THE VISITOR
EPISODE 7
WRITTEN BY: LIZZY OYEBOLA YAKUBU
(Click here to read episode 6)
“Just look at what you have done to your wife. See her over there! Just look at her” My mum cried as I asked her about the whereabouts of my wife. When I looked at where she was pointing at, my heart was shattered!
My own wife, Lara was seated on a staircase not too far from the ward, looking so lean. Her head was buried between her laps and her long, beautiful hair was unkempt.
I couldn’t wait to console my mum since her own husband was beside her, holding and petting her. I walked briskly towards the staircase and slowed down as soon as I almost reached her. I walked sadly towards her, unsure of exactly what to say to her.
“Lara” I called out and she stretched her folded legs first and then raised her head, slowly as if, if she did it any faster, the neck would break off.
When our eyes met, my teeth couldn’t control themselves. They gnashed against one another as I fell on my knees before her. Her eyes were bloody! They were swollen and full of dryness! – as if all the tears inside of them had been mopped away! Her nose too was sore. Her face had grown so lean and long!
My heart ached. I felt like pulling her into a warm embrace. I felt like pecking her forehead and feeling her heart beat against mine but the look on her face scared me! She was so close, yet, she felt so far away! It felt like she had placed a very strong barricade between us that I couldn’t cross over.
“Who are you?” Her sudden husky voice asked and I blinked hard, almost shedding tears.
“My wife” Was all I could mutter. She looked into my eyes without blinking, tears rushing to her eyes.
“Your mum didn’t tell you?” She asked and I frowned slightly and shook my head afterwards. “I am done with you.” She said and my eyes widened. “I am ending this marriage!” She explained in clear terms but I still didn’t understand.
“Lara, can you speak in a language that I understand?” I asked, my heart swelling up within me like the waves of a sea. She stood up but she staggered like a drunk man, her hands dangling. I stood up quickly to assist her but she pushed me away!
I landed on the wall opposite us, holding a side of my head in pain. Despite looking so weak and powerless, I was so shocked to see her exerting so much strength on me.
“Do not touch me!” She screamed fiercely. After a short moment of silence, she started staggering towards me, breathing so fast, yet so weak. “You, I hate you! You are very bad! I will never, ever, I mean, never have anything, just anything to do with you” She said, her voice so weepy.
“Lara, I am so sorry. I was not myself when all these things…” I was saying when she started shaking herself violently. After a while, she stopped and then held her head in obvious pain, panting heavily.
“Don’t you ever say sorry to me! I hate you!” She said very pitifully again. She said it like she was very disappointed in me, not like she really hated me. She seemed so lonely and weak and angry.
“Lara, I love you!” I said and she shook her head.
“I really thought you do! How wrong I was!” She said and started turning away, walking so weakly.
“Lord, have mercy on me” I muttered as I walked behind her very silently. She turned back suddenly.
“Do not follow me! If you do, I will kill myself! I will break your bones and then kill myself” She said and staggered on. I wanted to stop to think about what to do when I suddenly felt the urge in me. The love I had for Lara from the beginning swept me off my feet. I ran after her and hugged her tightly from behind, weeping as I did. She struggled but I couldn’t let her go.
“I am sorry. I am deeply sorry my darling wife. I am sorry.” I wept on and on. She kept struggling, screaming ‘Leave me!’ but I just knew it was a camouflage. I knew she was hurt and needed to be reassured of my love. I knew I had hurt her trust. I knew I had been a very bad husband and protector. I just couldn’t leave her.
“I was careless! I wasn’t watchful! I allowed the devil to find a way in our house. I am so sorry.” I wept, shaking vehemently as I held onto her still. “I forgot that you are my wife. I forgot how much you prayed for me. I forgot how much you saw ahead what I couldn’t even see at all! I allowed a hole in our house and deadly foxes rushed inside to attack us!” I wept on as the understanding of what had happened dawned on me. At that point, she was no longer struggling with me. She had started weeping from her heart.
“I allowed you to be heartbroken! I allowed my darling daughter to be attacked right before my eyes, under my own roof! I allowed Jeddy to see all these negatives. I was supposed to be a husband, a father, a protector, a head of my family but I left the gate open!” I cried and she burst out crying at that. She wept so much that when she started coughing, it felt like her chest would be ripped out.
I pecked her neck over and over again, staining it with my warm tears.
“I am back for good! I want to be a good husband to you again. I want us to fast and pray together. I want us to make decisions together. I want us to love and express our love again. I want us to jump at each other in bed and whisper in each other’s ears…” I said, taking my mouth to her ears. I bit the right lobe. She shivered, chuckled and wept again.
“That tickles” She said and I smiled.
“I want us to fight for Jemmy’s life in prayers. I want us to push the evil visitor out of our home. I want us to assume our place in Christ Jesus again!” I said and she turned to face me. She sobbed as she looked into my face. Afterwards, she started hitting my chest softly, sobbing as she did.
