An Event That Changed The Course Of Your Life

Points to Note

1. This is a narrative/creative essay; therefore, the rules of writing narrative essays should be applied.
2. Feel free to let your imagination take flight. Some students make the mistake of thinking that they have to write about an event that occurred. No, it is called creative writing, so you have to let the examiner see your creativity.
3. Read the above question once again; it says, write a story on an EVENT that CHANGED THE COURSE of your life.

The answer to the question involves the words in capital letters. What this means is that in your writing –

• there must be an event (an occurrence)
• that event must change the course (trajectory, direction) of your life.

Without these two anchors, you risk writing off context. 

Also Note

4. The question is about something that has happened, so you have to use past tense.
5. For this story, you don’t need to put your points together in three paragraphs as we do for letter writing or argumentative essays. You need a beginning, the plot, and the climax of the story where problems or issues are resolved.
6. Also, be consistent with tenses and narrative. Don’t start with a first-person narration and when the reader gets to the fourth paragraph, they start hearing another person talking.
7. Writing in the first person is more relatable. The reader feels like they are a part of the story. They fear for the protagonist and wish they can help.

Don’t be scared by this third person, first person point of view, and past and present tense discussion, it’s not difficult. 

It just means that if you begin a story with “I saw the man”, don’t come later to say, “He saw Pastor Smith”, while still referring to yourself.

Example:

I took her hand and we started walking. (first person)

She took the woman’s hand and they walked away. (third person)

An Event that Changed the Course of My Life

Here is a story of how one wrong turn changed the course of my life, whether for good or bad, you will have to read on to find out.

It was a Saturday and my sisters and I were preparing to go to the market. Our mother had gone to see a colleague over some issues at the office, and our dad being a businessman was at his print shop.

My sisters; Joanne and Destiny were aged 16 and 13 years. I was the middle daughter. The market was a walking distance from our house but we often paid one of the ever-present motorbike riders to take us there.

But since we had already made food for the day, and the purchases were for consumption the following week, and also because we were three, we decided to trek to the market to reduce cost.

My Forgetful Nature

Halfway there, I suddenly remembered that I did not have the list of items to buy.  Joanne was furious! “I’m tired of your forgetful nature Faith! When will you change?” She ordered me back home to get it.

I rushed to our house. Luckily, our elder brother had not locked the house to go and play football with his friends. I grabbed the list where I left it on the dining table. I ran back outside on my way to meet Joanne and Destiny who were waiting for me.

I decided to pass through a narrow footpath that branched off the major street. It was a shortcut to my sisters, but the problem was that the path was bushy as people hardly used it. Under normal circumstances, we were forbidden from using that path. But I promised myself that I would run like the wind.

I was close to the exit when I heard a voice shout, “Stop there!” My heart flew into my mouth, and at the same time, my nose perceived smoke, not that of wood fire, but of cigarettes.

A Wrong Turn

I turned and saw a scary-looking man. He had a bald head, and reddish eyes, and smoke was billowing from his nostrils like the time Destiny tried to make a wood fire with sodden wood so that she could roast corn.

Just as I was turning to bolt out the exit, I noticed something bulbous in the man’s hands. And when he pointed it at me, I just started screaming and crying. He must have hit me with it because I saw darkness as I was falling.

I woke up to the sense of movement, and not being alone. Something was making me bounce from side to side, and I noticed that I was in the back of a vehicle. I also noticed an old woman lying on one side of her body. Her hair was completely white. At first glance, her clothes seemed modest, but on looking closer, one would observe a careful coordination of the outfit.

Kidnapped!

It dawned on me that we had probably been kidnapped! Tears started gathering in my eyes once more. I remembered my sisters waiting for me under the shade of a mango tree. They would become frustrated and then progress to panic at the realization that something had gone wrong with me. Poor Joanne especially would receive the worst of the scoldings as she was the eldest.

Darkness was falling when the vehicle finally stopped. There were three young men, and they ordered us down. I helped the old woman to get off.  

The two of us hostages sat under a tree while the three villains plotted. I overheard them saying they would call our relatives in the morning because by then, they would be out of their minds with worry and therefore, more willing to bargain.

The Old Woman

They left us there without food or water as the night became darker. The old woman continuously talked to herself and I was afraid that she was mentally unsound.

