We had no live jackets on. All we wanted was a taste of the better life we hoped was on the other side of the sea.

It was too late when the batch captain induced calm by making us sit according to our religious blocks. We could not control the gush from the big holes our dinghy sustained from the mini riot that had torn things apart.

When I regained consciousness, I was dragged off the pile. The others laid together in peace, just as it should have been all through their life's journey, and that on the dinghy.

© Ogbole Agala