WAGES OF SIN---Story by: ADENIJI MICHEAL (MICHEALHADEN)
EPISODE ONE
Not from an accident, but I suffered multiple contusions; my skin bruised and my face pale. I laid there in one of Saint Thomas hospital beds, helpless, with short of breath. I couldn't turn my stiff head nor lift a finger; the agony of hell gripped me and the torment of the grave held me loose.
Though a lot of blood samples had be taken, coupled with series of tests carried out but the doctors couldn't say exactly what I was suffering from; they neither had a clue nor lead to the solution.
With all those happenings, I saw and believed that there are wickedness. There are powers and principalities in the dark places. If I could talk, I could have confessed; if I could lift a finger, I could have pointed to my tormentor. I only could pour out tears whenever he touched my temple with his devilish rod which made me but to groan inward. He was a dark ailment tormenting spirit which looked like a grey monkey. His appearance was so terrific, but I couldn't shift my gaze from him for my neck was stiffened.
His pointed evil rod pierced my skin beyond my bones. I cried and cried, but only the tears of hell came out. Oftentimes he would give a deadly smile at me and I did care. "Please leave me" I pleaded with him in my heart but he wouldn't stop. His tortures nevertheless, I gained strength and I cried to God to deliver me.
To me, it was as if God was waiting for me to cry unto him. For no sooner had I cried than a mighty wind passed through the room. Some hard steppings were heard from the corridor of the hospital and I could see my tormentor already cringing with fear on the floor, I could read the same fear of hell on me on his face too. I couldn't see the being yet because he was still walking by the wall that led to the room but my tormentor could see him well but I was sure he was my saviour. Right in me, I was already planning how to deal with the short devil the moment I was saved. "Nooooooooo" the evil monkey looking devil screamed as the being came too close. A step more, and I would see my saviour myself.
The smile in my heart cracked when I saw the being. It was a beast like demon with three horns and a long tail. He looked more terrifying than the one that had been with me. His claws were as sharp as the body of a crocodile. He made a swift move toward the other monkey like demon that tormented me and held him by his neck, lifting him from the floor; his legs dangling in the air. "How dare you abandon my assignment for another commanding lord's? The strange demon demanded from him. "I'm sorry, my lord. It was Death that sent for me to deal with him" he replied, struggling to point at me. The strange beast like spirit slowly turned his gaze at me, "and who is this man?"
Sneering at me, he replied, "He is an adulterer, a faithful sinner. Death ordered me to touch and pierce deep into his skin and bone before I execute him."
"And when is that supposed to be?" The beast like demon asked, releasing his claws from his neck "Tonight, my lord" he replied, gasping. "Your assignment is still in the next ward, go now and finish it before those anointed come to claim him and deliver him from our grips.
He took his bow to leave but he stopped on the way and glanced at me as if he was already missing me and the fun he had in tormenting me.
The beast looking demon moved closer to him and patted him on the back, "Don't worry, I will take over from here. Moreover, he shouldn't just die tonight. At least he hasn't tasted my version of tormenting. Let me take him closer to hell."
I tried to faint but I just wouldn't.
EPISODE TWO
I tried to faint but I just wouldn't. I knew my end had not only come but had come with some pains and sorrows. My eagerness to die was there and I yearned for the grave to swallow me and the sands to conceal me, but Death had ordered the tormenting demon to give me a short lecture, an orientation and a brief introduction to 'The Nature of Hell' before executing me. The lecture and orientation I was sure Ranos really was enjoying, deriving fun and never would be ready to execute me any time soon before Deberus stopped his music. It was also in my presence Ranos, the monkey like demon, explained to Deberus, the beast like demon, to tell Grave never to accept my body except Death signed the necessary documents which contained my release clause. Big trouble for me.
My body kept shivering from inside outward, my temperature rapidly increased; feeling my pants already wet. I could closely hear my heartbeats the closer Deberus moved to my bed. I wouldn't dare to look into his face for even a short time, I could only steal a glance at him. By that time I thought I was at the last seconds of the very last moment of my life because the look on Deberus was not like that on Ranos, I didn't think he took over to torment me for so long before he would demand for my last breath.
