The Evangelist 2
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That day, I sold like never before. Some of my neighbors who were considered the big shots in the business even came to take goods from my shop and sold to their customers. I was not surprised, but I was utterly amazed. The spontaneity of the works of the elders was so overwhelming. And true to what Komi told me, no sacrifice was asked of me.
After that day, the massive sales continued. My shop attracted customers just like excreta attracts flies. I sold and replenished quickly. Within two weeks, I had changed my supplier and moved to someone higher up in the trade channel. I had made so much gain that I started thinking of what else to invest in. My wife was the most happy seeing how ‘God’ was blessing me.
This continued pleasantly until about four months later. I discovered that the book calls me from where I hid it in the manhole in the kitchen. At nights, I felt its power magneting the power in me and drawing me to it. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do until one night.
I was sleeping in bed with my wife when I suddenly felt the bed rotating. I opened my eyes and discovered it was not the bed. I was rather the one suspended in the air and floating out of the room. A bright thread of light was along the path all the way to the kitchen. By the time I fully regained consciousness, I was already out of the room, by the door. I was let down on my feet and I followed the light to the kitchen.
In the kitchen, I saw the book on the floor opened to a page. The light became brighter, illuminating every corner of the kitchen. I started reading the words written in a strange language. While I did that, my son started screaming. He screamed so loudly that I thought he would wake the whole neighborhood. But surprisingly, nobody heard him. Even my wife slept soundly in our room.
I also couldn’t stop reading, neither could I go and check on my son. There was a strong magnetism between the power inside me and that of the book. I continued until the lights disappeared and the book shut itself. Immediately I hid the book back in the ceiling, I ran to check on my son. Surprisingly, I found him sleeping soundly as if he was not the one screaming.
These occurrences happened daily. Sales and profit kept increasing. The book kept calling me and my son kept screaming while my wife slept. But I hadn’t seen Komi for over a month. He had missed his monthly visit and I didn’t know why. On the ninth day of these steady occurrences, my son became critically sick. On the same day he became sick, Komi visited.
He was mean and unfriendly. He was a different person. Immediately he got to my shop, customers stopped coming. He didn’t even exchange pleasantries with me. He only said they were seeing how well my business was doing. Before I would reply that, he said that my son’s sickness would kill him unless I decided to save him. I didn’t understand what he meant and I was also surprised how he knew my son was sick.
I asked him how I would save my son and he said the book would show me. He left almost immediately without buying anything. I hurriedly closed my shop and went home to consult the book. After ensuring a totally dark room, the book glowed as usual and flipped to a page. I started reading the words and the bright light came on. This time it was accompanied by a voice which spoke in the same language as the contents of the book.
But I understood every word it said. It said that I have to sacrifice something to save my son. Immediately I heard ‘sacrifice’, I wanted to tell whoever it was that Komi said there won’t be sacrifices of any sort before I accepted the offer. But I found out that I couldn’t talk. I could only listen.
The voice said that I should choose among my wife, my two sisters who were my only immediate family and my sexual potency, which should be taken in place of my son. It knew all the people I love and asked me to choose one of them. I couldn’t do that. The money I was making was for them.
Immediately after saying that, the voice ceased, the lights went off and the book shut itself. But I was not done telling the voice what I won’t do. I tried to open the book again but I couldn’t. That was the first time I tried opening it on my own. When I couldn’t open it, I rushed out of the house to the hospital. Just in the reception area, I met my wife and my sister crying. My son had died some minutes ago.
While I was still trying to understand the situation, a nurse rushed to call us. My son came back to life as they were about wrapping his corpse. But he was still very sick. We all rushed to his bedside. While we gathered observantly by his bedside, he stirred and his eyes met mine. He smiled and whispered ‘daddy’, faintly.
Instantly, I realized the level of mistake I made. I became angry at myself for falling prey to the antics of the deceiver. Seeing how fragile my son laid on that bed and the agony in the eyes of my wife and my sister, I knew I had to do something. I knew I had to severe every ties I had with Komi and the elders.
I stormed out of the hospital in anger. I was going to call Komi and ask for a meeting. I was going to tell him and his elders to take whatever they gave me and leave my loved ones alone. But they were waiting for me instead. Right outside the hospital, I saw Komi standing by a corner with a mean face.
To be continued….
TOCHUKWU ANOZIE