“I don’t want to forgive you! I don’t!” She cried.
“I know. I know I don’t deserve to be…” I was saying when she pecked my forehead.
“Why do I love you this much? Why can’t I even control my heart for once? How can my many days anger suddenly melt away like this? What is this love?” She asked again and I sighed, smiling heartily.
“You know I love you more than you love me.” I said and she started hitting my shoulders, raising her nose as she did.
“Of course, you do!” She said sarcastically. “My love is a million times greater than yours. That has been proven, time and time again” She argued.
“Well, let’s start our marriage all over to prove that. Deal?” I asked and she smiled, eyeing me.
“Well…deal!” She said and I smiled.
“Good girl!” I said, pecking her lips softly. She sighed very deeply afterwards.
“Marriage is indeed a union of two forgivers!” She said and I smiled, holding her hand.
“Thank you so much for forgiving me.” I said “Right now, I need you to come with me to Jemmy’s ward so we can command calmness into her body as her parents in cooperation. Afterwards, you will have a warm bath, eat, study the Word of God and relax. Everything you need to eat, drink wear, use and all, I have dropped in the ward”
“Wow!” She exclaimed, looking all happy. “Thank so much my darling. Thanks. I suddenly feel so calm! I suddenly feel like there is a cover over me. I suddenly feel protected. Thanks, my husband” She said so lovingly.
_____________
We were about driving into our compound, when Dad’s phone rang. He picked it and placed it on loud speaker.
“Hello Honey”
“Hi sir, have you people gotten home?” She asked with some excitement in her voice.
“Yes. But we are yet to drive inside”
“Honey, you won’t believe that after Bode’s prayers for Jemmy, as soon as you people left this environment, Jemmy’s little finger moved” She announced with so much glitters in her voice. My eyes widened as I looked into dad’s eyes. He smiled.
“That is what happens, honey. When the head of the husband rises up to rebuke the oppressors, they just must leave. In just few minutes, a praying father and husband would give a total knockout to the powers that had been oppressing his household for a long time”
“Hmmmm…I know the place and position that God has put our men but today, I am more awed.” Mum said, so glad.
“The Lord will perfect what He has started. It is not just a finger of Jemmy that will move. She will soon be up, bubbling again in the Name of Jesus” Daddy prayed. I whispered a firm ‘Amen’
“Amen o. Lara and I are moving out now to pray” Mum said and I nodded.
“Fantastic!” Dad exclaimed. “You women should remember that your men are out here fighting, so pray for us too” Dad said.
“Sure! Our prayer point for you is that the Holy Ghost Fire should descend upon that house and every occupant in it right now. Let the Fire wash away every evil implantation in the house and let every evil visitor and evil properties be expelled out of that house now in the Name of Jesus!” She said with so much fire in her voice. Dad smiled.
“God bless you, ladies. We move!” Dad said, hung up and faced me.
“Are you ready, son?” He asked and I nodded, stepped on the gas and raced directly to the gate of our compound.
The gateman opened the door and I sped in.
Holding my hand for a while, Dad said a very short fiery prayer, patted me on the shoulder and winked at me to alight from the car.
I knew it was time for battle!
We were about opening the door to the house when the door opened by itself. Asake and the young lady she had recommended to me bounced out, looking so angry.
“Bode, and where have you been?” Asake asked, fuming with anger. She kept walking towards me like she wanted to enter into me.
“What does it matter to you, mama?” I asked and she started laughing loudly.
“You left myself and your wife in the house for a very long time and you are asking for…”
“This is not my wife in Jesus Name!” I shouted, pointing at the young lady. “I am married and I know my wife. I know what…” I was saying when she started moving towards daddy with a very focused eye.
“It is this man, right? This man here is the one that is entering your head and…” He was saying when dad walked towards her, his hands in his pocket.
“Asake, go inside the house, pack your load and go, now!” He said authoritatively.
“Never! This is my own house! I was invited into this house and I will never leave until I am done doing what I want to do!” She said, poking a finger at my dad’s face.
“The Bible says the stranger shall be afraid and they shall with fear run out of their closets! I command all you strangers in this house right now to be roasted! Holy Ghost Fire, descend and destroy every works of the darkness, now!” I prayed with so much gusto.
As the words got out of my mouth, the young lady started itching her body uneasily and started walking very fast out of the compound.
“Sandy, where are you going to?” Asake asked but the lady didn’t answer. She simply kept walking and running at the same time. “Sandy, your bag is in the house” She called after her but she was gone.
“Now Asake, go into the house now, pick your belongings and…” Dad was saying when she rushed at him, pushed him against the fence, breathing heavily.
“You do not tell me what to do and how to do it. I am here to…”
“I do not give room for you to talk, oh woman. The atrocities that you have done in this house is enough. I command you and your belongings to be rooted out of this house by fire now! The Holy Ghost Fire should descend upon you and take away…” I was praying when the gate suddenly opened. Four uniformed men walked towards us, especially towards Asake who was still holding dad to the wall.
