They 'R Us - written by Alfred (a short story for kids)

Once upon a time in the city of Port Harcourt, trouble was brewing. Blood was gonna be shed and lives where likely to be lost in a ruthless battle.

The beef between the Raiders and the Black hearts was quite legendary. No one knew any more how the beef even started but one thing was sure, both gangs hated each other and they would always hate each other.

The members of the Raiders attended a high school in the upper-east side of Port Harcourt, while the members of the Black Hearts attended a high school in the lower – west side of Port Harcourt. 

Every once in a while a member of one of the gangs would do something new and stupid to a member of the other gang; fueling years of bad blood which makes for an inevitable rumble.

For those who don’t know, a Rumble is basically two or more gangs coming together and fighting it out with their bare hands and any possible weapon without any rules. The cops always came late to break it up, if they even show up at all, so a lot of lives usually get lost in a rumble.

This time a member of the Raiders had seriously offended a member of the Black hearts and the Black hearts would be storming the high school the raiders went to, today, immediately after school hours according to word on the street.

The sad thing is that, not every member of either school was a gang member. As a matter of fact, in both schools, the non-gang members outnumbered the gang members. However, that didn’t stop the entire school from suffering because of gang activity.

And today, everyone in the high school the Raiders attended would suffer when the Black Hearts show up.

Everyone in the High School in the Upper-east side of Port Harcourt which was the school the Raiders attended; were scared.  Everyone except the school staff (who were always in the dark concerning these matters).

The non-gang member students of the high school in the Upper – east side where deeply troubled and confused. What are they going to do to save themselves from all this nonsense?

Emma, the student school chaplain suggested they all go to the chapel to pray immediately after school. If the tried to go home, they would surely come across the Black hearts on the way.

But Jerry, the student school prefect suggested they all leave school long before the closing bell rings, if they passed through the secret bush path; they would be able to make it home safety.

Many followed Jerry’s plan and they ended up being the first victims of the rumble. A few were killed many were injured.

Emma and the students who obeyed him remained in the chapel praying. 

The school staff who clearly never knew what was going on with the students until it was too late called the police who unsurprisingly never show up on time for a rather obvious reason. 

The school staff locked themselves safely in the Teacher’s lounge.

The Raiders went out to meet the Black Hearts, they also formed a human barricade to prevent the Black hearts from entering their school.

The rumble was bloody – very bloody.

While Emma prayed the Spirit of God dropped an idea into his heart and he told it to everyone in the chapel. His words contained hope.

Emma took out his cell phone and called the school chaplain of the high school in the lower – west side of Port Harcourt. He told him to come with as many students from his school as he could. They should arrive as soon as they can.

As soon as they arrived, Emma went outside the school gate with those who were in the chapel, to fill in the non – gang members of the high school of the lower – west side on the plan.

Emma instructed everyone to pick up a weapon. He told everyone to join the rumble.

He told the non – gang members of high school of the lower – west side to take sides with the gang members of the high school of the Upper – east side and the non – gang members of the high school of the Upper – east side should take sides with the gang members of the high school of the lower – west side.

When this was done, the fighting stopped because now, each side had friends and family on the other side.

They couldn’t fight friends and family because by doing so they might as well be fighting themselves and they couldn’t strike blows against themselves.

All the Gang members dropped their weapons.

Emma took advantage of the opportunity and preached the gospel to everyone there. He spoke to them about God’s love for them. About God sending his only son to die on the cross for them. About how there is no sin too great that God is unable or unwilling to forgive. He spoke to them about unity and how there is no reason for them to hate one another for they are one another, that if they look closely into the faces of the members of the other school, they would see themselves. They would see they are us. They are people like us. We are not better than them and they are not better than us. We are one another, so it’s pointless for us to fight.

Emma ended up leading all the gang members to Christ that day, along with some non-gang members who weren’t Christians.

The Nigerian police came late, they came when everything was over and all the students had left so there was no way for them to know what happened which was Ok! with the police. They didn't want to know what happened anyway and they could pretend that  that day never happened anyway, seeing that the last thing that the Nigerian police want to do is to RISK THEIR LIVES and arrive early during a rumble or a riot and do their jobs. They would rather pretend that the day never happened at all. 

The teachers and other members of the academic staff who locked themselves up safety in the Teacher’s loun nge, found out what happened the next day. They were all shocked and amazed at what God can do in the lives of those who seek his counsel in times of crisis.

THE END.