*THE VISITOR*
EPISODE 1
As I wiped my shoes against the foot mat, the atmosphere smelt really different.
“What’s that? Is something burning?” I thought as I turned the door knob and entered.
The sitting room was dark so I groped at the walls to find the switch. I flipped the switch and the lights came on. There was no one in the sitting room.
I looked up at the wall clock.
9.30pm!
“Oh my! I am so late today!” I exclaimed as I dumped my handbag and my lunch box on the dining table and rushed to the kitchen to see what was smelling.
The kitchen was very tidy and there was nothing on the gas cooker. I checked the microwave, there was nothing inside. The oven was also empty.
I stood transfixed for a while as the smell I had perceived from outside grew stronger.
“What is that smell, oh Lord?” I asked, very dejected. I was very tired from the day’s work that all I had planned to do was bath, have my husband massage my shoulders and then sleep. I felt so troubled that all wasn’t going as I had planned.
I took off my blazer and hung it on the door. Then, I started the inspection of the whole kitchen. I couldn’t actually place what the smell was but it was sure offensive.
When I checked the freezer and the fridge and the gas cylinder and couldn’t detect what the problem was, I gave up the search.
“My home is covered with the blood of Jesus! Lord, I give my house and my family over to You anew. Keep us from all harms. Thank You Lord” I prayed shortly.
I sprayed some citrus air cooler and started walking to my children’s room. I opened the door and the smell greeted me there again!
“The Blood of Jesus!” I exclaimed. My eyes widened the more as I realized that it was only one child that was on the bed.
I walked to the bed as fast as my leg could carry me, checked the face of the child on the bed and my heart dropped.
“Where is Jemmy?” I asked aloud but Jeddy, her twin sister was sleeping too deeply to give me an answer.
I flew out of their room to start the search for Jeddy.
My first port of call was our room. There, was my husband on the bed, snoring so loudly. I scanned the room and realized that Jeddy was not with him.
I checked every single place in the house and even outside yet I couldn’t find my daughter. Tears was already gathering in my eyes. I didn’t know if I should be scared or not. I swallowed hard as I muttered some words of prayers.
‘The second sitting room!’ A thought came to my mind and I hesitated.
“What would Jeddy be doing in our private sitting room all alone?” I frowned slightly. Only Bode, my husband and I relaxed there to enjoy the oceanic view at times. We met there also to pray every weekend when we hold our couple’s fasting and prayer programme.
We often forbid our twins from entering the sitting room because it was our sacred room of prayer, love and power.
On a second thought, I turned the knob on the door and it was dark.
“Of course she can’t be here. What was I thinking?” I said and was about closing the door when the strong smell I had perceived at the door wafted to my nose. I flipped the switch on very fast and there on the couch lay a woman and my Jeddy coiled like a newborn around her chest.
“Who is that?” I asked myself as I walked briskly towards them. I wasn’t expecting any visitor. My mum and my mother-in-law had not told me they would be visiting.
The woman looked very elderly and familiar but I couldn’t place it. The more I went close to her, the more the offensive smell increased.
I gently pulled off my daughter from her chest, pleading the Blood of Jesus. She stirred but resumed her silent snores.
I reversed quietly and shut the door.
I took Jeddy to her room, tucked her in her bed and hung their mosquito nets. I walked to and fro their room, prayerfully before exiting and moving to my own room.
Fuming as I entered the bathroom to shower, I was more furious that Bode wouldn’t even stir at my entrance.
No matter how much I had tried to wake him up, he had been muttering ‘Don’t disturb me, I am tired’ and that was not usual. No matter how tired my husband was, he would usually wait for me before retiring to bed.
I changed into my nightie and adjusted the satin bonnet on my head. The sleep that had gathered in my eyes had disappeared. I picked up my Bible and climbed up into the bed.
My heart was very heavy. Though the smell had subsided, I was not clear what it was and why it grew stronger when I approached the elderly woman!
Who is that woman? Why didn’t Bode pray with the children and tuck them in bed before sleeping? Why didn’t he hang their mosquito nets? Why?
As I tried to calm myself, clinging to my big Bible, I felt so scared. I turned to look at Bode’s face but he was far away in the dreamland.
I jumped down the bed again and knelt down, leaning against the bed.
“God have mercy. I do not know why I am feeling this way but have mercy Lord. Have mercy Lord” I kept muttering till sleep wrapped its arms round me.
I woke up to someone fumbling with my nightie. I shuddered all of a sudden as if I had come in contact with naked electricity.
“Who is that?” I slapped off the hand and jumped up suddenly.
“What is wrong with you?” Bode asked loudly, his left hand rubbing the right hand that I had slapped.
“Oh, it’s you. I am so sorry. I thought it was someone else” I said and he frowned.
“Someone else? Who would have the audacity to fumble with your nightie like that?” He asked and when I saw that the waters of jealousy and suspicion were already gathering in his face, I smiled it off.
“I have been feeling somehow since I came in” I said and he nodded.
“Come and sit with me on the bed. You will be fine” He said and I shook my head.
“Bode, who is the woman in our house?” I asked and he frowned.
“That’s my aunt. What is the matter? She can’t come to my house?” He asked and I shook my head.
“But I thought it would have been better if you had told me we were having a visitor” I retorted.
“Why should I do that? Is this your house? Did you build it?” He asked, a strange look on his face.
“Honey, are you for real? Can I suddenly bring a visitor home this way?”
“Anyway, that is my mum’s cousin. Her daughter in the USA just gave birth and she needs to visit her. She is going to be here till the visa is ready” He said and I started feeling uneasy all of a sudden, slapping my thigh and shaking my head all at once.
“That is not nice at all.” I said and he looked at me defiantly. I had not seen such look on his face since meeting my husband. He fixed his eyes at me as if ready to argue.
“Honey” I said calmly, walking close to him. “I feel really troubled about her presence. You know I wouldn’t object to anyone visiting us but I feel somehow about her. Can we just pray about it?” I asked, holding his hand. He gave a long hiss and shook my hand off his.
“So, I should tell her to leave? C’mon woman, use your medulla oblongata. Use your brain! She is my family member. I have heard that generally, you women detest your husband’s family, so...”
“Bode? I detest my husband’s family? Really? Amongst the visitors we have had in this house, how many of them are my direct family members? I take care of your family as my own. This is a very different case, honey. I do not even know this person! I sudden feel bad at her presence. And as a wife, I am explaining my feelings to you. I am not even saying you should ask her to leave. How on earth would I say such? I am saying that I am not at peace with this visit and that you should let’s pay about it. Am I wrong?” I asked, my voice quaking. In our five years of staying together as a man and wife, my husband and I had never had a heated argument like that.
“You are o! You are wrong! And you know what, Lara?” He asked, jumping down the bed and picking his pillow. “You will eventually have to leave this house if you are uncomfortable with my aunt here!”
“What!!!” I exclaimed, very shocked.
“You are too spoilt! I have spoilt you! That is why you can actually sit down there and tell me shit!”
“Shit? Bode, shit?” I asked, my lips trembling.
As he was about moving out of the room, I ran after him.
“You can’t go out of the room, Bode. Why would you leave the room for me?” I asked and he shook his head.
“Just leave me please. Go away!” He pushed me off and shouted sternly. As I was regaining my stance, there was a knock at the door. I frowned slightly and looked at the clock.
12.30am!
“Can I come in?” The woman asked and I was shocked.
Come in?
At 12.30am?
Into our bedroom?
“Come...” My husband was saying when I raised my hands in absolute disagreement. He eyed me as if I was an abominable person. “Come in” He eventually said and my mouth became suspended. I was too shocked beyond words.
What is happening?
Why is Bode behaving this way, Lord?
Am I overreacting Lord?
What is wrong with me?

