Grabbing The Hot Gate - Episode 1

 

Stella felt excited. The whole church was watching. That was one great thing that came with being in the prayer unit of the church. You're allowed to do deliverance, even in public. You're made a celebrity than even that most skillful choir member, and the pompous pastor, who pretended to be humble, mostly referring to himself as 'my humble self'. 
 That day, the church, Wild Fire of God, was wrapping up a seven-day open-air crusade. She had been granted the opportunity to wrap-up the program with a prayer session . When her coordinator informed her about the few minutes she had been given, she immediately began to prepare herself for what would look like an eternity of deliverance. With all the energy in her, she got ready to utilize the opportunity she had always craved: to come out of her hiding.
At first, she was going to let the prayer trend in its usual boring style. The church would only shout words that had no effect in the spiritual realm. But then, she saw something that excited her. One of the girls in the choir unit was possessed by the demon of deceit and attention. She craved it. The girl looked simple in her dressing and mannerism, but for some stupid reasons, she always had an unusual gait about her that made people throng around her. Stella rushed to the girl like a thunder storm and began to chant without the microphone

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/grabbing-the-hot-gate

. The opportunity was rare.
Normally, the church would assume she was speaking in tongues. And for the fact that she was the one leading the prayer meetings, she was at liberty to do anything she wanted. Although there were a lot of witches in that gathering- some as visitors, others as church members- none of them could understand the ancient curses she used. That was the edge she always had above them. How old were they? The oldest among them would be probably 120 years old and she was edging towards her millennial. They were just kids and she had never for once considered herself as their mates. None of them could ever go through what she had gone through.
Before she moved to the girl's side, she shouted at the church, 'you'll pray that God, every tree you have not planted in me, uproot it by fire'.
If her memory served her well, that was the 57th time they were saying that prayer since her ninth month in that church. Yet, the church members always took the prayer seriously every time they gathered, and had never ceased to surprise Stella with the renewed way they saw the prayer point. Regardless of the number of times they had said the prayer, the church prayed fervently as if their stomach was a field that anyone could just plant any unwanted tree- ignorance. They cried and shouted with enticing energy. She loved it.
Her chant was directed towards giving specific instructions to Heetah, her demon, the strongest demon she had ever seen in Fortune City. Immediately, it began to torture the demon in the girl. The exciting thing about torturing the demons in people was that it made the people receive the same feeling the demons within them were having. The girl screamed, failing to stand aright. She clasped her hands over her ears and began to scream. People lost their concentration and focused on the lady. Stella loved the publicity and would have instructed them to focus the camera lens of their phones on her, but, she needed this one to be done in secrecy.

