E-A-R-L-I-E-S-T M-E-M-O-R-Y

Okay the idea of this is to blog about the earliest memory you carry around with you that stands out from the others. Every once in a while it pops up at the oddest of times and you wonder if you dreamed it up because it happened such a long time ago. The only rule is that you write it in first person narrative.

Don't analyse it, just tell it. I'll start....

I'm sitting watching T.V. I don't know how old I am but I’m younger than 5 because I'm still in Benin City, and younger yet because I don't remember my younger brother being around and I'm two years older than he is. Its dark outside and the light inside is yellow and dim. I don't know if it’s our house or my uncle’s house. My uncle and parents are in the living room with me. It’s a small room and three comfy couches face the TV. The room is divided into the living room and dining room which must lead into the kitchen. A door at the side of the living room behind the couch leads to a passage way where a flight of stairs lead upwards.

It’s very dark so it must be quite late. My aunt walks in. There's some sort of tension in the air, I can almost cut it. I look around and my mum, dad and uncle are watching TV so everything must be okay.

She goes through the door that leads to the passage way. Not long after my uncle follows.

Now all I can hear is shouting and then she starts crying. I get really scared as the screams get louder. I run to my mum in panic. My parents sit tight, my mum with me on her lap, and I look from left to right at both, wondering whether they are going to pretend that nothing is happening till she can scream no more. I try to pretend too but my heart is pounding erratically.

After what seems like an eternity although it must have been no less than a few minutes, my dad gets up and goes through the door, and in the few seconds between the door opening and closing, I spy my uncle, his left hand raised, anger written all over his face, my aunt cowering and crying.

And then the door shuts.

What's you earliest, most striking memory?