Though the word said we should cry in the days of our afflictions and he would hear us, and rise on our behalf but I was not seeing any sign that God was for me at all. It seemed the more I cried the farther he moved away from me. How could my maker deny me at a time like this? I thought and cried within me. Or could he had lied in his Holy words? No. For the word said that he was not a man that he should lie nor the son of man that he should repent. But why all these shits? Why? Why had he left and forsaken me?
Ranos took his leave for another patient to deal with in the hospital. The patient Deberus had assigned to him before he received a call from a superior to attend to me. Deberus kept moving close to me and my heart also kept limping, with sweats bathing my face through my body. "Hey! Stop the panic, young man." Deberus said, with a devilish smile, and it was like a gong struck my head when he mentioned, 'young man'. My memory began to recall and I remembered they had been referring me to a man since. Ranos had always been addressing me as a man! "Hey you man" he would say, trying to get my attention. I tried to process my brain if I was ever a man before I got to the hospital. "Am I a man?" I asked myself. I couldn't lift my body to know whether my temple, my organ was a penis or a vagina.
I think he heard my mind and he began to laugh so loud, wickedly, throwing his hands in the air which hit Dr. Moses who just entered the room with a nurse to administer some drugs to me. I closed my eyes thinking the doctor would fall on his face to the ground but he didn't because he was a man and Deberus was a spirit and had not come for the doctor but for me. The doctor looked unto a color screen by my bed and saw that my heartbeat was normal. I became helpless. What kind of demons would make my heart limp and wouldn't let it appear on the screen? I sure didn't need anyone to tell me that both the doctor and the nurse didn't equally see the sweats all over me. I looked dried and okay to them. Then I said in my heart, "I'm done for."
"But I'm not done with you yet." Deberus replied, displaying his long poisonous claws, "and it looks like you have forgotten you were a man..."
EPISODE THREE
"But I'm not done with you yet" Deberus replied, displaying his long poisonous claws, "and it looks like you have forgotten you were a man."
The doctor suddenly hit his head and banged his right leg slightly on the floor without making some noise, indicating he forgot something behind. "Sit right here while you wait for me, I need to get a fluid myself at the pharmacy to administer to this patient. It's very important" the middle aged doctor said, concentrating on what he was penning down on his notepad and would not even look at the nurse in the face. "Make sure your eyes are wide opened till I come back" he concluded, finding his way out of the room.The young dark skinny lady took her seat by my bed, stared at my helpless body for some seconds before she brought out her phone from unimaginable place. I thought it was prohibited for nurses to have their phones on them while on duty.
The doctor left, the nurse remained but the words of Deberus hit me so hard that I became confused. What on earth did he mean? How could he be so sure I was a man when my instinct was saying otherwise? But at this point I myself couldn't even say if my instinct would be right or wrong anymore with the way Ranos had thoroughly dealt with me. Ranos' deep devilish touches must have reset a lot of things about me.
Can you remember your parents, your family and who you were?" Deberus asked, whispering into my ears as he rose above me, with about seventy percent of his body overshadowing mine. I could feel his body and perceive the smell of the evil of hell on him, and my heartbeat kept rising.
Parents? Family? I didn't seem to understand what he meant by those two words. As a matter of fact I didn't know if I ever had parents or was even born into a family. Concerning who I was, I couldn't say, because I couldn't remember anything. My memory had formatted, all I knew were the things that were present.
I think Deberus also guessed I couldn't recall anything about who I was. Then he knew Ranos had touched me beyond skin and bones. "I understand" he said "I can help you to regain your memory, at least for the main time. He stretched and was about touching my forehead with his middle left claw when the middle aged doctor returned to the room. Deberus withdrew his claw, waiting for the doctor to finish his work before he helped me in regaining my lost memory. The nurse must have heard the doctor coming before she hid her phone again under the padded cup of her bra.
