The night had that soft, quiet feeling you only really notice when NEPA light is gone and everywhere is just… still.
Zara adjusted her wrapper and sat on the low bench outside the compound, fanning herself lazily, the heat had refused to go even though it was already late.
“Ahhh, this heat no be here o,” she muttered.
Tunde, who was sitting on an empty paint bucket, laughed. “You will soon say we should sleep outside now.”
“I can o actually,” she replied quickly. “Inside is like an oven.”
Emeka joined them, holding a small nylon of roasted corn. “you people have started again abi?”
“Abeg come sit,” Zara said, shifting a bit. “let us enjoy breeze small.”
They all settled in, the compound quiet except for the distant sound of a generator humming somewhere down the street and occasional laughter from the next compound.
Then Zara suddenly looked up.
“Ah! See star!” she said, pointing.
Tunde squinted. “Which one again?”
“That bright one there, that one is my own.”
Tunde burst out laughing. “Your own? You have gone to register it as yours bah?”
“I no send you,” Zara said, rolling her eyes. “Everybody has their own star, that one is my own.”
Emeka smiled, chewing slowly “I heard that if you wish on a star, it will come true.”
Zara turned sharply. “Are you serious?”
“I don't know how true it is,” he replied, “but sometimes it's good to believe something.”
Tunde shook his head, “Una too dey watch film, If wishing dey work like that, Nigeria for don better since.”
“But wait,” Zara said, sitting up straighter. “What if it actually works, but people just stopped believing?”
Tunde paused.
“Hmm.”
“Lets try it,” she continued. “Everybody will make one wish, Serious one o, no joke.”
Tunde sighed. “You will not rest on this matter bah?.”
“Just do it,” she insisted, nudging him.
Emeka nodded. “I will do mine.”
Tunde raised his hands slightly, “Okay okay, I have heard, let's do it.”
They all looked up again.
The sky was clear, full of stars scattered like someone poured salt across black cloth.
Zara closed her eyes first.
“I wish…” she said softly, “that everything I am struggling for finally works, I have done my best and I am tired, I just want things to start to move well.”
She opened her eyes slowly, like she didn’t want to break the moment.
Emeka went next.
“I wish that things will be better for my family,” he said quietly “We have faced alot of things… I just want peace, even if its small.”
Tunde looked at both of them and exhaled.
“you guys have made it deep.”
“Your turn,” Zara said.
Tunde leaned back, staring at the sky for a while.
Then he spoke.
“I wish that… I understand what I am doing with my life,” he said “Because right now, it looks like I am just walking around without directions."
This time, nobody laughed.
Zara just nodded slowly “That one… is a real wish.”
Emeka added, “the ones we hide are the real ones sometimes.”
The breeze passed again, softer this time, like the night itself was listening.
After a while, Zara spoke.
“You think the stars hears us?”
Tunde shrugged “I don't know if it does hear o… but at least, we have heard ourselves.”
Emeka smiled. “And that one can change something.”
They sat there quietly after that, each of them holding on to their thoughts.
The generator sound faded somewhere, and for a moment, everywhere was just… calm.
Zara stood up first “Sha, if my wish come true, make una no forget say na me start this thing o.”
Tunde laughed, “If my own work, I will buy land give you so you build house under your star.”
“Better,” she replied with a grin.
As they slowly went back inside, the stars stayed exactly where they were.
Quiet.
Steady.
But somehow… the night didn’t feel the same again.