EPISODE 2
I couldn’t append my signature on any of the documents placed on my desk.
My head was hot, my eyes were sore and my hands were shaky.
The night before was a nightmare for me! I had never in my entire life felt so lost, tired and worn.
“Mama, what is the matter?” My husband had asked as his aunt entered our room. My eyes burnt with red anger as I walked back to the bed and sat.
Our room that was meant to be private!
My mother-in-law wouldn’t even attempt to enter our room, talk less of barging in at midnight!
“Olabode” The woman said as she entered and sat in one of our cushions.
Gnashing my teeth against one another and tightening my fist into balls, I knew I was turning red. I went even madder when I greeted the woman and she didn’t give me a response.
“Olabode” She called again, nonchalantly, like she was the madam of the house.
“Yes mama” My husband asked, bowing his head slightly.
“Is this the wife?” She asked and I frowned.
The wife?
“I am his wife ma” I quickly corrected her. She eyed me from head to toes and gave a long sigh afterwards.
“Olabode, this thing here doesn’t want me here, right?” She asked and my eyes widened at her words. My husband gave me a knowing look, his brows arched.
“No she doesn’t mama. She said she is not at peace with you staying in this house” My husband said and I was dumbfounded.
I couldn’t believe my ears.
If someone had predicted that my husband’s response to her question would be that slippery, I would have fought that person vehemently.
What!
What I had discussed with my husband as a bedroom talk, he could open it all up in public that way?
OH. MY. GOD!
His aunt sighed long and loud.
“But not to worry mama. I have corrected her. And I have told her that if she isn’t comfortable with you here, she should rather leave” He added and my eyes widened so much that one would think they would fall out of their sockets.
“You have done well, Olabode. That is how a man should do. If she cannot love your people, you cannot love her too!” She said and my boiling blood reached the peak as I jumped up from the bed.
I quickly knelt before her, my heart beating really fast.
It all felt like a dream but each time I pinched myself, it felt so real.
“Mama, I am sorry for everything ma...”
“Sorry for yourself o” She cut in but I couldn’t stop. Two wrongs, nay, three, would not make a right. I had to quickly salvage the situation.
“I love my husband and I love my husband’s family as my own. I was surprised to see you around...”
“Why are you surprised? Is this your house?” She asked, her laser-like eyes shooting directly into mine.
I flinched and whispered a word of prayer quickly.
“Yes mama. This is my house. This is my home. This is where the Lord has planted me” I said and she burst out laughing loudly.
“Why are you angry? Is there anybody trying to uproot you from this place? This girl is funny o” She said and laughed some more.
“Mama, this is what I deal with o.” Bode said and I shook my head. Every new statement he made ushered me into a new part of Bode that I had never seen before.
“Ahhhh...if a child does not know his or her place and is busy jumping here and there, the parent will always have pankere (Cane) under their bed.” She said and laughed. Bode joined too. “The fear of pankere is the beginning of wisdom o jare” She completed and I stood up suddenly.
“Pankere? For who?” I asked at once, not believing my ears. “Are you suggesting ma, that my husband should get a cane for me?”
“Yes! For you! For you!” Bode shouted, charging at me. “What is your problem? I know. I know I have spoilt you. That is why you can actually stand there and talk to my mum anyhow.”
“Your mum? I know your mum. She is godly, she is sweet, she is nice, she is a mother indeed. She would never ever want the downfall of her son’s marriage. I know your mum, Bode but I do not know this woman here. I have never met her before so you can’t just call any woman your...” I was going to round off my statement when Bode’s eyes turned red. His chest rose and fell rhythmically, with his jaws shaking with anger. He pulled me by the collar, filled my face with very hot breaths from his nose and was about landing a very thick blow on my head when I screamed.
“The Blood of Jesus! The Blood of Jesus!”
As I screamed, I suddenly kicked him off, making him fall against the bed as I jumped out of the room, my heart in my mouth.
Tears poured out of my eyes in quick succession.
Bode?
My Bode?
I ran into my children’s room and banged the door sharply. I turned the key twice, pushed a very heavy chair behind the door and sat on it, breathing very hard.
“Jesus! Jesus! Jesus have mercy. Jesus have mercy” I cried severally, holding my beating chest with one hand and covering my whimpering mouth with another.