Then when I had managed to doze off, I felt a hand shaking me. I looked up to see the old woman standing over me. “You have to go,” she said. She put a hand in her blouse and brought out a tiny phone. She handed it to me saying, “When you have gone some distance, put it on and call any number there. My children will come.”

I was reluctant to take the phone and I was too scared to move. The old woman gave me a gentle shove. “What of you Ma?” I asked tearfully.

It was not pitch black so I saw her smile and wave at me. I clutched the phone and looked around. Trees dotted the vicinity. I could not see a sign of the kidnappers but surely, they were around there.

Escape

I decided to find out. I was regarded as the tomboy of the house because of my penchant for climbing trees. I would climb the mango tree in our compound which Dad had planted to provide nourishment for us, and throw down the fruits to my sisters which they would greedily eat without leaving any for me. From then on, I would sit comfortably in the tree and eat to my heart’s content much to the annoyance of my sisters.

Now I climbed this unknown tree and carefully surveyed the area. From time to. time, a faint whiff of smoke assailed my nose. Looking harder, I observed a tiny red light not too far off. It’s the light of a cigarette, I told myself. Therefore, I would go in the opposite direction.

I came down from the tree and approached the old woman where she was sitting with her shoulders down. I knew the criminals would take it out on her if they found me gone. She would slow me down but I thought of my mother crying bitter tears at my loss. I knew this woman was someone’s grandmother and they would miss her too.

Through the Forest

So I took her hand and we started walking. The forest was thick but her eyes were so sharp that she saved me many times from tripping over a log. We heard many scary sounds that night, but one was puzzling; it was a rooster crowing. That could only mean that we were not far from a human settlement.

After we had walked for what I thought was a long distance, I brought out the phone, switched it on, and sent SOS to the first five numbers. I then put on the location app and reduced the volume and darkened the screen.

We continued walking until I could see streaks of faint light indicating dawn was coming. I knew those criminals had discovered us missing and were likely combing the forest. I found a small clearing next to a cassava farm. I spread Mama’s top wrapper on the ground, then made her lie on it. I gathered dry palm fronds and put them lightly over her. Then I climbed a nearby breadfruit tree for a lookout.

Betrayed!

Breadfruit trees grow big and long.   I was able to climb high up and observe the goings-on for a long stretch of distance. I saw there was a village and the villagers were stirring. I was excitedly coming down to ask for help when I noticed movement in the opposite direction. 

Faintly, I could make out a footpath, and it did not take me long to recognize the kidnapper who had hit me with a gun! Some women were coming from the village with calabashes and pots, and I wished I could warn them. But they approached the men and stood discussing. Then the women handed over the things they were bearing to the men and turned back to the village. I almost fell out of the tree with shock.

But I held fast. The morning sun was turning to its scorching afternoon cousin, and I was worried for Mama who had been without water for hours now.

Rescued

Then I heard the glorious sound of a siren in the distance. A convoy of police trucks and personal vehicles stormed into the village. People burst out of the doors including one man holding something like a big phone. He was tracking us!

I came down from the tree and removed the palm fronds from Mama while we waited for the rescuers. The man with the tracker came into the clearing first and rushed to Mama. Dad came in next and I ran crying to hug him. We were free!

That Was the Event That Changed the Course of My Life

I don’t know what Mama told her youngest son who had been taking care of her before her dementia episode occurred and she wandered from the house. The son told his eldest brother who happened to be the speaker of the federal house of representatives. The speaker, on behalf of the family, gave me a scholarship to study in the United States!

That was the event that changed the course of my life for the better!

NOTE:

The above essay is way more than the allowed word count which is often the case when writing creative/narrative essays.

You may wish to weigh writing a narrative essay against the time it would take. This is because narrative essays entail a lot of storytelling. This way you won’t end up risking the time for comprehension and summary.

I find that letter writing doesn’t involve any frills. It’s short and straight to the point.

Ironically, I have never written a letter in an exam and I also never brought a story to an end because I ran out of time! Teachers would often ask me, “So how did it end? What did she find in the shed at the back of the house?!”

Please do not add headings in your writing for this examination. They are used here for internet adaptability purposes.

You may wish to look at narrative essay writing rules again to refresh your memory.