The policemen rescued dad from his grip and informed her that she was needed at the station.
“Station for what? Why do I…” She was asking when another policeman picked her two hands and placed them in a cuff.
As she struggled on, the fire alarm in my house suddenly started to blare loudly. I looked into dad’s face questionably.
“Is that fire?” A policeman asked as he walked towards the front door. We followed behind him very smartly. As he opened the front door, thick smoke gushed out like heavy flood, blocking everywhere.
“Whaaaat!” Dad and I exclaimed. I tried to wade in the smoke but it was too thick. Dad tried it too, it was not possible. I stood afar off and looked at my house being razed down before my very eyes.
My dad walked towards me and patted my hands. “The firemen will be here soon” He said and I smiled. I didn’t know how to feel exactly. I didn’t know if I should weep or if I should brace up. I felt so calm.
Neighbors had started coming in with various hoses and buckets. The more they tried to put the fire off, the more it increased.
“No, there can’t be fire!” Asake screamed suddenly. “There can’t be fire oooo” She cried, struggling to be set free.
“Why?” A policeman asked.
“I have so many things in the house that I can’t bear to lose. I need to…” She was explaining when I worked towards her.
“Things like what, mama?” I asked her squarely. She had started crying, itching her body like she was having a bad reaction to a drug.
“Let me just go inside and bring them out. Let me go inside and bring them out ooo” She screamed, her face turning red.
“Tell me what they are. Just let me know if…”
“I will die if those things burn. I will die! Those things must not see fire! Please let me go and bring them out” She screamed again. “My throat oooo. My throat oooo. Water!!” She screamed again. Dad stretched a bottle of water to me which I opened and raised to her mouth.
As soon as the water greeted her tongue, she spat it out.
“Fire! You have fire in your bottle! Why?” She wept, throwing her tongue out for fresh air intermittently. I tried to feel the bottle I was holding and it was very cold! I knew something was fishy and I wanted to get to the roots of the matter.
“Mama, what did you keep in the house?”
“My things. I kept some in your children’s room. Some on your bed. Some in the kitchen. Some in the store. I sprayed it everywhere and it must not see fire! They said I will die if those things see fire!”
“What are the things mama?”
“Seeds?” She said and I looked into dad’s face.
“Seed of what?” I asked but she couldn’t answer me. She kept trying to wriggle out of the police grip, looking at the burning house with her mouth suspended. The policemen started to drag her away like a sack of beans. She wailed aloud as she was being bundled out.
As the firemen drove their big, red water tanker into our compound, I moved to a side of the fence, picked up my phone and tried to call my wife to inform her about the latest. As she picked, all I could hear from afar was ‘Fire! Fire! Fire! Holy Ghost Fire! Burn, Fire of God!’
I looked at dad, placed the phone on speaker and smiled.
“See the main cause of the fire, dad!” I announced, laughing so deeply. I just couldn’t believe it! I knew that so much had gone wrong in my house and all. I had been thinking of how to cleanse the house and restore everything back to how it was. But who on earth would have thought that two ladies, praying in one corner of one hospital miles away would literally set the whole house on fire?
The Holy Ghost Fire!
“Is the house insured?” Dad asked me as we eventually went around the ruins shortly after the firemen had left.
“Yes, it is fully insured” I said, smiling.
“Thank God. I was already worried for you. This is really a very difficult time for you” He said, sighing. I wouldn’t stop smiling.
“But this still feels so surreal to me! Just because a visitor entered our house, my house was taken; my daughter’s health was attacked, one of my cars was destroyed; my marriage was almost destroyed too! Whaaat!”
“Yes! That is the devil for you! He will promise you a thing and take one hundred things from you in return!” Dad said and I nodded.
“Hmmmm…wow!”
“We have different kinds of visitors. Some would come to our house with nothing but will leave with plenty. Some will come and leave as they are. Some people would come and leave us better than they met us. Some would come with very bad intentions and take so many things from us. Each person that comes to visit has a different mission, a different spirit backing him or her, a different aura and touch” He explained on.
“Hmmm”
“That is why my wife and I would always pray that no one will come to our house to inflict pains and afflictions on us! That if the person is planning such visit, the Lord should stop such! Or that even if the person succeeds and comes over, our house should become too hot and not conducive for them. Our house is a habitation of the Presence of the Lord and it should remain so!”
“Hmmm….wow!” I exclaimed as I took pictures of the ruins. “This whole ordeal, rather than break me has even left me very blessed, dad!” I said and he looked into my face. “I have learnt so many lessons in the past few days that I had never known in the past thirty something years of my life!”
“Hmmmm…thanks be to God! Being able to see the positive in all negativity is strength, boy! I doff my hat” He said and I started laughing.
“Dad, please stop!” I said, still laughing.
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