Tears rolled down my face as I tried as much as I could not to wake my children up. My whole world seemed to be crumbling before me.
Bode tried to hit me?
Bode?
I wept and dozed, wept and dozed, wept and dozed.
When I woke up, it was 6am!
I jumped up from the warm rug where I had lay overnight, woke my children up, prayed with them quickly, bathed them and had my own bath too.
After dressing them up for school, opening the door for us to move out became another hurdle.
‘How are we going to go out?’
‘Hope he isn’t waiting anywhere to hurt me’
‘Is it safe to move out?’
I eventually summoned courage, opened the door and we all moved out. My children ran excitedly to the dining room but I walked cautiously, my bent right index finger between my two lips.
“Oh my Jeddy and Jemmy!” Bode exclaimed excitedly as he cupped his kids in his arms, planting a peck each on their cheeks. The kids chuckled excitedly.
“I made you toasts and hot tea” He said.
“Yaaaaayy!” They exclaimed happily.
“Good morning, honey” I said calmly when our eyes met. He nodded.
“Morning”
“How was your night?”
“Thanks”
“Okay” I said inaudibly, moved to our room and quickly changed into a black armless gown. I picked my cream blazer and shoes and moved out briskly as if someone was pursuing me.
“I am already late. I will be on my way now” I announced and he nodded, without looking at my side.
“Bye mummy” The children said and I quickly pecked their tea-stained lips, praying for them silently as I did.
I picked my handbag from the table where I had dropped it the night before and jumped out of the house.
It was when I knew that I had moved out of our compound that I wore my blazer and shoes.
“Have mercy, Lord. I am so sorrowful. Strengthen me oh Lord” I muttered as I drove down to the bank in Lekki where I worked.
Everyone who came in contact with me that day knew that I wasn’t the Lara they had seen the day before!
------------------------------------
Lost in the thoughts of what had transpired the day before, I didn’t know when my boss appeared in front of me.
“Lara!” She shouted and my head cleared up at once. I sat up quickly and reached for the mouse as if I had been working on my computer. “What is the matter with you. Lara?” She asked, somewhat sternly, somewhat concerned.
“It is well boss. I am sorry”
“You should better be. You know very well that to avoid mistakes in your daily activities here, you must leave all worries at home”
“Yes, boss” I said.
“Concentrate, sign all documents that you are to sign and forward them to me immediately” She said and I nodded.
As soon as she had closed the door, I jumped up, picked up the envelope on my table and walked briskly to her office.
“What is it, Lara?”
“I have a letter for you, ma” I said and she squinted as she adjusted her eyeglasses. She stretched her hand and collected the envelope.
After reading it, she shook her head.
“I can’t approve this. You know that I can’t approve this. Two weeks is too much”
“Two weeks is too much?”
“Except you want to lose your job” She said and I nodded. I was expecting her to say that.
“Ma, I must remind you that all my life, I have spent in this bank. I was twenty two years old when I started working here. I am thirty five years old now, so you can do the mathematics ma. I have never demanded for a leave like I am doing now. I have never demanded for anything special from this bank. Everyone can attest to the fact that I have served this bank with all that I have and that I am. If after thirteen years of working here, I still cannot get a two-week leave, then, is this even a job? Ma, you can take the job away, then” I said recklessly, not even knowing what I was saying.
“Lara, what’s the matter with you? Why are your words so strong?” She asked, her eyes widened.
“I apologize. My family is on fire now and I have to quench it. You are a woman, so you can understand” I said calmly.
“Still, two weeks is not something that...” She was saying when I bowed slightly before her.
“I will finish up what I have to do for today ma. Thanks for approving my leave. The Lord will uphold your own home too. Thanks” I said, bowed slightly again and started moving to the door.
“Lara! Lara!” She called after me but I was deaf to her voice. I finished all I was going to do, moved to her office to drop some files and waited before her for the approval.
She handed the letter to me.
“A month has been approved, Lara. Go fix your home. The Lord will go with you” She said and I smiled largely as I winked slowly at her.
“Thanks boss”
As I moved towards my car, my stomach rumbling from lack of food, my phone rang. Squinting to look at the screen, I saw the name.
My mother-in-law!

