My husband is not a pàstór but a riitúàliist – Episode 3
“The youngest of my siblings was a girl, and she was barely 6 years old then. I concluded that I was going to use her for the sààcrífícé. A week later, I went back to the hérbàlíst and told him I was ready. He asked me who I wanted to use, and I said, ‘the last born of the house.'”
“He said, ‘Why?’ and I said, ‘Because she was the closest to the gràvé.’ She was actually síck, and so I thought of leveraging her íllness – that way, none of my other siblings can see through my actions. They’d very much think that she dííéd as a result of lósing to màlaria féver.”
“The nàtívé dóctór applauded my intelligent approach and commenced with the procedures to carry out the sààcrífícé as smoothly as a crímínàl. He performed some íncàntàtíóñs, poured water into an empty Coca-Cola container, and mumbled some wéírd words as he kept shaking the container.”
“He did this repeatedly for about 15 minutes, and the liquid in the container changed into five different colors. Finally, it changed from the initial yellow color to a transparent color just like water. He gave me the container and asked me to drop as little as the lid can carry into a cup of water and give it to Peace, our youngest child, to drink.”
“He cautioned me to make sure I dispose of any remnant of the cup of water, in case Peace can’t drink it all; otherwise, whoever drinks it will dííé. With the little money I gathered and the 30k I borrowed from my colleagues, I paid the nàtívé dóctór 50,000 naira, as he had requested, and left with the póíísón to carry out the instructions immediately.”
“It was Saturday at 12 noon, and by this time, I should have already been at my workplace. However, I had taken an excuse from my boss to attend to my síck sibling, Peace. Little did he know that I was actually on a mission to éñd the póór girl’s lífé for móney.”
After reaching home, James, my immediate younger brother, told me that Jacob, his younger brother, and Ruth had gone to the streets, as usual, to bég for food. I was already used to that, so I wasn’t too emótional.
“I fetched a cup of water from an old clay pot in the parlor and headed straight to the bedroom to add the póíísónoús liquid I obtained from the ñàtíve dóctór. Following the prescription, I added only the amount that the container’s cover could carry into the cup of water. Afterward, I went out and brought Peace into the bedroom, holding her like a caring father, but in dísgúíse, to éñd her lífé brútà||y for the sake of móñey.”
“I gave her the water to drink until she was full. As I wanted to lay her on the béd and throw away the remaining cup of water, I heard someone knocking at the door, and the voice sounded very stràñge, like that of my local pàstor. Out of féàr, I left the cup of water on a wooden table and left Peace on the bed as I shut the door to welcome my district pàstor.”
“I was never expecting him on a Saturday, and I could only wonder why he came to see me. Although I was one of the prayer wàrriórs in my church, we normally held prayer meetings at 6 pm in the evening. This was barely a few minutes past 12, and I kept thinking why my Pàstor paid me a visit.”
“I opened the door, greeted him, and welcomed him inside; however, he déclined. He said that he had actually decided to pay all the church workers a quick, surprise visit. He had just come from our prayer leader’s house and decided to drop by my house, the assistant prayer leader.”
“We stood outside for about 40 minutes as he shared the Word of God with me, encouraging me to never lose faith and hope in God, no matter how díffiçult the situation. I really felt emótional because his message came just at the very right time when I had resolved to sídeline God and do things my own way, leveraging my human wit and understanding.”
“Nevertheless, it didn’t matter because I was hé||-bént on cómprómising; in fact, I had already carried out my missión. He came late, and even if he had come earlier, I don’t think I was going to listen to him.”
“At about 1:15 pm, he rounded up, shared the grace with me, and left. I stood there, feeling like a fàílúre, which, of course, I am, watching him as he left majestically. Just then, I remembered I had únfinished búsiness, and quickly ran inside to complete what I had started. Once inside, I shút the door and turned, not knowing the whereabouts of James and his younger sister, Mercy.”
“I assumed they might have gone out to join Ruth and Jacob in the húñt for something to eat. I never bothered and went straight into the bédroom. As I opened the door, I saw James and Mercy playing with Peace, the síçkling. My blóód préssure went up immediately, hoping it wasn’t just what I was thinking had happened.”
“I fled at the speed of light and went to grab the remaining cup of the póíísóñóús water, hoping that I’d find it intact. To my greatest shóçk, it was empty. I turned to James and Mercy and asked them in a stàggéring and very nervóus voice: ‘Who drank the water in this cup?’ ‘Me, me,’ they said in unison.”
“I sçréàméd and kept júmping with my two hands raised and lócked above my head, ‘Jésus! Jésus! Jésus! Jésus! Jésus!'”
To be continued ✍️