29/06/2025
He said he was going to buy bread.
That was seven years ago.
We were living in a small flat in Enugu. I remember it like yesterday — the way he wore his slippers halfway, grabbed ₦500 from the table, and said,
“I’m coming, babe. Let me buy bread at Mama Chika’s place.”
He never came back.
We searched hospitals. We checked police stations. We asked friends. We even went to churches for "revelation." Some said he ran away. Some said he was kidnapped. Some said maybe he had another woman.
But deep in my heart, I didn’t believe it.
Not for one second.
Months passed. Then years. I raised our daughter alone. I stopped talking about him. People told me to move on. I tried. But a part of me never did.
Then yesterday…
Someone knocked on the gate.
I opened it. And froze.
He was standing there.
In a military uniform.
Beard full. Eyes sunken. Body lean. But it was him.
"Amaka…” he said. His voice cracked.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to faint. I wanted to slap him. I wanted to hug him. I just stood there, confused.
He walked in slowly, sat down, and told me everything.
The riots that broke out near Ziks Avenue that day.
The wrong place at the wrong time.
How he was mistaken for a gang member.
How he was dragged, beaten, and taken by force to a camp across the border.
They forced him into a group. He escaped two years later but was captured again and conscripted into another rebel militia. He finally got rescued by soldiers and was trained. That’s how he joined the army.
He didn’t have access to a phone. He didn’t know how to find me again. He had just been transferred back to Enugu.
And the first place he came to…
Was home.
Now he’s sitting in the living room.
Our daughter is asleep.
I’m here, writing this, still in shock.
I don’t know what tomorrow holds.
But for the first time in 7 years…
We are three in this house again.
🕊️
What would you do if this happened to you?
Would you take him back or ask him to leave?