EPISODE 3
By the time I got into my car, my phone had rung three good times.
Still my mother-in-law!
“Is all well?” I muttered as I settled down in my car and gulped down a bottle of water that I had kept in my car which had gone hot from the weather.
I picked up my phone and dialed her number.
It had not even rung before she answered the call.
“Hello Lara”
“Hello mummy, good afternoon ma”
“Afternoon my dear. How are you?”
“I’m okay ma”
“Ki lo sele? (What’s the matter?) You know you can talk to me”
I smiled shortly wondering if her son had gone to report the recent happenings to her.
“Mummy, all is well o”
“Are you sure? Your voice betrays you, my darling” She insisted.
“Just pray for your girl, mummy. It’s fine, though” I said, stubbornly. It felt as if she had heard about the issues from her cousin or my husband and she wanted to confirm from me. I wouldn’t want to be a part of such.
“I was praying for you this morning when I got a disturbing revelation about you. That is why I am calling” She said, totally smashing my thoughts.
No one had reported me to her!
I was glad. I sighed and readjusted myself in the car seat.
“A disturbing revelation about me?”
“Yes. So feel free to talk to your mum. Is there something going on?” She said, her soothing voice caressing my broken heart.
“Mum, you know, Bode and I agreed never to allow the third party in our...”
“Forget that! According to what I saw, there is fire on the mountain. Sometimes when something is about to fall and scatter, it is not in any way bad to let in the third party, girl! Let me in. I am a child of God. I wouldn’t worsen situations. I will salvage it!” She said and I sighed, a rueful smile on my face. I just wasn’t used to opening my mouth to talk to people about my circumstances.
I knew it was not the best thing to do but I always found myself dying alone, secretly, not allowing anyone into my space.
“Mummy, can you just pray along?”
“Lara! C’mon! What is your problem? What is going on?” She shouted worriedly and paused. “Lara, the Holy Spirit told me that He showed a vision last week which He instructed you and your husband to take seriously. Is that right?” She asked and my heart dropped as I covered my mouth in absolute shock.
One, I was shocked to know that what the Holy Spirit had revealed to me the week before was a serious issue, relating to my marriage and our peace. I was so shocked to find out that I had failed the test because obviously, we were not able to pray about the dream.
Also, the way God would go all the way to Abuja to reveal to my mother-in-law what He had shown me, beat me hands down! That what I had seen in my own room in Lekki, Lagos, God would take all the way to Asokoro in Abuja! Wow!
“Lara, I asked you a question”
“Yes mummy. I had a vision last week and I was led to inform my husband so we could pray together but when I told him, he told me that I worry so much about dreams and visions”
“Ah! Tori Olorun! (For God’s sake!)”
“So, when I pestered him, he said we would pray about it. We kept postponing it till I even forgot”
“So, you didn’t really pray about it too?”
“I did. But I just did it on the surface since my husband said we would do the bigger prayer together later”
“Ah! See these children, ehn! Omode o’mogun, o n pe l’efo (What an ignoramus couple!). So, what was the vision like?”
“Erm...Bode drove myself, Jeddy and Jemmy in his car. I was seated in front with him while our children were seated at the back seat.”
“Okay?”
“When we got to a bridge, he stopped the car for a very fat woman who waved us down. I thought the woman would sit behind, with the children but Bode asked me to go to the back seat while the woman sat in the front seat.”
“Hmmmmm”
“As the woman entered the car, she became fatter and fatter and fatter till the car started to somersault”
“Oh gracious me!”
“We started crying for help as the car somersaulted. Eventually, the car hit a tree and stopped. When it did, the fat woman helped myself and my daughters out. Jemmy was bleeding.”
“Holy Spirit!”
“Bode came out of the car, checked us if we were fine, saw the bleeding girl and walked back into the car. The woman sat at the driver’s seat and he sat beside her. How they reversed from the tree we had hit, I wouldn’t know but soon, they were on the road with the woman driving fast and ruthlessly.”
“Jesu oooo!”
“Bode kept screaming ‘Stop! Stop! Stop!’ but she kept laughing wickedly as she drove on. I was shocked. When I tried to stand so I would take my baby to the hospital, I realized that my right leg was fractured.”
“Holy Spirit! Ah!”
“As Jeddy went to the road to wave down any of the passing vehicles, a car knocked her down. I sorrowfully wailed like a widow as I saw her blood flowing down the road. That was when I woke up”
“Whaaaat! You saw something as serious as this and you kept quiet? Lara!”
“Mummy, I was scared too. I ran to my husband but he was...” I had started crying.