The doctor returned with a drip in his hand and asked the nurse to set up the drip pump and the stand. "The volume of this drip is more than the patient needs, I couldn't get the exact milligram. So I need you to stand by and keep watching the level. Look here" the doctor said, pointing his right index to a marked level on the drip, "stop and disconnect the drip at this level. Understood?" "Yes sir" the nurse replied. All he was trying to do was to make sure the nurse did not make a mistake. "Anything more" the doctor warned sternly, "and the patient would enter a complete comma and might eventually die in a few hours because no one had ever survived it." "I'm cleared sir."
After the doctor located a vein he carefully applied a local anaesthetic patch on an area on my wrist and put in the needle. He used tourniquet around the vein area to make it tight. He later removed the needle and replaced it with plastic tube and held it with tape and bandage. He attached a long tubing to the drip and put it into a special (IV) pump on a drip stand that will control the amount of fluid that will go in. "So you can start watching the level..." the doctor was trying to explain all over but there was an interruption.
A lady, who was also dressed in white like the nurse that's with the doctor rushed into the room, gasping and trying to get the doctor's undivided attention. The doctor unsteadily shifted his concentration from me and faced the nurse, wondering what could have caused the hullabaloo. "Shhh!" The doctor tried to shush her. "This is an hospital, and have you forgotten that so soon?" "I'm so sorry sir, but you too could have forgotten if you get to know your only son is about to lose his precious life due to a fatal accident." The stethoscope dropped fron his hands and nearly slumped. "Come again, please" the doctor demanded, shivering, but still wouldn't wait for the nurse to repeat herself before he nudged the other nurse to run behind him. The latter nurse also ran after them, shouting, "He's in the surgical room three."
They all left, leaving the drip to run on it own. Suddenly, the words of the doctor banged in my head, "anything more, and the patient would enter a complete comma..." I tried to cry out for help because I didn't know when the drip would pass the marked level but no one would hear me. It would be better there was no drip on me than for it to pass the marked level.
Deberus sighed and I could hear it so close like I did. It was then I remembered he had always been there at the corner where Ranos loved to stay whenever he wanted a break for himself. "It now dawns on me that your sins must have been great. I really need to know what kind of person you were." Deberus commented, "I have not even started with you yet that your iniquities are speaking up against you. I think it will be better I don't touch you, but allow your past records to do the work for me."
He turned his back to leave but I cried out with tears, with hot tears streaming out of my eyes like that of a river. "How great then were my sins, how mighty were my iniquities that I so much deserve such treatment from life and darkness?" I asked, "who was I?" I cried out the more, "how badly had I lived my life?" I felt I was drenched in the ocean; my tears wet the bed.
He turned again at me and gave a slow filtered smile, "Really?" He asked. "I'm also kindly interested in knowing your past" he said, swinging his claws in the air. "Maybe we should see together" he said and made a swift move to my bed and touched my forehead with his middle left claw.
EPISODE FOUR
Previously on 'The Wages of Sin'
... I think it will be better I don't touch you, but allow your past records to do the work for me." Deberus said.
He turned his back to leave but I cried out with tears, with tears streaming out of my eyes like that of a river. "How great then were my sins, how mighty were my iniquities that I so much deserve such treatment from life and darkness?" I asked, "who was I?" I cried out the more, "how badly had I lived my life?"
He turned again at me and gave a slow filtered smile, "Really?" He asked. "I'm also kindly interested in knowing your past. Maybe we should see together" he said and made a swift move to my bed and touched my forehead with his middle right claw.
************************************************
His hands landed so lightly on my head but his claws went deep into my skull, piercing harshly upon my brain, and all, I mean all of my past rolled like sheets into my memory and everything seemed like an event that had just happened yesterday. I looked, I saw, and I beheld myself as a child, a beautiful daughter, born into a family of two religious couples. I saw all about the child right from the moment of conception to the time she was admitted at the hospital.
