p@rt 14
“GHOST RUN!”
By Opeyemi Ojerinde
I must have driven half way to Mororo and it was getting very dark and my headlights were failing me, plus my sight was getting blurry. My parents and Nonso had been calling endlessly. Nonso was using my second line that the security had picked up. The rate at which they were calling, my battery would have been dead if not for the car charger.
I was tem-pted to switch it off, but somehow I was restrained…
My bladder was full and I nee-ded to ease myself.
I halted and got out . On returning to the car , I jumped back in fear at the sight of Bunmi in the pas-s£nger’s seat.
“ Jesus!” I screamed
“ That’s a powerful name!” Bunmi said
“ What are you doing in my car? I am not coming for you. I am coming for the Adegbile sisters!”
“ You should come into the vehicle so you don’t get hit by a vehicle. Though you are going to die very soon, it will be a pity if you die now and your family won’t get the privilege of finding your b©dy!”
With that I got into the vehicle…
“ Bunmi, what do you want from me?”
“ Adenike, what do you want from Mororo? You are not a child of the soil so I am wondering why you have such great interest in my village” Bunmi asked
“ The Adegbile sisters killed my husband and I must make them pay!” I said
“ How?”
I didn’t have the answer to that question…
“ I think as the only female child your parents had, It has affected your upbringing. You always act on impulse not thinking about the consequences of your actions… I c@m£ here just to give you one last chance… I know you are a good person and you don’t deserve so much unhappiness. Return back to your home, start a fresh life and Let Mororo be the way it is…”
“ I am sorry, I have come half way and I cannot turn back!” I said
“ The Adegbile sisters alre-ady know you are on your way and they will do everything to st©p you!”
“ Nothing can st©p me from getting to Mororo this night!”
“ You think so…”
“ I know so!”
“ Alright… Goodluck!” Bunmi said as she disappeared from my car…
I fired up the engine and increa-sed my speed…
After about 15 minutes of driving, an unknown number kept calling repeatedly… I had a strong urge to pick the call…
“ Hello..!”
“Yes, Good Evening!”
“ My name is Musa from the Federal Road Safety Corps. An accident just happened along Lagos Ibadan Expressroad, and we saw the number as the last dialed number on the victim’s phone. We have checked the ID card on him, It re-ads Chinonso Aru-bayi …. He is pres£ntly in a comatose state as we have been able to revive him. He was dead as at the time we got to him, but he has been revived…Do you know him? “
“ Ye..eee…sss” I said as I lost control of the wheels… My mind was all over the place…
“The Adegbile sisters and Bunmi must have done this !” I thought silently
“ Are you there?” The FRSC official said
“ Yes …” I said as I managed to park the vehicle.
“ I am with you, Nonso is my frie.. my fiancé, I believe he was trying to catch up with me…. I am four hours away from where you are. plea-se do everything you can do to save him. I will turn back and return to Lagos. Just keep me posted on the hospital you will be taking him… plea-se save his life, I cannot lose Nonso too!” I said as h0t tears flowed,
I got out of the vehicle in frustration, hitting the car and crying…
“ God, why would you keep watching evil prospering… Why? Why can’t you wipe these evil people from the surface of the earth. Why do the evil people call the sh0ts?” I broke down in tears defeated. If I didn’t want to lose Nonso, I had better turn back. The Adegbile sisters and Bunmi had given me a sample of What they were capable of doing to my loved ones.
With pain in my heart and pain all over my b©dy from the hours of driving, I turned back.
I got to Lagos teaching hospital hours later, in the early hours of the next morning. Nonso had been put in the ICU. The accident had dealt badly with him.
My parents were there before I got there. Nonso had reached out to them after I mentioned Mororo. My father said Nonso had asked for the way to Mororo. My father said out of selfishness; with the hope that Nonso could convince me to return, he had given him the description to Mororo…
Nonso’s aged mother was devastated!
“ God plea-se, don’t let me lose Nonso, I can’t lose two men in one year…!” I prayed silently
p@rt 15
“GHOST RUN!”
By Opeyemi Ojerinde
Three troubling days had pas-sed.
Nonso had shut down about four times but the timely intervention of the doctors resto-red him back to life. I refused leaving the hospital, I wanted to see to the end of the matter. I prayed all the prayers I knew how to pray. I didn’t mind slee-ping on the ba-re cold floor of the hospital. I felt my pres£nce at the hospital would not let the Adegbile sisters or Bunmi finish their evil as-signment.
