Prose

Short Story: Muri And The Flood

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There was a great rumble from the sky, so people went about their activities in a quicker manner trying to beat the rain. Soon, the atmosphere changed and looked very serious. It looked like it was going to send down a heavy downpour. Muri, a skinny 14-year old lad, and his friends couldn’t wait to play football again under the rain. The rain hasn’t had an off day since it began on the first day of the month. The boys were filled with excitement playing under it daily.

They enjoyed their match as it rained heavily; dribbling an opponent was very easy this time around. Everywhere was locked down as cars and every other moving thing were suspended because of the magnitude of the rain. Many were indoors but the boys went about their business as they hit the ball hard on the waterlogged field. Some traders who had their shops closer to the roads used the opportunity to empty their waste bin into the gutter. The rain was so heavy that even snow was reported. The four-a-side match didn’t stop, it will only end when the rain stops or it’s very late to see, and its already 5 pm.

One of the boys named Ali hits the ball but it went in the wrong direction, into the gutter. Muri quickly ran to pick the ball from the already full gutter. He hurriedly dipped one of his tiny legs into the drainage system and the other was swept off by the flood.

Suddenly, his whole body wasn’t seen as it moved along with the wastes in the channel. The boys couldn’t believe their eyes; one of them named Kojo, after some minutes of panic, ran to block the gutter and recover Muri while others shouted for help. Kojo didn’t see any traces of Muri in the flood, and those screaming weren’t heard because of the great downpour. Muri had been moved by the water current through the channels, only to be found dead the next day in a river, 20 kilometers away from where he had slipped.