4 Compromising
After Nosa left her in a haste and she was about to join those praying within the house, she received a call that would have cracked her up on a normal day or might have incited her joy. The number belonged to one of her former customers, who worked as a customer care agent with Glo Fortunecity. The last time they met, they fought- that was the day before she gave her life to Christ. He would assume she would still be in the business of prostitution.
'Joany, how far?'
'Raphael, how are you?'
'Sorry, I want to speak with Joana'.
'I'm the one, of course'.
'Why are you going all formal with me?'
She smiled warily. 'Don't mind me. Things have changed'.
'I guessed so because there is serious trouble'.
She shook her head. Raphael would never change. He always took his desire for pleasure as a problem she could help him to solve. 'Raphael, I'm now a serious believing Christian. I'm not into that business again'.
'Forget that side. Am I not a Christian too? At least I go to our church every Sunday. They know me when I carry the bell and begin to sing. Most times, I go into trance. I fall and stain my white prayer gown. But, I still do what I do'.
'Raphael. You need Jesus. Celestial Church of Christ will not help'.
'Ah see this girl-she. If I'm not a Christian, then how will I now have visions? It was one of the visions that made me do Igbele. You know what Igbele means?’
'Yes... That one that your pastors would tell you to stay in the church because something bad wants to happen, and they want you to avoid it by staying in the church. I know Igbele'.
'Yes. My own was even two months. But, that's not the reason I'm calling you'.
'What are you talking about?'
'There is a serious trouble. A big bottle of urine has been opened. Some very influential person asked our office to run a match of your voice'.
'My voice. Why me? How do you know it was me?'
'I don't know why you, but I know that you were talking to a man. I wouldn't have known it was you, but because I heard you say you were once a prostitute and you mentioned your name'.
'I don't get...Who brought the voice match?'
'I don't know. But the person had the power to pull strings. Our boss selected a very few people. As in, how will they ask us to start running a trace on your voice from all our call files? In fact, you were talking about going to heaven or seeing visions'.
Joana stared into oblivion. Nosa had just deceived her.
'Why will they want your voice?'
'I don't know. I don't know...'
'Be careful'.
'Have they discovered it was me?'
'No. Not yet. I've told my friend Thompson to delete every of your file from our database'.
'Is that not a sin? I don't want you to sin for me'.
'Idiot. If it's true you're seeing heaven. Then, the person is looking for you'.
'How will you know?'
'How won't I know? People have been disappearing. I mean…Do you listen to the news? You better go and glue your ear to the news. They are kidnapping people. Joany, please, hide your head'.
'I don't know where to hide'.
'I know. But for now, be safe. I'll see how I can help'.
'Raphael, thanks'.
'No worries. No worries, babe. It will be fine. You're surer than Bet9ja'.
Joana wondered what would happen now that she trusted Nosa. Surely, Nosa couldn't be the one. He knew who she was. Maybe, something was wrong. He must have recorded their meetings and someone would have heard it all. She dialed his phone number.
'Hello'.
'Nosa, please help. There's trouble.'
'What happened?
'I...I', she searched her head and tried to figure out what so important she wanted to tell him. At that time, she hated ever being involved in the accident that made her have the memory issue. 'I've forgotten it. Oh! It's dangerous. I've forgotten'.
'Don't worry. You have no fear. You still have till tomorrow'.
'I hope. I will write it down. I always remember again'
'That's good'.
'Can you text me the address of your house'.
'I'll do'.
'Immediately you drop the call, before you forget'.
She nodded. She sent the message with trembling hands. Regardless of the fact that she was in the public, she went down on her knees to pray. She was sure wouldn't be able to sleep that night. She needed something to hold on to. What if she slept and saw another vision? Although the angel told her she needed a lot of rest, for now, she still had that nagging feeling that she might be carried away. The feeling haunted her like her late grandmother's forever-nagging voice.
***
Nosa sped off to the house and drove into bends without fear that he might encounter little children or animals or even other cars. Shayla was about to make his light of happiness burn out quickly.
