NEW WAVE LAZARUS ( STORY OF AFRICAN GODS)

(Melancholy Part two)

****continuation*****

" Look, Sir, I appreciate the help but I think I should leave, I need to reach my parents."

"Boy, I don't think you understand how deep the fact that you're here is, you can't just go out to show yourself to anyone."

"No offense Sir but I can't accept what you are telling me, I just can't. "

"I know it's difficult for you to hear but I can prove it to you," Mr. Patrick said.

"How?"

"Come with me," he said picking up his car key from the dining table.

Mr. Patrick took me to a fenced empty plot of land somewhere in the village, a property of my grandfather where we approached two graves, one had been disturbed, ruptured inside out.

On the gravestone, I found my name on it with my date of birth, October 4th, 1997 -April 17th, 2016 beside mine was another Vanessa's, I froze.

"What is this?" I asked myself, everything else faded away, my doubts, my confusion as the truth dawned on me.

"Do you remember being here at any time before you were at school yesterday?" Mr. Patrick asked.

"No."

"This is why you can't reach out to your parents or go home if you do, you will terrify a lot of people, I'm truly sorry for your loss, I will give you some space to let it sink in."

Mr. Patrick walked back to the car, I felt an ache in my chest staring at the gravestone with my sister's name on it, my sister never made it out alive that night, I fell to my knees, this can't be real, this is a nightmare.

The Viktors killed Vanessa, why? I didn't even care I was standing over my own grave. My eyes burned trying to hold back tears that streamed down my face, I was shattered, I wasn't going see my sister again, all these began with me, it's all my fault.

I knelt there static, later Mr. Patrick approached with a shovel to fix the ruptured soil. I felt the remaining light inside of me die, leaving me hollow.

"Let's go" Mr. Patrick gently pats my shoulder.

I stood up, walking in tottering steps, a reflection of the emptiness within me. On our way back to the mansion, we drove in silence.

My life as I knew it was officially over, my friends, everyone that knew me, everyone I had ever met, my parents, death had automatically severed all ties I had with them. Jeremiah Kalu was dead.

I'm a nobody now, just a sad, tragic memory that won't go away, this can't be it.

"Stop the car?"

"What?"

"Please stop the car, Sir!" I said in frustration.

Mr. Patrick pulled over at the side of the street close to the mansion. I stormed out of the door, running with every breath in my body, the feeling of me living my worst nightmare rocked my boat of sadness and I fell into a pool of tears, I kept running, I was already dead but my thoughts, my mind was slowly, painfully killing me again by critically examining my losses and blaming me for the situation.

Mr. Patrick's car was nowhere behind when I looked backward after stopping to catch my breath. I sprinted through different directions not completely sure I could retrace my steps, that wasn't important, I just needed to be alone.

I couldn't accept it, I couldn't accept my life was over.

As I kept walking, heading to nowhere, everything began falling into place, a part of me trying to make sense of the memories I had after the night I died, starting with the darkroom then the weird mute man and the lady that took me out of the facility and brought me to my grandfather.

Another memory of waking up in a casket after having a seizure and passing out when my grandfather performed some kind of ritual ceremony on me saying he wanted to wake me up. They were all linked in some way I can't understand. If those experiences weren't dreams, what were they?

I wanted to take my chances, call my mom just to hear her voice, tell her that I am fine, make her believe it's me, she was the only person in the world right now whom I stood a chance to convince.

There was a convenient store manned by a girl selling recharge card to a customer, she had a phone with her, I approached her for help.

"Excuse me, please can you help me, I'd like to use your phone to make a call," I said.

"No, I only sell cards, I don't let people call with my phone," she replied.

"Please help me I'm stranded, I just lost my phone and I need to call my people. “I lied, pleading.

She reluctantly gave it to me.

"Thank you," I said gratefully.

She stood beside me just to make sure I don't run off with it.

I dialed my Mom's number, it rang and she picked up.

"Hello?"

"Ma it's me" I quickly said in relief.

" Who are you?" She asked.

"It's me, Jeremiah, it's so good to hear your voice Mummy," I answered hoping she'd immediately know it was me.

She was silent for a moment

"Sorry, I think you have the wrong number." She replied and hung up. She didn't recognize my voice, I tried calling again, she picked up.

" I said you have the wrong number." She answered sternly.

"Mom please listen, I don't have the wrong number, it's me Jeremiah, o Wu mmuah! (Trans in Eng "it's me") I'm alive but I'm stranded in the village. I need you to believe me."

She was quiet then suddenly she began to cry.