Yes! I thought as much, I am a lady. How come then they were referring me as a man? Well, I needed not to worry as everything, my past, has been set before me. I was so anxious to know what I had done, how gravely my sins were that I deserved so much from life. I needed to know why they kept calling me a man. Anyhow, for all I had to do was to watch my past like a video played before me in a wide screen. I was no more seeing myself but a child who was me. I watched as myself, a beautiful young lady fared in all of her life. I was eager to see how badly she must have lived her life. How detestable I must have been.
************************************************
"And what the hell are you talking about, Jamie? What?" James screamed, "just try and listen to yourself. Just listen to the nonsense words that are coming out of your mouth, Jamie" James said, twisting his indexes around his ears, denoting if she was in her right senses.
"But I heard God himself said it to me, James. I heard him." Jamie said, trying to prove her point in her calmness. She was a woman of little words and was known for her spirit of gentleness. Jamie was just recovering from her child labour. It was just four days after she delivered a new bouncing baby girl. "It was what I personally heard God concerning our baby, trust me."
James adjusted his shirt and lifted his head to face his stressed wife, "Listen to me, woman. I'm not disputing the fact that you do hear from God and that he has spoken to you concerning this little girl" James said, pointing towards the baby in her cot, "I personally also have the conviction that she would be a great child because we are always great in my family, do you understand me? So all these trashes you are now talking about can never work at all. It doesn't makes any sense."
Macbeth knocked once at the door before she turned the knob to enter the living room. She was surprised to meet the couples in a little argument. She dropped her bag loudly on the sofa but still wasn't getting their attention. She had to speak out before they knew of her presence. "And what is this misunderstanding all about?" She asked inquisitively. It was the first time she would find them in such mood. The two greeted the aged woman and kept quiet.
"I don't think it is your greetings I need now but one of you should tell me what this is all about."
"Maybe you should ask your daughter in-law to tell you what her problem is. And let her know God also speaks to us in our family, and that He doesn't speaks trash to us." James said, and hissed, making his way to the burglary proof door that led outside the home.
James' words left Macbeth in the dark and threw her into more confusions. She wondered what her son was talking about. As a matter of fact she wasn't expecting such thing as that to be happening in only few days to their baby's naming ceremony. "What trash?" She asked, turning to Jamie.
Exhausted by the little hot argument with her husband, Jamie sank into the sofa by her right and casted her face to the floor. "God!" She cried, "I know I heard you concerning this matter and you have not only whispered the name of the baby into my hearing but have equally shown it to me. You told me what kind of child she will be and I believed. Now Oh Lord. Reveal what you have revealed to me also to my husband. I know you are capable, Father. In Jesus' name have I prayed.
Macbeth, still looking more confused, took a sit silently by Jamie who had just completed a simple prayer and asked kindly, "my dear daughter, please tell me what this is all about. Please." Jamie adjusted herself and patted the old mother on her back with a pretty smile on her face, "Mama, don't worry yourself. It is well. This is just all about the name of the baby."
"The baby's name?" Macbeth asked, "I thought we already have her names."
"Yea. But God is saying otherwise."
EPISODE FIVE
_Previously_
_I didn't know what happened, but I suddenly found myself in one of Saint Thomas hospital beds in a ward, with a demon tormenting me definitely for my past evil records which I couldn't even remember because he brutally touched my brain that everything I used to know got wiped off. Another demon, Deberus, took over to deal with me, but instead I got an opportunity to know who I was; how sinful I had lived my life which got me into the mess, pains and sorrows of hell I found myself in. Now before me is who I was, a child born into the Martins' Family; by James and Jamie._
That same night God revealed himself and his will concerning the new born child to James just as he revealed to Jamie in a dream. His face became brightened like the stars in the sky saying hi to mankind. His pulse could obviously be noticed as he jumped out of bed with his chest rising and lowering like a fluid in a capillary tube. It was unusual of God to reveal things to James in such a way in his dreams. James was full of awe and surprises. Could God had gone that far to unfold secrets about his little princess to him? He thought.