One of three things was sure to happen if he continued barking at Shayla over the phone that she shouldn’t enter his compound- Chloe might hear Shayla's voice or Shayla truly barged in as she threatened or he got so angry that he would finally break his record of never beating a woman.
As much as he cherished the love she had for him and understood what she felt at that moment, he wouldn't allow her to defile the serenity of his compound, especially with her sassiness. Chloe was still grieving, but none of the death of her loved ones would be as hurting as discovering that he had been deceiving her all these while, that their marriage had been in the virtual reality like that of the film, 'Under the dome'.
'Just wait', he mumbled as he stepped on the accelerator. The wind and the darkness had truly cleared the path for him, however, if Moriah was seated in the same car as he, she would have lamented about his recklessness. Although he was prepared for any sudden appearance of another car or somebody, he couldn't reduce his speed out of fear of hitting someone or bashing another car.
He couldn't fathom how it happened, but their calls got disconnected, and the phone brought up the TV series he was seeing on his way to the places he was making his investigations before she called, but he wasn’t in the mood to watch it right there. He stopped it and poured all his concentration on the roads that looked as if one was entering a cult, and the trees on the side of the road were hooded figure, who kept swaying from side to side as they hummed a mantra.
Shayla called again, he picked up the call and put her on speaker phone.
'I swear I'm counting to five. If you don't come outside, I'll barge into this shabby thing you call a house. I'll be rough and talk and scream and win you away today'.
All he needed to meet up with her was for her to keep ranting. He had the best formulae for that.
'You know I'm not lying. You mean the world to me. But my wife is grieving over the loss of our child'.
'That implies that you are ready to lose another child because I'll keep shouting till my baby pops out to the hard ground'.
'Shaylee, don't you dare do any stupid thing. I'm not far from home. Trust me'.
'I don't trust you. I don't give a heck. Not a single bit of it. I'll scream till the street bare their ugly, rotten, brown and black teeth to see you leave this house'.
'I'm near the house. I will block you at the house soon. I'm at the fullest speed'.
'You liar, you tyrant, you madman. You are in the house. I can see your car. One'.
'Hold on a bit'.
'No. You are a deceiver, pretender and you said you'll always choose me over her. Two'.
'I'm in the estate. Please just stall your attack'.
'No. I'm knocking on this door, and I'll not wait for a second after my fifth call. Three'.
'Baby, hold on, my car will be there soon. You're more trustworthy than any bulletproof'.
She laughed. 'You're a making mockery of me. I guess you and your wife would be laughing at me right now or do you think I don't know you people laugh behind my back? I won't allow you do that to me today. Four'.
'Please, I went with my wife's other car. If you scan the end of the street you will see me speeding up to meet you'.
'And this is the end. Tell the rest to your friends and the likes of them that laugh at me to no end. Five'.
'Please don't ruin a good evening with your thirst for my blood. I'm here'.
She went to the gate and banged just as he parked by her side. 'I'm here'.
'You devil. You weren't at my level, but I adored you like heaven. Now you want...' She raised her hands as she shouted and turned then rushed at him.
'Shhh', he whispered as she tried to make him see that she was really angry. She struck at him with her fists, but he didn't resist her; instead, he took both hands and drew her nearer.
'I'm sorry. I’ve offended you'.
She cried and crashed into his chest. 'You left me and deserted me and refused to see me. Have I offended you? What's my offense in loving you?'
'Nothing'.
'I love you'.
'I know... So you came this night to see me?'
'Yes. I couldn't live without you any longer. I was tired of being in this state without you by my side. You're all I have.'
'I know you like I know every part of my gun'.
She giggled, stared into his eyes and buried her head into his chest. It was his love for crimes that made her love him at first.
'Let's leave here'.
'Let me meet my wife. I'll stay with you tonight but I have to be back tomorrow'.
'Why?'
'We have a big case...to solve. Mr. Johnson called me in'.
She nodded. 'But you're not leaving early'.
'At least ten'.