“See, this is not even the time to cry or beat about the bush.” She said, urgency in her voice.
“So, what has happened in your home?”
“Ma?” I asked, fidgety.
“Lara, what is happening in your house right now?”
“Erm...ma, I...” I was saying when she hissed shortly.
“You and Bode, are you on good terms?”
“No ma”
“Jesu mi o!” She exclaimed. “Did he hit you?”
“He almost did”
“Did you hit him?”
“No, but in self-defense, I pushed him off me and he landed against the bed”
“Ah! These children ehn!” She exclaimed. “So, do you have a visitor in your house right now?”
“Yes ma”
“A woman?”
“Yes ma”
“A very fat woman?”
“Yes ma”
“Oh my goodness!” She exclaimed and I broke down into more tears as the precision of her questions to the issues on ground rhymed perfectly. “But why did you agree with your husband to bring in a family member after such revelation?”
“Bode didn’t tell me before bringing her home, mummy. That was what I questioned that became an issue”
“This boy ehn! Lord have mercy on my son and his family oooo” She exclaimed in a shaky voice.
“Mummy, what should I do?”
“You should have called me to...never mind, the deed is done. We have to fight now. But, who is this woman? Did you see her during your introduction”
“No ma, I didn’t”
“Ah! And at your wedding?”
“I didn’t see her, ma.”
“Jesus Christ, our King! Is her face familiar?”
“Yes ma. She resembles you a lot!”
“Ah! Asake niyen! (That must be Asake!)” She exclaimed and paused. “She has two tribal marks on each cheek, right?” She asked. I nodded severally.
“Yes ma”
“She calls your husband ‘Olabode’?”
“Yes ma”
“Ahhhhhh! Lara! Ah, Lara, that woman is not ordinary! That woman poisoned Bode when he was four years old!”
“Whaaat!”
“Yes! My husband personally ensured she went to jail for it. We didn’t even know that Bode would survive, only God brought him back to life. And yet, she is back to Bode’s life? In Bode’s house? Oh Jesus!”
“Oh. My. God!” I exclaimed as my hands trembled. I had never heard something like that before. It felt so strange.
“I wonder how she got Bode’s phone number! She is a distant cousin. She is an unbeliever! She has psychiatric issues!”
“Whaaat!” I screamed as my blood started boiling. “Ahh! Mummy, what do I do?”
“See, she is fetish, so be very careful and prayerful. Do not take anything from her. Do not exchange words with her. Try as much as possible to keep Bode and your children from her. I will be on my way to Lagos now. I pray I get a flight to Lagos because it’s raining heavily over here”
“Okay mum” I broke down, wailing and sobbing intermittently.
“You have to be strong now, girl. Don’t panic. Don’t cry! Just get your family out of that house safely”
“I don’t know if Bode will agree with me, mummy”
“He is no longer behaving like his normal self, right?”
“No mum”
“Begin to rebuke and destroy every manipulations from the pit of hell as you go home now. The Lord of hosts will go with you” My mother-in-law said as she dropped the call.
“Amen! Amen o!” I cried as my whole body shook from instant cold.
My hand wouldn’t agree with me as I tried to turn the ignition key. I was sweating all over.
Just then, there was a knock on my window and when I looked out, it was my prayer coordinator from the church- Mr. James.
I wound down the glass, still shivering.
“Mrs. Jones, good afternoon. I came to your bank today to make some...” He greeted with a smile. When he saw my face and got no reply to his greetings and talks, he frowned slightly. “Are you okay?” He asked and I shook my head.
“You need to get home, right?” He asked and I nodded, weakly. “Let me drive you home. You can rest at the back seat, right?” He asked and I nodded.
I struggled to get out of the car, staggered to the back seat, rested my back and held my throbbing head so it wouldn’t fall off.
As he drove out of the bank premises, the worms in my stomach protested noisily- and he obviously heard.
“Do you need me to buy something for you?” He asked and I nodded again.
“Will Boli and groundnut do?” He asked and I nodded, yet again.
He drove to the front of a stall.
“Give me fresh boli please.” He said and started searching his pocket for money. I was too weak to even pass the wallet I was holding to him. He paid for the boli, groundnut and bottled water he had bought and passed them to me at the back.
I didn’t even say ‘thank you’ before I started munching at the hot roasted plantain like a starved monkey.
I had not taken anything since morning and looking at the huge task my mother-in-law had prescribed for me, I knew that I just needed to eat!
“I rebuke and destroy every manipulations from the pit of hell against my marriage, my husband, myself, my children, our home, in Jesus Name” I prayed loudly as I munched at the boli.
“I rebuke and destroy every manipulation from the pit of hell against the Jones’ family in the matchless Name of Jesus!” Mr. James also prayed silently as we journeyed home.
Mercy, Lord!

