A STRIDE OF HOPE

CHAPTER FOUR : TO HELL AND BACK

After arranging with the command station and relatives we plan for the burial programme As an African community we had to wait two weeks before we could bury the body. Hence we head for our rural home in the village where Saul was to be buried.

I had no idea how traumatizing those two weeks would be.When we arrive immediately the lights in the house the whole house go dim and was quite scary as we were still in shock of the news.

What actually made me more scared was the tales by the superstitious villagers who didn't mind about our situation as they would start narrating to us about their theories of the dead spirits.

"The spirits of the recent dead must come back one last time to their home and family to bid them goodbye," one old mono eyed woman started narrating.

"They normally come in form of spirits and do what they liked or were habitual of in their life."

This tale actually gave me cold feet as the stare the woman would give us with her one eye while she was narrating was quite terrifying."You should expect Saul by the end of this week ."

She concluded as she took her purse which if I may admit ,was one of a kind,and left without uttering another word.

I could see the tensed eyes from the congregation that had now formed in our living room. Coincidentally as soon as the woman stepped out of the house,the lights came back on.

I admit I was not a superstitious person but seriously this scene was not one to be ignored.

Something unexpected happens one evening of week one. It is about 11 pm and most of the people who were in the living room had all dozed of .I was taking tea with my mom and some few relatives.

The radio in the living room was playing some gospel songs on medium volume level . Suddenly it's volume raised to a very high level that we wondered who would be operating it in the middle of the night at such high volume.

One of my aunts runs to the living room to see who was on the radio.To our shock immediately she was about to enter the living room, the lights went off. When she enters, there was no single person awake.

She comes back shaken as she narrates to us what had occured. One of the women who were with us started saying that what the mono eyed woman told us was happening.

"You know that Saul liked loud music ," she said.She had a point and I hated that as it was like a nightmare turning real.

Two days from that incident, we were chilling with Jenifer and a group of people in the living room. It was about 1 am, Jenifer and I were still awake.

Jenifer was finding it hard to sleep at the time as she would have nightmares thus I was to stay awake with her the whole night. Suddenly as I was looking at her , I noticed that her face was blank and her eyes wide open.

I was terrified as I ran towards her only to find that she had had a panic attack. Before she went off and collapsing, she was shouting Saul's name as she pointed to one dark corner in the living room.

I was experiencing all by myself as no one else was awake in the living room.I quickly rush to alert one of my mother's sisters who was a nurse.

This wakes up everyone as they start administering first aid to her .I remain standing there shocked as I imagined I was about to lose my mother too .

After she wakes up , I approach her to speak with her ;she answers me in a manner that leaves me heartbroken."Who are you?...get away from me!" She responds!My aunt tells me that she has memory loss .I stand there tears coming from my eyes.