'I know you. You would hurry'.
'My appointment is by ten. If I tried to do that before ten, shoot me'.
'You're pulling my leg'.
'I'm not joking'.
She nodded as he entered the house. He was joking, but if it would make him have a happy family, he would let her have that hope. She was that part he never saw in his wife, who was never interested in the criminal aspect of his life. She only wanted him to be a celebrated P.I. He and Chloe were good together. But things had stopped being rosy after she lost her father. Regardless of his love for Moriah, he still had a little connection with Chloe, and he had always banked on that until she lost her father. That day, she prayed for three days unending, but Mr. Kings didn't even bat an eyelid. Since that time, he had lost Chloe to her inner grief, to her Chloeset. Those days were so lonely for him that he had to resort to visiting a club, where he met a first timer, Shayla. Despite the disturbing fear of his father coming all the way from Edo state to Fortunecity to find him with someone else, he went ahead with the relationship.
Just as he was entering the house, Joana called, saying she had information for him, but she couldn't remember. That statement in itself was infuriating. Why would she call if she had nothing to give him? He felt like yelling and telling her how stupid she was. In fact, a thought briefly came to his mind as he put the phone into his pocket. With the way she was suddenly warming up to him, maybe she was beginning to like him. He rubbed his face and brought his hand to his bald head. All he could tell her was to send him her house address, that he would visit her the next day. Her paranoia was becoming extraordinary. At Victoria's place, she kept crying that she was in trouble- from God and Devil. How was that his concern? Everybody that wants to be a Christian must be ready for trouble from any of the two of them.
When he entered the room, Chloe didn't even flinch as if she noticed his presence.
'Chloe'.
She turned and smiled at him. 'Shhh!’
He stopped on his track and did a few seconds prayer to God. Why was she acting in a weird way? Chloe mustn’t be mad at this period. The world would blame him for being nonchalant with his wife.
‘Papa is inside’.
Nosa was now 50% sure. His fear becoming reality. ‘Which Papa?’
‘Papa now. Your father is…’
‘He’s here? Oh, God! Another bottle of urine'.
'Don't bring that here. That's reckless as Moriah would say'.
'What… What is he doing here?’
‘He is here to rest and for the Christmas’.
‘Why? Is that why he came down here? Couldn’t he have stayed in his Idumwurgha forest?'
Chloe looked up at him and sighed exasperatedly. ‘No. Nosa, they are looking for him. Some sect…erm, Cults. They blame him for something odd his Pastor friend did. They want…’
‘God punish all of them. Now, they've brought a burden to me. They don't know how much I love to put my bee out of his miseries. One bullet to the heart, another to the brain. So quickly’.
Chloe groaned to show him that he was either being rude or was shouting. ‘But I don’t just understand you. Why are you…? Why have you not stopped being angry at your father? And lower your voice… My cat and Papa are sleeping’.
‘I’m not angry at him’, Nosa said between closed teeth. ‘I hate him like Satan hates God’.
Chloe shrugged. ‘Maybe you’re the Satan’.
Nosa brushed the air away. ‘Hope he is still sleeping?’
Chloe nodded. 'Meanwhile, my WhatsApp has expired and…'
‘Yes. Good. Tell him I’m not coming home till tomorrow. Probably in the night’.
‘That’s a lie’.
‘It’s not a lie. I’m leaving truly. I have to get to a place near the riverbank as early as possible’.
‘If it’s not because of your father, that’s good’.
‘What? Me? Him? Impossible. By the way, did you hear someone knock the door?'
'The door...No'.
'Erm... I mean the gate'.
'No. Did you see anyone?'
He shook his head. 'Meanwhile, I came inside, I saw you all morose again. You should talk to someone'.
'I'm talking now. See me, talking to you. I’m fine and okay. Talking. See me. Happy. Talking'.
He shook his head. 'This is not talking. After you lost your father, you didn't recover for months. Then, we lost our babies. It was disastrous. You should let out your anger at God or something grievous. You cry or grieve or do something. Just do something'.