EPISODE 4
I entered into the sitting room and threw my bag on one of the settees, yawning as I did.

“Hello everybody! I’m home!” I announced. The whole atmosphere was eerie and the silence in the house was loud.

Where is everybody?

I walked briskly to my children’s room but they were not there. Their school bags and lunch boxes littered the whole floor.

“Jedidiah!” I called out, walking towards our bedroom. “Jemimah!” I called out again but there was no answer.

Opening the door to our room, nobody was in there. The only sound I could hear was from the TV.

I removed my blazer and dumped it in the laundry basket.

“Honey!” I called out as I checked the bathroom and even the closets!

When I couldn’t find them, I jumped out of the room to go search the other rooms in the house. I was about climbing the stairs to the penthouse when I heard a shrill cry.

From the visitor’s room!

Jeddy?

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me to the entrance of the room. Opening the door suddenly, I found my husband seated in one of the chairs, looking lost. Jeddy was in another chair, sobbing quietly. Jemmy was lying down on the bed, motionlessly and Bode’s aunt iwas doing something in her closet.

“What is happening here?” I asked to announce my presence. Jeddy ran to my side and hugged me tightly, weeping as she did.

“Mummy, is Jemmy going to die?” She asked and my hair stood straight as my eyes like laser shot at the bed. I ran to the bed and touched my baby. She was almost lifeless.

