THE VISITOR (EPISODE 3)

THE VISITOR
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