CHAPTER 1, EPISODE 4

The people of Iseyin were dealt a rude shock as the clouds had suddenly gathered and covered the setting sun like the town had been cursed with an invasion of locusts. The wind had come quickly and in a zig-zag manner too, raising up dust, rolling buckets aside, displacing hung clothes, and bending trees in its way, Iseyin was unsettled. Babies screamed, some in excitement and some in fear of the bright blinding flashes of lightning and the deafening cracks that followed.

Abosede dished out orders to her maternity workers in their more acceptable Pidgin English “go cover window” “Bunmi , go bring all the wrapper come inside” “Laju, go on all the lantern, work still dey today” “Laide, cover all the place wey dey leak” the women were here and there. Four babies had successfully been delivered at the maternity today, the last of the women was already in the process of delivering. Nineteen year old Tokunbo Amosun, a native of Iseyin who had been the talk of the Town for a couple of months, She had been raped by an unidentified overzealous drunk youth during the last ‘new season’ festival and had discovered her pregnancy barely a month later. Being an orphan who coincidentally lived with Laju Dosunmu, a barren widow that worked at the maternity of Iseyin, she was advised to have the baby of her rapist and Laju was present to make sure it all went well. The signs of a brewing storm had briefly and mildly interrupted the birth process, however the lightnings and thunderclaps were only a spate of happenings triggered by Paimon speaking, one of these statements was a roar of “AZAZEL!!!”

Azazel , the wild demon of the desert was deep in silly thoughts when Paimon yelled its name and brought its focus back to the gathering that was now a tad unsettled. Being a demon that could be felt physically even when not possessing a physical being, Damian had seen it as useful and told it about the plan, a long speech that he had gotten only the short reply of “ready when you are Master”. It had the appearance of a man with the head and hind legs of a goat and was the demon appointed to accept the sacrifice of the “scape goat”, an ancient human tradition. It was a demon that never paid attention to details and never really thought of its actions, an impulsive and spontaneous one. Paimon had quickly thought about his options within the split second after the hourglass fell and Azazel chasing the content of the hourglass to its chosen one and bringing the baby back was the best choice. “Get the child”, he sneered.

The content of the hourglass came out in a body of very bright light emitting countless sparks and moved at the speed of sound from the hourglass to the maternity as Azazel chased it in equal speed. Abosede held the baby that had just been born facing the entrance of the maternity and backed Tokunbo its mother who was wailing in pain and was being comforted by Laju’s soothing words of “no cry, no be em you don born so?, remain small, you go rest”. Abosede saw the bright light from the gathering that had come straight at the maternity within half a second with a deafening sound that was heard on every border of Oyo State. The loud sound was followed by an eerie silence in the maternity that was interrupted seconds later by the thuds made by the lifeless women that hit the maternity’s hard floor…

 

TO BE CONTINUED…