“What is happening here?” I screamed as I pulled my gasping baby into my arms.

“Woman, just shut up and let’s concentrate on what we have to do. We have been coping before you came, noisemaker!” Bode said and I frowned angrily at him.

“What have you done to my daughter?”

“She will be fine” Bode’s aunt said as she walked close to my side with a black cup, obviously containing something hot as the steam ascended out the cup. “When she drinks this thing now, she will be fine” She said and my eyes widened.

“Drink what?” I asked suddenly. “What is in this cup?”

“It is herbs. It is just herbal tea. When she takes it, she will be fine” Bode said. I jumped up quickly, trying to lift Jemmy out of the bed.

“My daughter is drinking no herbal tea!” I said firmly. “What have you people done to my ever vibrant baby girl? What?” I asked as tears laced my eyes.

Jemmy was very hot- hotter than the hottest pressing iron!

She had turned pale- almost white.

And then, she was bleeding from her nose!

And from her ears!

“Jessssuuuuuuuus!” I screamed loudly.

“Mummmy!” Jeddy cried too.

“Leave this girl alone, let me treat her” Bode’s aunt said, bringing the cup over. I looked her in the face and smiled ruefully, gently lifting my baby across my shoulder.

“Mama, are you a medical doctor?”

“I am more than a qualified doctor” She said, handing the cup over to me. “Give her to drink now!” She said authoritatively.

“In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I refuse to collect this cup from you and give it to my daughter” I said and started moving to the door.

“What is wrong with you?” Bode’s voice stopped me halfway. “Why are you always ‘overspiritualizing’ things? What is your problem?” He raged on.

“You, Bode are my problem! A girl, our daughter is in such an emergency situation like this and you can still be allowing a woman who…” I stopped in my track as I looked at the floor.

Drops of blood from my baby’s nose and ears filled the floor.

“Oluwa gba mi oooo (Lord, save me!)” I screamed as I tried to open the door.

“If you dare take my daughter out of this house, you will pay dearly for it” Bode roared suddenly.

“Bode, do you know what you are doing?” I asked, my chest tightening.

“Question me na! Call me names!” He said and I shook my head.

“Bode, what is happening here? Bode, see me, I am your wife. What is making you to treat me like…” I cried, sincerely desiring his fatherly and loving care at the crucial moment.

“Who are you? Tell me, who are you?” He asked, irritatingly. “You asked me to see you? Who the hell are you?” He asked again and I shook my head in sorrow. “When I see you, I see filth!”

“Whaaat!” I exclaimed, my heart shattering into pieces.

“What did I see in you that even made me marry you? What?” He asked, looking at me with so much disgust in his eyes. My brain went on a break and my vision blurred.

“Bode, you love me! I am your wife! The Lord gave me to you!” I still managed to say.

“Gibberish! That is what you are saying!” He said, so much hate in his eyes.

“Bode, I do not understand what is going on here.” I started, a newer confidence falling upon me. “But on a norm, if any of us is sick or sorrowful or worried, the first thing you would do is pray. What happened to that authority, my husband? What has happened to…”

“How dare you challenge my authority in this house!” He screamed suddenly as if I had touched the most painful part of his sore.

“My consolation is that, I will get my husband back!” I said and shot a look at the woman seated on the bed. She gave me a wry smile, her cup of herbal tea still in her hands.

“You have lost me!” Bode said. “You have lost me, since” He said.

“Never! I cannot lose you! You are mine! None can take you from my hand” I said with authority, my spirit really charged. Bode burst out laughing falling into the chair as he did.

“This girl can like to feel herself!” He laughed on. His aunt joined him.

“Orisirisi! (Wonders shall never end!)” She exclaimed. “Just go. Take your daughter with you and go. Go anywhere you want to go” Bode’s aunt said and I smiled.

“Mama, I will overcome!”

“Ah ah, are you in a battle?”

“Yes ma. Since you entered into this house, things have not been…”

“Ah, so I am the witch now?” She asked and clapped her hands together. “This lady is fearless!”

“Afefe ti fe mama, a ti r’idi adiye (Nothing is in the secret anymore mama) That is why I am not fearless. My confidence is in Christ. Jesus has been placed far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name…”

“Who are you chanting incantation for now?” She cut in and I smiled.

“That is what I have mama. If I cannot use the Word God, what then can I….” I was saying when she raised her nose at me.

