Inkounter

When I sleep, I find my wings. Freedom comes with my dreams. The law of intended consequences says you get what you deserve. The shackles of this tyrannical law bind my every waking moment. But I escape my chains when I close my eyes. In my dreams, I am a warlord in the dusty Sahara. Brandishing my gleaming AK-47, I run bare-chested into the heat of battle. Bulletproof vests? Bah, who needs those. The one bullet that finds its way towards my chest somehow hits my large golden medallion at such an angle that it ricochets and goes back to kill three of my assailants. An unplugged hand grenade once landed near me. I defused it by swallowing it. It did nothing to me because of my pure heart and my unshakeable resolve. In my dreams, I rob banks. The vault doors just happen to be open each night I decide to scale in through the mysteriously unlocked windows. Someone usually leaves a bag behind that I use to stuff in as much cash as I can carry. There are CCTV cameras, but fortuna...

"Grandma, could you please leave the lantern on?" "Ahh, my son, do you want to burn the house down around us?" "No, Grandma. It's just...", I hesitate. It wouldn't do to admit to Grandma, who I adore, that a 13-year old boy fully due for his initiation rites was still afraid of ghosts. But somehow, in that preternatural way grannies all over the world have, she knew. "Chijioke, are you scared of ghosts?" "No ma!" I deny. "It's just that Kachi told me that they creep into your room through the windows and eat your shadow on the bed. She says that was what killed her brother". "Nonsense", Grandma scoffs. "Ghosts would never do that to their family. Let me tell you a story". "When Chukwu Okike Abiama created the world above for humans and the world below for spirits, he knew beforehand that some relationships could outlast the decay of the grave. So, he made it possible for those w...