A MAN MONSTER

A MAN-MONSTER

         I left church around 3am after vigil on that Friday. Though, I would be going for a screening by 7:30am in the morning, that was not the reason for leaving at that time.  I left because it was my style. 

    Before and after then, our pastor had always implored us not to leave the church immediately after the vigil. It was as though my ears were deaf to his appeals. Of course, that was not the first time I would be leaving the church around 3am. My first experience proffered me huge confidence that kept me entangled to the style. I walked in the pace of a running athlete that day but was not even challenged by anyone. 

    So, on that Friday too, I bounced out of the church like a maggot sprawling out of an overripe Agbalumo. I took my usual route; a street named after one rich Alhaji. The man had gifted the street sufficient streetlights earlier that year, so everywhere was bright. As I approached the extreme of the street, light began to fade out until everywhere was dark again. I maintained my gallants as I walked on. 

    Suddenly, I noticed a shadow striding quickly, trying to catch up with mine. The pace of the shadow was much faster than mine. It was huge and looked like it was holding a huge cutlass, so I decided not to look back. Rather, I focused on increasing my velocity as much as I could. I became more scared when I could not hear any sound of footstep, yet the shadow was coming closer. Out of great dread, I began to run, the shadow was running too. I entered a corner, it did too. Then, I began to recite Psalms in my heart. The memories of how pastor had cast out some demons began to flow smoothly in my mind. I supposed one of the sent-away demons had come to claim my life. I kept the Faith as I ran even now faster and was praying out loudly. Suddenly, the shadow came so close that I knew it was already behind me, then, I decided to give up; I turned outright towards it and collided heavily with a man who had been chasing me. We both fell to the ground panting like a mad man chasing the air when I shouted, “ah! Brother Festus!” He is one of my church members, and we attended the vigil together. Giving me a venomous look, he began to say some things which I could not hear at all when I realized that my ear pods were on in my ears and had blocked my hearing. He narrated how he had been calling me not long after I left the church to give me an envelope I left at church, making several hissing sounds that reflected how disgusting I looked to him. The envelope contained all the documents I needed for my imminent screening. It was what looked like a huge cutlass in Brother Festus’ shadow. He would have called my phone number, but he did not take his phone along with him. I apologized, and he left for his place. 

    Nonetheless, the new style is now leaving church by 7am after vigils because I did not recover from the shock of being chased by a man-monster for over two weeks. 

NOTE: Agbalumo is a fruit popularly called cherry in Nigeria.

-Owoeye Tobiloba Moses (The Mosaic)    

This was supposed to have been dropped yesterday 👏👏          we apologize for not meeting up.

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