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Thirteen: Hannah

Thirteen

A man lives to all the miseries but is dead to all pleasures of life.
Pg 116
Moral Reflections

The devil whispers words of wisdom to you on how to make a wish and then he snatches the whole lamp from your hands with an evil smirk on his face.

I tendered my brother's shirt and I thought that was it, that was all. He was probably going to die and I was going to live with the guilt of sacrificing him for the rest of my life but when I woke up one morning to my wife sniffing silently: a failed attempt not to disturb my sleep, I asked her what was wrong and she told me that my brother had called her and that he and his family had been deported due to a financial implication from his company. I spent the entire day doubting if this was the doing of the Brothers—which they finally confessed to anyway, but that night Ireti tapped me awake and said to me: "Ajibade...this is a coincidence right? It's got nothing to do with the...with that night."

"I don't know what you're talking about, I just went to have a conversation with my brother."

"And you came out with his property while he was snoring? I mean he was pretty loud that night."

"He was tired."

"Ajibade, Ajibade...Ajibade omo Augustine Coker, hope you've not gone to put your hands into something dirty you this man?" she pulled at one of her ears and I just asked her to sleep but I couldn't sleep anymore that night. There was indeed no sleep for the wicked. I knew I was going to bear the consequences of my actions for the rest of my life and as long as my brother lived.

Weeks later, I came home to announce to my daughters that they would all be traveling out of the country, expecting a positive reaction from Ireti who only hijacked our little son from my grasp and called me a wicked man before disappearing into the room.

"Don't mind your mummy, she's just angry that she won't be going with you guys!" I quickly distracted my girls but my eyes kept lurking at the door which Ireti had disappeared into with fear and guilt. I knew that she'd begun to add two plus two together and it was beginning to disturb the hell out of me.

"She'll be fine— the women are usually like that when the blessings start to flood in—they eventually get used to it. Just buy her lots and lots of women's stuff." Juwon waved my words off when I shared my fear to him on one of our occasional hangouts at the VIP exclusive clubs owned by one of the mistresses of a member of ours.

Juwon's suggestion never worked anyway, In fact, the more I gifted Ireti with luxurious things the more she became more and more suspicious of me.
"Shouldn't you be using this money to raise Big Daddy and his family back on their feet? If what you say is true and God has truly decided to bless you then why aren't you blessing the man he's always used to bless you?"  She'd usually say before storming out of the room and I'd coil up whenever the warning words of Lord Nicholas rang in my heart.
"THE MOMENT YOU GIVE HIM A NAIRA; YOU BEGIN TO RISK YOUR LIFE AND THAT OF YOUR FAMILY." And whenever I got haunted by the spirit of Hannah and ran to the Brothers, he'd tell me that it was because my wife had sent money to my brother and his family.

Hannah was the first blood I ever shed on the altar of Lucifer. It happened exactly one year of my initiation.

"You have to pledge for the year, Ajibade." Lord Nicholas casually said to me weeks before; while we flew to Dublin for a fellow member's all-weekend birthday party.

"Should I get another one of his shirts?" I ignorantly asked and I noticed the scoffs and grunts that erupted from the other members in the jet—despite the presence of beautiful models with their surgically enhanced bodies by their sides— some of these women were role models to the new generation via Instagram.

"No, Ajibade. We're free done with him." He gave me a knowing eye that indicated the presence of the ladies amongst us. "We need something bigger this time. You'll know when you see it." He chuckled and the others hailed me and congratulated me in advance.

The following week, I was coming back from my usual monthly visitation to my parents which usually ended with them accusing me of being wicked, ungrateful, and callous of heart to ignore my elder brother and his family during their difficult times, when I saw this little girl hawking fresh oranges and immediately, a voice screaming, "SHE IS THE ONE: BLINK AT HER TWICE!", filled my car and just like a spell, I found myself obeying instantly. I stopped her and asked how much her oranges were and just when I selected a few and asked her to pack them up, I blinked twice at her and drove away. I found her waiting for me in the secret alter I'd created in my study with her tray of oranges replaced with a calabash and her colorful dress replaced with a red wrapper around her chest.

"PICK THAT KNIFE UP...STAB HER THREE TIMES AND COLLECT HER BLOOD INTO THE EMPTY CALABASH!" The voice came against and once again I obeyed like I was being controlled by a remote and I hadn't realized what I'd done until I saw her innocent blood dripping down my bloodied hands and I remember falling to my knees in tears as the images of my daughters ran through my head. What was I becoming? Who was I becoming? How had I gotten to this point in my life?

Hannah didn't move or flinch from her kneeling position. She just knelt there with her eyes wide open while her blood ran into the calabash like she was a human faucet of blood.

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