Woken by her husband's screaming, Jamie steadily rose up, and slowly rose up from her slight sleep to face James who was still rather confounded about things he saw and heard with his ears. Facing Jamie, he thought his wife must be so deep in the spirit that she knew those things better than him and even before he got to know anything. Merely glancing at her husband's face Jamie could tell that James had had an encounter with the Lord and that she might not really have to strive anylonger with him about the name of the baby. For James to have a divine understanding had been Jamie's prayer through the day, and her prayer was answered.
"I felt God so near!" James exclaimed. "I have never being so close before"
Jamie gave a teasing smile at him. "No, dear. You saw an angel, not God himself." Jaimie said, teasing him, "you don't want to die, do you?"
"Oh! You mean that was an angel?" James asked, confusingly. "Whatever. All I know is I have seen a divine being."
"Yea. So what happened in the dream?" She asked so silently, giving him her full attention. By this time she was fully awaked and was anxious to hear from him. James, knowing there was no way of escape than to agree with what his wife attested, said, "uhmm. I saw this divine being touched me as I sat on a desk, and said so many things about the baby to me."
"Things like?"
"Things like 'she's not a girl but a boy, not a woman but a man. This is how the Lord has made her, and she must to fulfill the assignments upon her shoulders. She'll be an intercessor for my people, lifting her heart and voice to the Lord through prayers and supplications on behalf of my people. She'll be a..."
"Shepherd to my people" Jamie cuts in, "that none of them should want; that they may not be lost nor destroyed. There are wars in my church, abomination here and there, sins untold and unheard. Therefore have I made her a priest in the order of Aaron and Melchizedek. I will make her oil flow to everyone she stands up for. I have made her a healing river.
Astonished, "Really? You know all those and you are still making ne to recite them before you?" James said, bulging his eyes.
"Come on" Jamie said, caressing his beard, "so what did the angel call her name?"
"Really? You are asking me that?" James asked, slightly furious "I know you know, you are just trying to mock me. It's the same name you kept enchanting. It didn't change."
"I want you to say it with your mouth, you know I don't like assuming."
"Okay, okay" he said, and cleared his throat, "the name is" he continued, but paused for some seconds, thinking, "wait, Sweetheart. Does that mean our daughter will have to face a Goliath?" he asked, with a great concern for the little girl.
"No dear, she will be facing a lot of them. James' eyes bulged.
*********************************************
(Saturday, a day preceding the naming ceremony)
"And do you think those people will agree with you or what the Lord had said to you concerning their little daughter?" Rachael, the pastor's wife asked, "the name especially"
James and Jamie attended The Bethel Baptist Church not too far from their home, where Kenneth was the church pastor with Rachael, his wife as the pastor's wife. The couples were members of the church. "That's up to God to convince them, not me, and I pray he does." Kenneth replied.
The young pastor removed his glasses from his eyes and laid it between his opened bible at Number chapter 26 through 28. "That reminds me, tomorrow is the naming, and I haven't seen any message from the couples containing the name of the child." He said and sighed lightly. "That sounds suspiciously"
"Well let's hope the Lord is also dealing with them about it, and that's why it's taking so long." Rachael urged.
Kenneth heard his phone rang inside the bedroom and pleaded with Rachael to help him get it. Rachael rushed in before the call could end. "Sweetheart, it's them"
"James and Jamie, right? Kenneth asked, receiving the phone from her.
"Hello"
"Hello sir" James answered from the other end.
"How are you? Jamie and the little baby?
"All fine sir?"
"Okay, and how has been preparation for tomorrow?"
"Goo-d, yea, th-at's why I ca-lled" he answered, with little stammering.
"Okay?" Kenneth replied, eager and anxious to hear him.
"There's a little problem somewhere, sir?"
"Problem? And what could that be?"
"Uhmmm, yea, uhmmmm" James said, finding it difficult to relay to the pastor. "Actually we have been working on the name of the child and, uhmmm. As in, I mean we have been trying to give a good name to the child and, ehmmm..."