“Life has gone out of the child you are holding, Mrs. Principality” She said and my eyes widened. I had forgotten that I was caring a child. Bode sat up.

“Lailai! (Never!) See, arabinrin (Woman) I am warning you now! My daughter must not die o” He screamed, raising his hands at me.

Panicking, I touched the side of Jemmy’s neck and noticed there was still a weak pulse. I opened the door quickly and started running out of the room, Jeddy following me closely.

“Mr. James! Mr. James!” I called out, crying as I ran out of the house. After driving me into our compound, I had asked him to please still stay behind praying for us in case of anything. So, I was hoping and praying that he hadn’t left.

“Mr. James!” I shouted as I opened the front door.

“If anything happens to my daughter, I will kill you with my bare hands o. I am saying my own now o!” Bode shouted after me but I wasn’t going to allow my daughter drink herbal tea that I knew nothing about, especially after my mother-in-law’s instructions.

As I approached the garage, I saw Mr. James praying, sweating profusely.

“Mr James, we need to go to the hospital immediately” I announced and he quickly jumped to my side, helped to place my daughter in the car and entered into the driver’s seat. Jeddy and I found our ways into the car too.

“Mercy! Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!” Mr. James muttered as we journeyed to the hospital.

“Jeddy, what happened? What happened?” I cried, holding my baby’s hands and looking into her pretty teary eyes.

“It was Jemmy that poured that mama’s powder away.” She said in her babyish voice.

“Where did she keep her powder that Jemmy’s hands were able to reach there?”

“On the dining table. It was black powder so Jemmy thought that it was the charcoal we were playing with yesterday”

“Black powder?” Mr. James and I exclaimed together.

“Yes.” Jeddy nodded. “Jemmy threw it away so that it will not stain the white sofas”

“So, what happened?” I asked, anxiously.

“That mama was angry when she saw Jemmy’s black hands”

“Okay”

“And she carried that your white shoe…”

“The one with the heel?”

“Yes”

“Ah! To do what?”

“To beat Jemmy on her head.” She recounted and my heart stopped beating at once.

“Whaat!” Mr. James and I exclaimed. Jeddy burst out crying.

“Jemmy fell down and started crying. ‘Mummy, mummy.’ That was what she was saying. And blood started coming out of her nose and her ear” She cried the more.

“God, just have mercy on us! I don’t even know what to do now. Just have mercy Lord” I cried bitterly.

Jemmy’s hands had become cold as ice, stiff and scaly.

“Who is the woman? Your mother-in-law?” Mr. James and I shook my head.

“My mother-in-law? Never!” I said and suddenly remembered that I was supposed to inform her of the latest development. “Thank you for reminding me. Please lend me your phone sir” I said and he handed it over to me.

I dialed her number.

“Mummy, where are you?”

“I have reached Bariga. What happened?”

“We are on our way to the hospital o” I cried.

“What is the matter?” She asked, very shocked. I explained quickly to her and she asked me to place the phone on Jemmy’s ears. I did. She started to pray. She prayed and spoke in tongues. She wept and quoted the scriptures.

As if the prayer was a poison, Jemmy suddenly coughed out very thick, clotted blood. She started gasping for breath as she gripped my hand weakly. I flung the phone away and started crying.

“Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!” I screamed.

“Hello, hello Lara” Mummy called out from the phone.

“Mummy, I am losing her already. Mummmmyyyy! Mummy!” I wept as I pulled at the headrest of the seat.

“Never!” She exclaimed. “Scream it into her ears. You are her mother. Use that authority and the one you have in the Name of Jesus to scream at death. We are not losing Jemimah!”

“Amen!” I shouted vehemently, losing my voice. “Jemmy, I am not losing you! I am not releasing you to death in the Power that is in the Name of Jesus!”

“I will soon be there. You are going to your hospital at Lekki, right?” She asked and I nodded as if she could see me.

“Yes ma” Mr. James replied on my behalf. My mother-in-law sighed.

“This is where we need the father’s authority. Ah! But where is Bode now? Bode, where are you now? Ah! Let me call him” Mummy exclaimed hopelessly, hissed regrettably and dropped the call.

“We are now at the hospital” Mr. James announced as he sped to the front of the reception.

I ran like a mad woman after the stretcher wheeling my daughter to the theatre, tears strolling down my face like a fountain.

Holding my chest firmly with one hand, I held onto the door knob leading to the emergency ward as the realization that I might get a lifeless Jemmy in few minutes dawned on me.

Nooooooooo!

I fell to the ground, beating my laps as fear crippled my bones.