'But we talk. We talked about the weather'.
'That's the problem. You don't cry about it. You zone out'.
'But, I'm perfectly alright. See me. Instead of zoning out as you assert, I watch T.V, bury myself in something ideal and unconventional for a grieving woman. I know you don't see them as good, but I'm alright'.
'No… You're not alright'.
'I'm perfectly alright like a fresh flower', she said as she sat straight, rose, spun and sat again. 'I'm fine. I tend to my things. My father's companies are running fine. I get information regularly from my managers. In fact, I would have started work, if not for the contract of my overbearing father. See, do you see me having any speech defect? No. I'm fine dear'.
'What of Irene? Your friend from Columbia. Can I get her number? I will inform Raphael also. When last did you talk with any of them?'
'Irene, a day before she died - yesterday. My friend is dead. Raphael, we still talked this week', she shrugged.
'Oh my God! Oh my God!' Nosa said and dragged her nearer. 'I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell me?'
'Because I've erased the dead from my mind. I don't want to keep grieving for anybody. God knows where they are - heaven or hell'.
'I'm sorry'.
'Don't be. You didn't kill them. I, really, am fine'.
'I need to go for more investigation. I'll be back, tomorrow morning'.
She nodded and faced the TV.
'Let me pick some clothes inside the house'.
'And please, find these kidnappers. They are reasons to grieve on their own. They make us lose contact with the ones with the true visions of heaven'.
'I will', he said and kissed her forehead. She stiffened. His wife was grieving and he was following his mistress to her place- there must be something he could do to avoid all these. Not that he really loved Shayla, but he was obliged to follow her because of his unborn child.
'Give me your phone. As I was saying the other time, my WhatsApp has expired', she said as he stood. He handed over his phone to her, his mind still fixed on the bad news she just shared. How come she didn't talk about Irene's death yesterday? He should find a way to help her regain her humanity and start responding like any normal human being.
After he had picked some clothes, he returned to the parlor for his phone. She returned it and said,' you had a message. I'm sorry I mistakenly opened it. It's a message about one address'.
It's nothing', he said and kissed her forehead. She was worth to him than rubies, than their two dead children.
'I'll call Raphael to come tomorrow if it will make you happy'.
'It will…'
'Okay… And don't you dare climb my grass.'
'Yes, mummy'.
'Your bald…'
'Yes, mummy'.
He smiled and went out to meet an agitated Shayla. She skipped to meet him and had to stop herself from hugging him as if she was afraid he would never return. 'I was beginning to fear'.
Out of nowhere, came a woman, whom Chloe had always complained of her nosiness.
'Good evening sir', she said as she rocked her crying baby. 'I want to see Mummy Kings'.
Nosa sighed. 'She is not around'.
'But she said I should come to meet her this eveni…'
'Woman, are you deaf?' Shayla shouted and pulled Nosa towards his IVM G20.
***
Chloe sat still, watching the news, stroking Joel's fur. She had the dream again. This time, she saw her children in hell. It was more horrible than the past ones. Most of those days, all she saw were the blazing fire, the big maggots, and the huge rats. However, this one was definitely horrifying and she wished she could get acid to wash it away from her mind because she also saw Irene. Despite all, she didn't see her father. Mr. Kings couldn't have made it to heaven, he was her father but didn't deserve heaven. He was a horrible man. He shouldn't have fallen in love with Chloe's mother, and she wouldn't have given birth to her out of wedlock.
Maybe the devil was playing with her mind. He must probably be somewhere else in hell along with her mother- they both deserved going to hell.
She was supposed to be out there searching for information herself but her father-in-law was around, she couldn't dabble into such, leaving him to himself without proper preparation. He wouldn't be deterrent to her desire to find what Mummy church was hiding, but she had nothing to fear because she had placed Segun on it.