Kenneth, perceiving he was on the right track with the name and that God might have revealed the name of the child to her parents and who she was to become, cuts in, "Mr James"
"Y- es si- ir" he answered, stammering.
"Is her name David?"
Shocked and surprised, James withdrew the phone from his ear, covered the mouthpiece and whispered to Jamie, "did you give the name to the pastor already?"
"No" she whispered.
He returned to the call, "Yes sir, the name is Dav
EPISODE SIX
The child David grew and advanced in age. Though David had a small stature but she wouldn't allow anyone to cheat her or take advantage of her. As a matter of fact she had a great internal energy with which she could fight more than five boys in her class at a time. David, a beautiful girl, but with an uncontrollable spirit. She became an object of concern to her parents as things were not going well as God proclaimed at her birth. Who could quench the burning fire of David Martins when fully angered or felt being manipulated by a fellow? Who could receive a blow on his face from her left fist and not fall to the ground and have nightmares for few nights to come? David would not care how tall you were or how robust you could be before she pounce on you. Truth be said, she would not never fight her mates in stature but rather discipline them; she was that energetic and powerful.
What made her angry most times was the taunting and whining of the other children who made jest of her name, saying, "Were your parents in their right senses when they named you David? Oh! Maybe because you have a small stature, but who can tell the stature of a child from day one?" Everyday they kept looking for her trouble.
She was a special child, endowed with special supernatural gifts, though she wasn't manifesting all of those gifts. Little by little was she able to manifest some. However, the early stage of her life was full of troubles.
"Again!" Jamie screamed surprisingly. "You mean she fought and caused troubles again?" She asked, shifting her gaze from Mrs. Alexis who was David's class teacher and James old friend to David and giving her an helpless look. "But why? Why, David?" She asked, with tears forming on her eyes. "You have always made me cry. When will I rejoice over you? When? Tell me.When will you ever make me proud? She finally burst into tears.
"Jamie" Mrs Alexis said, "I believe she will still change for the best. Don't let's give up too early on her" she urged, "I have had students like her in the past that later changed for the best, though they were not as tough as her but I have a belief that things will get better." Alexis rose from her seat and took few steps to Jamie and patted her on her back, "stop crying, you just have to keep piercing some senses into her thick skull. You just can't relent over her case."
Alexis stood to take her leave. She grabbed her handbag and stopped before David and whispered, "If you love and care for your mother, make her happy." The words went deep beyond her skull as she felt bad within her spirit. Most times she wanted to do the right thing but only to find herself in the wrong lane. She couldn't define what came over her to misbehave. One part of her was she wanted to be right and perfect while another was not ready to be cheated. A young girl with a big courage like her was rare to be found. Sober, David took few steps towards her mother who was lost in weeping and didn't even know when Alexis clocked out of the house. Her hairs were dripping of her tears, her eyes reddened and her face sore.
"Don't you ever touch me" Jamie warned, seeing David reached for her warm hands. "You can do that when you change for good and make me happy" she said, "maybe I shouldn't have listened to Him, maybe I didn't need to convince James about it. Maybe the name is making you behave like these." She cried, trying to hold some tears, "Of what good is now the name He asked us to give to you. Of what good?
David refrained her hand at hearing that. "He?" Could it be the God she had been talking about? She thought. Whether or not she knew the person her mother was talking about she could perceive a sense of responsibilities on herself. It was like there was a reason for that name. Not for once had she ever thought or questioned her parents for giving her such masculine name. It just dawned on her, like a scale fell through her eyes to the ground. "David" she called her name inwardly in her heart. "Who am I? Why am I like this?"
Whatever how bad her behaviours were, how wrongly she was living her precious life, she sensed there was more to her life, more than she could imagine. She glanced again at her crying mother with a pity look and promised in her heart to make her happy.
to be continued ...
Story by: ADENIJI MICHEAL (MICHEALHADEN)
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