of the area down town PH. Its not a fiction as it is a non fictional story.
It was on a cold Friday evening on 24 March 2017 to be precise as i just got home after writing my last examination at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology now Rivers State University (RSU). After the examination I got to ma hostel F and G which is the most popular hostel in the school,after a little nap at about 6:30 pm I picked up my bag as usual and journeyed back home where I always prefer to spend my weekends. It was a short trip from mile 3 to Marine Base a small residential area located at the popular town axis of port Harcourt, got home at about 7:25 pm as I encountered some hurdles on my way home.
When i got home i got a well warmed welcome from friends and family including my friend Emmanuel, after all sort of pleasantries has been exchanged i dropped my bag came out of the house discussing with my friends outside our house. There was a game center close to my house where good number of boys normally gather to play all sort of games most guys play snooker because the snooker is at the open space and night life around the snooker game arena was awesome, so i decided to have a chill with my friends as am still contemplating on what to eat before I retire to bed. The game was so interesting because it was between two pros (strong hands) as we call them, the game was at its climax that suddenly PHED put on us on a blackout.
At about 8 O'clock I was still at the snooker arena then suddenly my freind saw someone with all black coming towards our direction, he couldn't recognise the person because it was dark when the person came closer he my friend saw that the person was holding a gun. The model of the gun he can't tell, it was strange all my friend could shout is run, before he could had his lips closed from his statement we all were on a rat race then we started hearing gunshots from all angles it wasn't funny as Marine Base was in disarray.
Before that first shooting Emmanuel told me that he want to go and pick up something ate the waterside, so i was worried as the shooting actually became sparodic from that direction. I thought of him as I was on a formula 1 race. I was on the highest speed limit i can hold because all I could hear is shot them, kill them I don't know why such attack should come to us all I could hear are gunshots and footsteps right behind me so I ran faster wondering where to take shelter as all doors were locked couldn't run into my house because the gunshot got me confused.
I ran into a store owned by a food vendor (anti Boma) some other people joined me as we all were scared, the door was wide open as the only lock we had was our hands and legs as the gunshot continued, all face was long because we were all scared to death.
After at about 15 munites of shooting, the military intervened so the exchange of bullet got things worst, death is just an option everybody in Marine Base is open to. At about 8:45 the gunshot started reducing also tension is at the decrease but nobody came out sooner until at about 9:00 I got a call from my Sister to kow if am fine because She was so worried as I was not inside the house.
At about 9:15 pm we started hearing voices so we came out from that unlocked store house to our different houses thanking God nobody died, we talked over it as the military try to restore total sanity and serenity as they patrol till dawn.
At about 6:12 am the next morning I was still asleep when I started hearing loud voices shouting partnered with cries, I came out asked what's happening and I was told that last night shooting got someone killed and also someone was taken too. It got me worried because the person that was killed is a colleague at the site where we worked together but the identity of the person taken was still unkown, so we started making calls to our friends and brothers we got all of them except for one. I never wanted to believe not until a lady walked up to us telling us that she heard somebody telling someone to enter into a boat the person refused as they were arguing he told them his name and she heard him clearly I sunk in tears, he was a good friend an a mentor and she said the constant refusal of both of them made the gunmen shot one of them so that scared the other to board the boat.
Thought it was a joke that we thought he hide somewhere but we were all dreaming not knowing that the reality is what we are facing now which is the taken of my friend, and up till now no trace of him as all effort to know his whereabout yield no fruits...... His fate we don't know if he is dead or alive. All we do is to pray that he returns safely on day, Amen.