THE DEVIL ON THE ALTAR
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Paul came back from work looking dejected and worn out. He wore an ugly frown and his wife knew best not to do anything to annoy him in that state because he could do the worst. He sat still on the sofa and sighed intermittently. She wondered what could have gone wrong with him and was so concerned. She studied him for a little longer and was more than certain that something had gone wrong. She went to the kitchen to finish up the cooking and was determined to find out what the problem was after giving him his meal.
She set up the table and went to call him to eat but he declined stating that he was not hungry. She was then moved to ask him what was wrong and he was meticulous enough to answer her.
“I was laid off after over fifteen years of working for that company. Can you imagine that? You need to see the flimsy excuse they gave for taking such action against me. I went to that company as a fresh graduate, when they were not even buoyant enough to pay a befitting salary. I devoted my life to making them what they are today and the only way they can pay me back is by telling me that my services were no longer needed. Collins knew what he wanted to do and that was why he ran away to Canada but I sure will wait for him here…” Paul ranted on.
She held her mouth with her hand and sobbed quietly as she received the horrible news from Paul. She had been married to him for over ten years and it had been from one problem to the other. About six months after they got married, the house her father gave to her as a wedding present got burnt to ashes and they could not take anything out of it. She had cried her eyes out when they had to move to a rented apartment they lived in for over nine years. They were able to raise the house back after nine years and then Paul had lost his job.
She had stopped working since they got married so as to raise their children but they have not had any and the only thing closest to a child she had was a miscarriage after six months of pregnancy and she almost lost her life due to the complications of the remains of the dead child in her. The doctor suggested a complete removal of her womb and they had since then given up on having children. Her husband changed from the loving man he was to a beast after that. She had lost count of the many times he would beat her and stomp on her while calling her barren and useless. She had regretted marrying him many times and if she could turn back the hands of the clock, she would have married someone else or stayed single instead of the life she now had.
She went to a man of God sometimes ago and he told her that their calamities were because of some evil things her husband had done in the past which he needed to confess. When she asked Paul about it, he beat the living daylight out of her and she had since then taken the marriage as a cross she had to bear. Since she couldn’t bear children, walking out of the marriage was not an option for her especially since she became genuinely born again and knew God’s stance on divorce. She had been praying for her husband to have a soft heart because his heart was too hardened and he was never submissive. She could not count the number of churches they had been to and her husband would make them leave after every correction from the pastor. She was sure that he was not genuinely born again and was stunned that he could pull off as a Christian if he wanted to and outsiders would think of him as a saint but she knew better.
“We need to find another way to survive and not just wait for Collins while doing nothing”
“Who says I wouldn’t do anything? I’m going over to file a lawsuit against him.”
“But…”
“No buts. I would do everything in my power to see that he pays heavily for repaying my kindness with evil.”
“He owns the company and can decide who works for him or not. You have no case and would just waste the little money we have to feed on your irrelevant anger.”
“I helped him to build that company. He ~came to me back then and I left a federal job just to help a friend start up a company. I even gave him some of my savings to help him get started and now that the company is big, he said he no longer needs me. Haah! Collins must pay fo r this.”
Deborah could see that Paul was really pained by what his friend did and her mind went back to ~what the prophet said about bad things and disappointments continually happening to them until Paul confessed what he did. She wanted to bring it up but judging by his mood, she knew he would vent his ~frustrations on her and that wouldn’t be good for her. She quietly left him to brood hoping that he would drop the idea of dragging a lawsuit that would not favour him.
The next few weeks were turbulent for them *and Deborah tried all she could to talk him out of the case but he was hell-bent on making his friend pay but he was the one that paid the greatest price after all. He spent their savings and entire ~m* oney on dragging his friend to court who had enough money to throw around. Paul lost the case and was even asked to pay heavily for defamation of character and false cla~ ims ~but his friend said he didn’t need it and then the case was closed on the basis that there was no written agreement that Collins gave to Paul to state that he would not sack him or that he employed him official~ ly. There was no witness to justify any of Paul’s claims that he gave Collins money to start the company and even if he did, he never said he would have his money back and even if he wanted to, he had gotten the money back as salary for the last fifteen years. Paul was in tears as the verdict was being read and he regretted ever having anything to do with Collins.
“This is why the bible admonishes us not to be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever,” he thought to himself and looked over at Collins who winked at him and then smirked.
Paul became hysterical and very aggressive after he lost the case. Deborah became so afraid of him that she would always run to her parents’ house to avoid being with him and whenever she was with him, she was always careful not to provoke him to avoid him attacking her.
She suggested they went to the hospital and Paul refused stating that he was not sick. He would always go back to the company to rain insults on Collins and then he would be arrested and once he was released he would go back there. Collins filed a restraining order against him but he always found his way back to the company and would be whisked away by the police vehicle.
“I think he is losing his mind,” Deborah cried to Pastor Raphael, her father, that evening when she heard the news that Paul was locked up again. “He has been very irrational since he lost the case and I think he needs to see a psychiatrist.”
“Why are you just telling me this now? We would have him released in the morning and take him straight to the hospital.”
“He would not go. I have told him about the need to go to the hospital but he refused.”
“He will. We don’t have to tell him where we are going.”
“I’m fed up with this whole thing,” Deborah said and burst into tears while leaning on her mom’s shoulders.
“You don’t have to be. You have to uphold him in prayers and not give up on him,” her mother counseled while her father sighed. His only daughter had been experiencing a lot since she got married to Paul and he had been praying for them but all he kept seeing was a dark cloud.
To be continued…
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