THE DEVIL ON THE ALTAR
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN & EIGHTEEN
Patricia didn’t know what to do and the baby was growing rapidly inside her. Everything in her was screaming ‘abort the pregnancy!’ but there was a quiet part of her that kept on reminding her of the various consequences of abortion. The war continued within her and she could not even tell the closest person to her. Paul maintained his stance and didn’t even check up on her or talk to her. He was determined to exonerate himself from any suspicion from people once she declared him as the father and he denied it. She sent him a lot of texts but he didn’t reply to any of them. Her studies were being affected greatly and she was getting scared that she won’t be able to cope in school with the pregnancy and would have to drop out.
Patricia finally decided to end the war within her and give in to common sense. She exonerated herself of every pang of guilt she was feeling and decided that that was what was best for her and the baby. She called Paul and he didn’t respond as usual, she wondered the kind of love he had for her for him to be able to quickly discard her at a time she needed him most. She was getting the true picture that the reason he wanted their relationship to be a secret was so that he could discard her easily. She sent him a text to inform him of her decision and he replied almost immediately. He asked for a week to raise the money for the abortion and she agreed.
After a week, he took her to a hospital in the outskirts of the town, far away from the school’s vicinity where the abortion was done. The doctor asked her to stay back in the hospital for close monitoring after the process and she agreed. Patricia started bleeding that night and the doctor could not stop it.
Something must have gone wrong with the process but the doctor kept assuring Paul that everything was under control. Paul was agitated and tried to calm down while assuring himself that all will be well. He could not pray because he somehow knew that it would be a waste of time, judging by the situation and what he contributed to it. The doctor came around to have a word with Paul and he sighed heavily after the doctor explained the situation at hand to him.
“Is that the only way to save her?” He asked after a few seconds.
“Yes!”
“Ok, do it.”
“Come with me to sign the papers,” the doctor said and walked away and Paul followed him.
“I’m doing all this to save you. I hope you will understand when you get better,” he thought to himself as he tried to catch up with the doctor’s pace.
*****
Patricia was discharged after about two weeks and she felt a little better physically but there was no word that could describe the misery she felt spiritually and psychologically. She felt like a part of her had been ripped off. She prayed and fasted to ease herself of the guilt and condemnation in her spirit and she got a little better but could not get over the constant fear that came upon her.
Celestina was tired of asking Patricia what was wrong with her and had resulted in praying for her. Anytime she prayed for her, the word she received was proverbs 28:13 (He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.). She had asked Patricia about it the first time she received the word but the latter said she had nothing to confess. Celestina kept praying for her that her heart would be humble enough to confess her wrongdoings. Celestina continued to have a series of scary revelations about Patricia and didn’t cease in her prayers for her and didn’t stop to ask her to confess her secret deeds and put the devil to shame.
Patricia continued to pretend as if all was well with her, but she knew more than anyone else that she was dying inside. She wanted to tell the whole world, if that would relieve her misery but she would be blamed for many things and won’t be justified as the victim any more. Paul also had not made the healing process easy for Patricia. He had been avoiding all contacts with her and they only saw each other in church where they couldn’t discuss what she really wanted to discuss. She wanted to ask him how he was and how he was coping with the situation. She wanted to tell him that she was not fine and wanted them to pray to God together so she could have peace but Paul was far away.
She was fed up with his hide and seek and decided to storm his house. She got ready very early on a Saturday morning and headed for his house. She knocked on the door and he opened up while standing in the doorway to prevent her from entering or seeing inside.
“Can I come in? We need to talk,” Patricia said impatiently.
“Why didn’t you call before coming?”
“Call? Really? When was the last time you answered my call?”
“Well, I’m busy now and would not…” Paul was saying but Patricia lost all her patience and pushed him away with all the energy she could muster and found her way into his room but what she saw broke the remaining shreds of her heart.
To be continued…
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