5-mins Freewrite: Acid Bath

Markets are usually always full of noise, but on this particular day, there was a different kind of sound. I heard a girl scream.

I had stopped at the market on my way home after a long way at work, to pick up a few items, when I heard it. This was the kind of scream that makes your skin crawl. People were already gathering around, and like every other curious Nigerian, I moved closer to see what had happened.

“She was just walking!” a bystander was saying. “Somebody pushed her, and the thing just poured… eh God, see her leg!”

I looked and saw a young girl sitting on the ground, clutching her left leg. Her skin was already looking raw, patches of it turning an angry shade of red. She was crying, but it was the kind where the pain hasn’t fully registered yet.

Turns out a man had been walking through the market carrying a jerrycan of liquid, and the girl who was now screaming had been heading toward him. Unfortunately, someone accidentally bumped into her, pushing her forward. The man’s jerrycan wasn’t properly covered, and the push caused the lid to fall off. Before anyone could react, the liquid splashed out and gave the girl’s left leg an acid bath.

There was instant chaos, with the furious crowd threatening to have the man arrested. He kept pleading, saying the acid was for the factory where he worked, and he had been on his way to drop it off. He claimed he had no idea the lid wasn’t properly secured.

But regardless of his intentions, the damage had already been done. The innocent girl suffered because of his negligence and had to be rushed to the hospital.

Images were generated using AI