"Who's this, answer me whoever you are, do you think this is funny?" The sound of her voice in broken sobs.

"No, Ma but it's me."

"Shut up, why are you doing this, is this some kind of sick prank, do you think it's funny to play with the emotions of a grieving mother who just lost her children, I buried my boy six months ago." She cried yelling.

"Ma, listen it's me." I tried to convince her but failed

"Shut up, God will judge you." The call dropped.

"Mom! Mom!"

I tried calling her again, she never picked.

I shut my eyes, holding back tears from the shock.

The one person in the world who would have believed me and stood by me couldn't even recognize my voice, at that point, all hope was lost, I realized I was truly dead.

I gave the phone back to the girl, she saw the despair written all over my face when I thanked her and left only to wander for hours trying to let my newfound reality sink in, it was terrifying to acknowledge Vanessa was gone and to everyone who knew me, I was no more, I had no money and nowhere else to go.

At the end of the day, I found myself at the gate of the only place that could accept me, I didn't knock, I just sat there till dark.

Mr. Patrick opened the gate to find me seated on the ground with my head rested on my knee, I was exhausted from the walk, and depression was already taking hold.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

" I called my mom and told her it was me, she didn't believe me," I said painfully.

"I wouldn't expect her to, no one in their right minds would if I hadn't

known better I wouldn't believe it myself." He replied.

"I'm sorry about before, I have nowhere else to go,"

"This is your house now." Mr. Patrick said.

I slept on the floor in my room with the newspaper article as my pillow till morning.

I stayed in the room for 2 days on the floor, I couldn't eat nor sleep, I had lost my sister, my family, everything, all I have left was the lingering thought knowing I brought this upon myself, I got Vanessa killed.

Mr. Patrick took out the untouched food from last night, dried tears underneath my face, I had wept till my eyes had no more tears to give. We didn't speak much even after he let me back into the house, he was patient.

"You have to eat something, I understand this is hard for you but you have to find a way to adjust and let go, you're just punishing yourself, it won't change anything." Mr. Patrick said.

"The people that did this to us, they were never caught, they got away with it," I replied weakly.

"I know, our security and justice system in this country is very poor, the Police force isn't very equipped or reliable in a lot of cases, they only show up in the aftermath of crimes."

"What if I came forward and point out the people responsible." I insisted.

"That's not an option, you can't ever do that. People attended your funeral, they saw your body and watched it being put in the ground, your old life as you know is over, the moment you walk back into the society as you, you will cause panic and terrify a lot of people especially those you care about,"

"Even if they somehow manage to get past the fear and superstitions which is highly unlikely, how can you explain how you are alive? you will become a subject of controversy, believe me, you don't want that kind of attention."

"It's a small price to pay to get justice for my sister" I quickly answered.

" You're just saying that now because you haven't thought it through yet, the first question you should ask yourself is do you know what you are? Because you're something else entirely, you're different now,bthere's no way you’re completely the same you were 6 months ago."

What Mr. Patrick said sent chills all over my body, I haven't even begun to confront those questions myself.

"Naturally, people die and they don't come back, I know what Elder Kalu did but I didn't think it was possible, the fact that you're here, whatever forces made this happen is beyond comprehension, I will be brutally honest with you, your presence here terrifies me, I don't know how I have been able to cope with all of this. The first night after you arrived, when you went to bed, I had to leave the house and lodge in a hotel just to lessen the fear of what I had just witnessed."

"You're still afraid of me?" I asked.

"Yes, and I am just here to observe you, most people by now would have either run away but thanks to the foundation this house has laid while living with your grandfather, you're not the first strange thing I have encountered and it made me open-minded."

"How did my grandfather do this?" I asked.

"I don't know, Elder Kalu was into a lot of strange practices before he passed away he said he could bring you back, he even wrote me a letter to expect you and take care of you when you come here, I thought he was crazy but here you are."

"Now imagine revealing yourself to people you know, there's a high chance you will be rejected out fear before you can tell your story."

"So, I should sit back and do nothing, let them go free?"

"Is it revenge you want? That's not going to give you back what you've lost, unlike most people a new book of your life has just been opened, you can never be Jeremiah Kalu again, society will never accept you as for him, right now you're just a nobody, see it as an opportunity, a second chance at life, don't waste it trying to cling to the one you've lost ."

"What am I supposed to do then, am I going to spend the rest of my life in secret, and is that how I am going to live?"

" For now, yes, in the future, that's your choice. There's a plan put in place by Elder Kalu before he passed, just be patient. Your situation is very unrelative, take your time and think before making any decisions." Patrick said.