DESTINY
Episode 23
Philip’s friend took him to a spiritualist in
the outskirts of the city. As soon as they
got into the room, they met the man praying with his rosary beads. Malik
introduced himself and his friend and
was about to begin praying when the spiritualist interrupted him.
Mallam: “You don’t have to tell me anything. You see, as soon as you came
in, the almighty Allah SWT revealed everything to me. Your friend is worried
because he cannot have his way with his supposed girlfriend”. Malik and Philip
were shocked and turned around to stare at one another.
“How did you know that?” they
chorused.
Mallam: “It was revealed to me. Where the eyes stop to see, the mind starts to
see. First of all, it is against the will of almighty Allah for you to even think of
indulging in immorality with a lady who is not your wife. Secondly, you are
expected to stay away from that
particular girl because of the relationship you had with her twin sister. The cord
between twins is very serious, even in death, no one must come in between them”.
Philip: “But Mallam, I never did anything with her twin sister before she died”.
Mallam: “What matters most is the intentions of our heart. You have the intention to sleep with her, as a matter
of fact, you slept with her several times in your heart. That is more than enough
to make you stay away from her twin sister”.
Philip: “So, because I thought of doing. something, that automatically makes me
guilty of that thing?”
Mallam: “Yes it does. And I will advise you to tell her sister the role you played in
disposing her corpse when you found out that she was already dead. The spirit
of the dead girl is angry at the way you abandoned her after she died especially
the way you desecrated her corpse by dragging it out of the room on the floor.
You need to speak out before her ghost comes for her pound of flesh. If not for
the love she has for her twin sister, she would have harmed you long ago”.
Philip: “Malik, what gibberish is this man uttering? You call this one a man of God?
I mean what is he saying? That I should go and tell them she died in my room?
Won’t that implicate me? After I told the police I didn’t know how the corpse got
there? You think her family will believe that I didn’t kill her when they find out
that she died in my room?”
Malik: “I think you are being
unnecessarily hyperactive. Remember that we are in this together and if
apologising to her parents for the way we treated their daughter’s body is the
best, I think we should just do it. I don’t want any ghost to come after me o”.
Philip: “Mehn, there is no way I am going to stay here and listen to this kind of talk.
I don’t even know what I am doing here in the first place”, he got up and left the
place. Malik apologised to the man and went out after his friend.
====
Florence went to meet Chief in another different hotel. She was still very angry
with him for the way his wife treated her the other time but he had apologised profusely on phone and being the materialistic girl that she was,
she decided to discard the warning from
his wife and meet him in the hotel. Chief
was talking on the phone when she entered the room. She noticed that his
security detail was not there as chief had
gone to the hotel alone to avoid his wife getting any wind of his escapade. He
tried to hug her as soon as she stepped in wearing a denim above the knee
button down gown. Her hair was packed in a ponny tail and on her lips, was a
tomatoe red lip stick that complemented
the red Channel chain bag she had on
her shoulders. She sat on the chairopposite chief, calculating her next
move. He finished making his call and came and sat close to her. She moved
away and turned her face away from him.
Chief: “What is it? If you didn’t want me
close to you, why did you come here?”
Florence: “Chief, the memories of what
your wife did to me the last time I was
with you is still fresh in my head”.
Chief: “I thought I apologised and told you that I would make it up to you?”
Florence: “Yes you apologised but that
doesn’t change the fact that you stayed there watching without doing anything
to save me from her claws”.
Chief: “Nana is a tigress, if I had intervened, she would have blown everything out of proportion. I have an
integrity to protect here. Of all my wives,
she is the most troublesome, you won’t blame her, she is the daughter of one of
the most influential politicians we have around. A spoil brat she is, I would say”.
Florence: “But how can she…”
Chief: “Ohhh, can we just drop this topic? Are we going to use up the whole
day talking about this? Why do I need to run away from my nagging wives at home if I will come and meet another nagging here?”
Florence: “Fine. Just let it not repeat itself
again. Just warn her to keep herself away from me o, I don’t mind the fact
that she is the daughter of a politician. If
she dares me again, I will arrange guys
to beat her up. I am from the street and
we know how to handle people the
street way. Can you imagine that she even threatened to report me to my father? What rubbish”.
Chief: “I have heard all you said. Nowcome to daddy”, he opened his arms
wide and she hugged him. He began to kiss her and reached for the button of her dress but she stopped him.
Florence: “What about my request, chief”.
Chief: “I have that in mind. How about we travel to Dubai for a weekend getaway?”
Florence: “Really chief? That is good news, oh I would be more than glad to travel outside the country, I have never
gone to any other country before so I am more than excited about this”.
Chief: “I am happy to know that you are glad about this. Also we shall go shopping, that should pay for all that my wife did to you”.
Florence: “Thank you so much, chief. She began to unbutton her dress herself even, she resolved to give it to him like
she had never done before”.
====
Florence’ father woke up at the middle of the night to pray, his heart was troubled.
All night he had tried to sleep but night mares about his daughter kept on
tormenting him. In one of the dreams, he had seen that she was pushed down
from a high cliff by a woman whose identity he could not recognise. At other
times, he saw her drowning in a big river and he wondered what she had gone to do there. The night mares kept
coming in different forms, anytime he closed his eyes to sleep, he would see
her in one form of distress or the other.
He tried to sit up and pray for her but he kept on drifting into the turbulent sleep.
Early the next morning, he dialled her number.
Baba Florence: “Can you come for the weekend? There is something very important that I would like to discuss with you”. He said to her after they had
exchanged pleasantries.
Florence: “I can’t come home, dad, I have this practical that I must attend”.
Baba Florence: “Practical as how? Are you not in the faculty of arts? What practical do you do in your department?”
Florence: “Don’t mind me, dad. I mean test, I have 7 tests these weekend, I am sure you don’t want me to miss that”.
She lied to him. She had scheduled to travel with chief to Dubai that weekend
and she couldn’t afford to miss it for anything in the world, not even when
she knew that her father would not demand to see her unless it was something very important.
Baba Florence: “Okay, then. But I need you to be very careful in school, don’t
join bad company o, always say your prayers and read your Bible always. I will
send some pocket money across to you next week and if we see anyone going
your way, we would send foodstuff across too. Remember that your body is
the temple of the Holy Spirit so you must not do anything to profane it”.
Florence: “I won’t daddy. In fact, I don’t go out on campus o, it is from lecture
hall to hostel, that is my routine here and
I pray always so you have nothing to worry about”.
Her father thanked her and dropped the call. “Popcy just stay there o, that is how
you didn’t use the opportunities that came your way well if not by now we
would be rich. Let me see why I won’t enjoy my life in this world”. She went to
bed giggling, excited about the trip to Dubai with chief the next day.
====
Mrs Lanre woke up with a start that night, the next day was 25th birthday of
the twins and in her dream, she had been warned to keep her part of the pact that she made 25 years ago to the
river goddess or risk losing Maya the way she lost Naya and she felt it was
time to intimate Maya who was the only surviving twin about it.
Question: “How do you think the issue between Philip and Maya should be revolved? What exactly is this secret that Mrs Lanre has kept from the beginning
of this story till now?
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