The house was boring. So, she rose and tended to her flowers with Joel rubbing itself against her body. She had trimmed the edges of the leaves when Mummy Church came around. For some reason, a sort of rot was beginning to grow on the leaves and she had been trying to avoid such. As she fondled the blade of the flowers, she imagined how heaven could be. She had read about it in books by some authors. She would really love for people in Nigeria, especially in Fortunecity, especially one of those missing ladies to testify of it. Only God could really give a true picture of how heaven would look like, and one could only understand better if one was from the same tribe or the same area as the one who had the message.
She was very sure one of them would return from heaven one day to tell them about heaven. However, before that time, she would sit down to watch things unfold, and pray to God of heaven that he would send down a rain of righteous visionaries. She opened her jotter and went through it again. There were so many messages that she wished she could play a part in making these things work. If she could really help in building an army of God, it would really make her excited. However, the Bible stated that they should write the vision. How would she write the vision when the only thing she could see was the rotten evil of hell?
She picked up her phone and dialed Raphael's number. If she spoke with him, Nosa would be pleased and he wouldn't disturb her about not talking, not crying any longer.
'Stupid boy', she said as soon as Raphael called her name over the phone. 'Won't you come to mummy?'
He groaned as if he was busy, but she already knew his reply.
'I'll be there'.
They talked, abused one another in a mild way, and fixed the next day for a meeting. Then, Segun sent a message. 'I really need to shift post. Shayla needs me'.
She gritted, bit her lower lips, and stared into nothing. The only option was for her to go herself. She picked her phone and called him. 'Why are you doing this? You know I need you more than Shayla. She had just left with my husband'.
A regular wife should be angry at her husband for having an external affair, but if it would make him happy, she had no issue with it.
'But I need my life than even the money I'm getting'.
'I can help you get away from the authority's trouble if you want'.
'I don't want. Katrina is still with them. She doesn't know what I do for a living. And Shayla is banking on that'.
'Send me your location through WhatsApp'.
'I'm at…'
'Over WhatsApp. Remember the story of the man hanging from a rope'.
'I need to…'
'If he didn't wait longer, he wouldn't have gotten help'.
He sighed. 'I'll hang on. But please relieve me in time'.
'Before another bird flies over wherever you're, I'll be there'.
She fondled the rotten flower and knew there was no other option than to do the things that would help matters: she sliced the rotten leaf off its stem. She entered the guest room her father-in-law slept in, and gently tapped him.
'Papa, please wake', she said as she tapped him.
The tired old man wriggled in his sleep and turned to listen to her. He tiredly opened his eyes and took a few seconds to come to the realization that Chloe was the one in front of him.
'My daughter, hope all is well?'
'I'm sorry for waking you, but I think my Pastor's wife needs my help, and I don't know…'
'If someone is in need, you need to head there'.
'Thank you, Papa, but how we will… In case you need food, I've prepared food for you…'
'I'll wait'.
Chloe gritted. What if Mummy Church decided to do something else?
'Then, you can try the juice I and Joel did'.
'Joel? Who is…? Oh! Are you leaving us alone together?'
Chloe laughed and understood what he meant by that. Her father-in-law wasn't fond of her cat, and Joel too always had a reason to be disgusted by his presence. Chloe had always tried to make the two of them closer, but it was always a futile effort. Unfortunately, their enmity always had a heightened sense whenever Nosa was around since Joel would muzzle up to Nosa, who might choose that time to be away from his father or argue with him.
Upon driving outside, she knew what the rotten flower symbolized. The nosy woman was meandering around her gate. The funniest part of it all was that she always wondered why her husband wouldn't take care of her. She would cut her off.
Excitedly, the woman hopped towards her and flagged her down. Chloe hissed and stopped the car.
'Mummy kings, I saw your husband with a woman. She was hugging him'.
Chloe snapped at her. 'Woman, what do you want? The money?'
The woman, unashamed, nodded repeatedly. Chloe hissed, grabbed her bag, and unzipped it and fetched her wallet. The woman edged forward. Angry and hoping to never see her again, Chloe removed wads of one thousand notes and pointed it at her.