“ Adenike, you nee-d to go freshen up!” My mother had said
“ I am fine” I said
“ No you are not! You are oozing…”
“ Mummy, I cannot leave here!”
“ No one is asking you to leave here, just take a 2 hours break. Go home, freshen up and return here. Your father and I have been doing that for three days, likewise Nonso’s mother and his siblings!”
“ Nonso’s mother lives just across the street!”
“ Adenike!” My mother said raising her voice and I honestly did not have the strength to argue…
“ Ok mum!”
I left Nonso with my mum. My Dad had gone to the church, while Nonso’s mother had returned home.
On getting home, I took the much nee-ded bath and out of exhaustion, I la-id on the be-d. I woke up 5 hours later..
However, in the course of my much nee-ded rest, I had a dream.
I saw a land where I was a pastoring a church. The members were quite much. Suddenly, an odd religion surfaced and a man started referring to himself as the messsiah… Some of my members started following the new religion because the man was doing strange miracles and wonders. Although the miracles were not lasting miracles, many still fell for it… Almost all the members of my church fell for the new religion and I kept asking…
“ Why is it so easy for these people to backslide? Why is it so easy for them to throw their belief in Christ away?”
I woke up from the dream! The first thing I did was to check the time. On realizing I had sle-pt for 5 hours , I dashed out of the house without giving my dream a second thought…
***************
I walked to the ICU, my parents were not in sight and neither was Nonso on the be-d anymore.
My eyes were turning, I began to do a 360 turn looking for Nonso. And for the split of a second, I saw Nonso standing before me saying…
“ Adenike, I am sorry! I couldn’t fight it anymore”
I tried to stretch my hands to him but my hands caught nothing…
“ Adenike!” I heard my Father’s voice like an echo…
“ Daddy, Where is Nonso?” I managed to ask but my Father’s response of silence said it all…
I screamed so loud I knew the whole hospital would have heard me. I wanted to just die….
For days, I ate nothing. I cried all day in my room. I wanted to turn back the hands of time. I wanted to reverse back to that day, I made AdeYanju and I go to Mororo… I wanted to undo everything.
On the fifth day after Nonso’s death, I was alone in my room when I had an open vision. I was seeing Mororo in plain sight…
I saw the Adegbile sisters discussing…
“ Stupid girl, in her next life, she won’t dare the witches. This is Mororo, and it is un-der our guidance, Mororo must continually be in darkness and no light must come in…”
I saw Seun in his Living room…
“ God, I think I will be leaving Mororo. I have wasted my years here, hoping you will prove that you are God and more powerful than Evil, but instead every one that comes here to liberate this town ends up losing their lives or the lives of their loved ones… Is there no salvation in you?”
I saw the witch girl AdeYanju and I saw the first time we got into Mororo, sitting in the forest…
“ I thought they said you are more powerful than the witches, why are the witches winning the Christians… Will Mororo ever be free?”
As I la-id on my be-d watching , I heard a voice loud and clear…
“ Who will go for me? Who will go liberate my people from the claws of evil?”
“ I will Lord! plea-se s£nd me!” I said crying …
I la-id on the floor weeping and it all dawned on me…
“ If Mororo had received genuine salvation, they would have had the power to defeat the evil ones!”
Two days later, I had packed my stuff after saying a short prayer…
“ Lord, use me for Mororo in Jesus name”.
“I am re-ady to die and lose any member of my family for Mororo to be free!” I had resolved.
**********
“ Adenike, Where to ?” My father asked
“ Mororo! “ I answered “ And my advice is that you avoid any form of unrighteousness so that you don’t become a prey of the enemy, because nothing is st©pping me!”
“ Are you crazy?” My mother said hysterically “Are you in your right s-en-ses!” My mother had jumped up at me
“ Solanke, Let her be!” My father ordered my mum…
“ Just one question, Adenike!”
I nodded in response…
“ Do you have the Strength to conquer?”
“ I will not glory in my own Strength, God will give me the Strength I require!” I replied
“ Do you know that God enough for HIM to supply you that Spiritual Strength you nee-d to Work for Him?”
I didn’t un-derstand my father’s question, but then he said…
“ Adenike,but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. Dan 11:32 New Kings James Version..Adenike, you can only do exploits, if you have the Spiritual Strength that only comes from Knowing God!
I was silent!
“ Adenike, I ask again, do you know God?”
To be continued