It was four minutes past two, early Sunday morning. I woke up to the sound of strange noises in my room with my sister beside me on my bed. I looked up and I saw strange faces. Having never been a victim of an armed robbery attack, I thought I was imagining things and decided to get up, only to be met with a kick to the face.

The neighbour's generator was running overnight and as a result we didn't hear the armed robbers trying to get in.
They broke in and went into my parents bedroom taking both their phones.

My dad was told to peacefully bring out the money, failure to do so would make them search the house and if money was found, they would kill him. In their hands, were guns and knives. My dad kept some money at home in case of an emergency and he gave it to them, thinking they would leave immediately.

They quickly dashed into my room, took my laptop and phone and they did same to my sister. It was at this point that I was kicked because I tried to get up. According to my sister, they pointed the gun to my face at that point. I don't remember that, so I guess the kick must have made me lose consciousness for a minute or two.

They went back into my parents bedroom for the second time, requesting for more things, this time pointing a gun to my mom. My mom cooperated with them and gave them what they were asking for, and they left soon after.

I was working on a machine learning project on my laptop and decided to sleep for a while, as I was struggling to stay awake. Barely fourty minutes had passed before this incident happened. It still is shocking to me as I find myself thinking about the moment and what I could have done. " Such a stupid thought", my brain keeps telling me, " what would you have done? There were six guys in your house, each of them, armed to the teeth. Be grateful for your life", it continues.

It was a terrifying experience for us all, especially my mom. Her face hasn't brightened since the incident happened. I even caught her crying this afternoon. Nothing of this sort has ever happened to us before. But all the same, we're grateful to be alive, nothing comes before that.

I decided to write it out as a form of therapy to let out.