'Thief', a man shouted from afar. Chloe looked up and saw a fierce man rushing to meet her. The nosy woman looked at the man with fear and backed from Chloe. The man marched to meet Chloe.
'Please, what is she doing?'
'I'm just greeting her', the woman said and pulled her crying daughter nearer.
'I was just…' Chloe said as she stretched the money out.
'Please ma, don't ever give her money'.
'I wasn't begging for money. She just wanted to give me'.
'Don't give her, ma. I traveled…'
'Paulina's father, let's resolve this at home'.
'Don't give this woman any money ever in your life. I traveled and sent her money. But when I returned I got information that she had been going around, looking poor and begging for money. You're in for a hard time, Paulina's mother'.
Chloe drove off into the darkness of the day. Segun sent the address to an old church in a land she had recently acquired. The journey to the address of the old deserted church Segun felt like hours. She hoped he would stay there till she arrived. At that moment, she felt bad for expending her energy on poke-nosing and behaving like a weed in the affairs of her Pastor's wife, but if it would do good to her and the world, Chloe wouldn't back down. Her desire for Fortunecity was to see it come to term with God's way.
Immediately she got to the place they were, Segun pointed them out to her and complained as he drove away. She didn't know why he was still freelancing with Shayla when she could keep paying him for just monitoring her company. However, she had learnt that human desires were greater than their hunger for money.
After he drove off, she sat there and watched Mummy Church having a heated discussion with a lanky woman, who looked as if she had been bereft of food for months. From the way they kept glancing from one place to another from the dim light in the place, she could guess the woman was afraid. The problem was that she wasn't even sure if the woman really saw heaven or hell.
Mr. Kings, her father, had a belief that one must aim for whatever one wanted, and not seat behind wheels to expect it drop in her laps.
She drove towards them and came out of her car as her mind scanned for the best reason for her sudden appearance. Chloe always ensured that any land she bought was lightened up with a lot of street lights. Immediately, she got into the ray of the street lights, Mummy Church was the first to see her. She became pale and swallowed hard. She kicked the lanky woman, who caught the cue and saw Chloe.
'Mrs. Obaigbenwen… I don't understand, what are you doing here?'
Chloe looked surprised as her mind raced with the best reply to Mummy Church. 'Mummy, I should ask you the same'.
'We…' Mummy Church said and stuttered.
At that moment, Chloe felt like a cat, which had just cornered a rat. She stood straight and hoped her stance would send the fear of God into Mummy Church. If that woman was truly a visionary, she should really get off the hiding spree, and pass the message to the world. The world needed to know what God had in plan for the world. Although many of the messages were almost the same, they still needed to tell people how and what God wanted the rapture to happen. And also what they needed to prepare for in heaven.
'We're scouting for land', the lanky woman said and glanced shyly at Mummy Church, who nodded as if it was a lesser sin and can be easily forgiven.
'Yes', Mummy Church said and nodded repeatedly. 'We are scouting for land'.
'Well, the land is sold out or would soon be'.
'How do you know that?' Mummy Church
'This land would soon be mine', Chloe said as she pretended to stare at the land that was being overgrown with grasses. She had just paid some people to cut the grass some weeks ago, but she was surprised at the way the grass had grown so big especially in the harmattan period. Although the whole area was dark, she still saw the shape of their height.
The woman fidgeted and glanced at Mummy Church, who looked rattled also.
'But I thought you just bought three of recent'.
'Yes, I told you why already'.
Mummy Church nodded.
'So, the land wasn't in your father's name?' Mummy Church asked.
Why will she ask such question? 'I told you already. I bought it in my name, not his name'.
'By the way, why did you people come here in the night? There are vigilantes here'.
'This is the only time she can get the chance to come'.
'This is serious', the lady said and shook with fear.
'Let me talk to her', Mummy Church said and used her good hand to drag the frightened lanky woman away. The lady kept glancing at a building at the edge of the land. The house belonged to the guard she paid to watch over the place. She did that for her other lands, but this particular one had been reported to be a haven for a lot of evil