'You'd better close your eyes so as not to go home with someone else's problem. The spirit of Leviathan is at work here. Keep praying'.
The church returned to their fervent prayer, which became louder as if they were trying to drown the girl's scream with their noise, as if God wouldn't hear their voices above her painful scream. Even the little children among them vigorously shook their heads as if the unwanted tree was planted in their heads. Stella noticed that some of the witches in the gathering were sending terrible curses towards her, but she couldn't be hurt. All the smaller demons within her were having a field day at suppressing the power of the witches' demons. Their faces gave away their disappointment, but from research, she knew that she had to react the same way most of those ignorant powerful pastors would react. She pretended as if nothing happened to her. She was stoic as she faced the girl who had taken to rolling on the floor. Heetah was having fun with the girl's demon. If she gave it the chance, it would love to play with her body for a long time because he wanted the lady to suffer.
 If she still wanted to deceive the witches of Fortune City that she was a Christian, she had to pretend as if she didn't know anything was being done to her because their frustration had begun to turn to reckless muttering, and screaming. Many of them had turned to the use of loud incantations that looked like speaking in other tongues to a regular Christian but were actually curses. 
Stella screamed into the mic. 'I am the daughter of the most high. I am not just any person. I speak as an authority. Keep quiet oh ye power of the heathen. The most powerful one is in your midst. Be quiet ye kingdom and force of darkness'.
She would have loved to call all the names she had once been referred to as- the good ones: Jadis, Glenda; the bad ones: Eva Nora, Bavmoda- but she kept the details to herself. The demons cringed within the witches around and they yelled in retaliation and obedience. One of them screamed and fell, turning sporadically.
'The power of the Lord is moving strongly in this place, don't miss this opportunity'.
Despite the perceived decorum that the church was known for, the 'humble' Pastor Praise climbed the altar to join them on the stage. Exactly what she needed. A little interference from the 'humble one' because she couldn't concentrate on the altar if she had to keep fighting the obstinate witches. Stella expected that the Pastor would direct her and the screaming girl to move to the back of the church to continue with her deliverance. That would be a good place for her to make the girl empty and available for the spirit of another Nephilim walking on the streets. The Bible even said if the girl was rid of demons, seven more would inhabit her. As much as she would have loved to help the girl from being a breeder of demons, she was under instruction to make everyone in Black Town prepared for Lucifer's total domination of Black Town. 
'Sister Stella, please move', Pastor Praise, whispered into her ear. Stella gritted, moved aside, and smiled. To the church, she was excited about being helped by her pastor, but to her, she had finally made him an egomaniac. With his new ego, the church would crumble easily, starting from his family. His wife had been made addicted to chocolates and donuts, and for that reason, she had been growing obese. Very soon, Pastor Praise would have a fall-out with his wife because of her size. He had always praised her slender nature when Stella first came to the church.
Pastor Praise snatched the mic from her hand, rolled his shirts and stood, poised as if he wanted to fight the demons physically. He began to question the demon, who railed curses at him and the church instead of answering the questions asked of it. This made Pastor Praise angry. After all, he didn't become the Pastor of such a great church by being talked down by demons. He shouted the name of Jesus, and the demon screamed, pleading first then shouting curses. Then, they started from the beginning and repeated the cycle many times.
 Meanwhile, Stella stood beside him and pretended to pray along with him. At the Ministers side, the other Pastors linked their hands and were praying fervently. Over a small demon? She shook her head and heaved over the frustrating life that some Christians live.
Pastor Praise called for a bottle of anointing oil. Stella stood beside him and repeatedly chanted for the demon to enter her. One of the protocol officers rushed to their side with a bottle of olive oil. It took Stella a great deal of effort to stop herself from shouting in surprise as Pastor Praise bathed the girl with the new bottle of oil. The girl shrieked and flustered on the ground as if her whole being was on fire.
'Come out of her', Pastor Praise shouted.
'Come out of her', Stella shouted after him. The girl shrieked and kept rolling as the demon fought its way out of her, into Stella. She felt heavier. She smiled and waved her hand, rejoicing. The other pastors, whose eyes had been blinded by ignorance, rejoiced along with her and the beaming Pastor Praise. The girl stopped rolling, and laid still for a while.
 Despite not being a Christian, Stella's aim wasn't to disgrace the girl in front of the congregation. Heetah must have seen that she wouldn't do what he desired, and had stoked the 'humble' Pastor Praise's pride. By this time, many people in the congregation were staring at the innocent young lady, whose white and black choir uniform was now dirty from the excessive rolling on the floor in addition to being soaked in a bottle of olive oil. Stella couldn't imagine what the thought of the congregation would be towards the little lady. Many of them would her as being demon possessed and would react stupidly around her for a while.
 'Devil, you're a liar', Stella said as she helped the girl up.
He knows, Heetah said to her mind.
'Thank you, lord. Thank you lord', she shouted.
Heetah had warned her against using the name 'Jesus' anyhow. He asked her to always say lord, which referred to Lucifer, their lord. And whenever she was to say 'in Jesus' name we have prayed', she could either aspirate 'Jesus' by pronouncing ' Jhesus'; or nasalize it, as in Jinsus'. With that, she wouldn't face the wrath of he-who-seats-on-the-throne, and she was always careful about that.
After a little more charade, Pastor Praise returned to his huge golden seat with a pretentious humility and avid desire for praise while Stella stepped down from the podium, and stared into the weak church. They were all weak and blind spiritually. No matter how much they shouted, no matter how boisterous their plea was, they didn't have the reality of Christ, none of them. And she wouldn't be the one to enlighten them, not in this life. 
 Just as the service was going to a close, Heetah and all the demons in her wriggled.
'What's that Heetah?' Stella whispered. The woman sitting next to her, glanced at her, and nodded understandingly. Everyone assumed she was in the spirit, that she was silently speaking in tongues. So, she made the façade remained so.
'Someone entered the church. He has light'.
'Okay. Project it, let me see', she whispered.
Heetah projected the Church. Everywhere was dark in the spirit except a flicker of light from the end of the row.
'Was he in Church all this while?' She mumbled.
'Are you deaf? He just entered'.
'Show me his face'.
'I can't'.
'Why?'
'Light! His light is still on'.
She shrugged. 'I will put it off'.
That was her job in Fortune City: to put off the light in Fortune City before Lucifer's invasion  rather, visit. She was under strict order not to join any coven. Her job was to deceive all  the witches and the Christians alike. That was her job. Since she had killed the light in the Church that seemed to have the most balanced way of Christianity, it would be easier to kill the others. 
Her initial plan was to ensure she sought him out after the service, but when the person in charge of announcement called for first-timers, and he was led to the front of the church, she made sure she remembered things about him. He was surely getting his flickers of light from a source outside of Black Town, she could see the singed parts of his spiritual wool and knew that he had just recently received the fire from somewhere else.
 After the service ended, she moved to the person in charge of following-up new members, who was watching the members of his unit do their job effectively. She always loved his energy, and hoped he would also realize that he was in danger, but who was she to feel sad for the people of Black Town. They had allowed ignorance to take over their mind, and she wouldn't do anything about it.
'Matthew, good evening', she said as she extended her hand for a handshake. He rose quickly and staggered then steadied himself. His right foot was shorter than the left. She would have loved to help with some incantations that would cause the immediate growth of the leg, but doing that was preserved for the glory of her husband, her master, Lucifer. It would still take a bit of time to do such a thing in Black Town.
'Good evening ma'.
'God bless you, sir'. 
Then they exchanged pleasantries in a way that was boring and awkward like the formal, religious people do, one she always hated. But she had to follow their trend if she ever wanted to penetrate them and their lifestyle. 
'I guess you must have noticed me and Gladys', she said. 
 She bit her lower lips as she remembered whom she had always loathed. Gladys had recently been getting closer to her, and she hated it. Stella suspected that she got closer to have power because Gladys had been chewing the phrase in her mouth like beef. Yet, Heetah didn't seem to be against her coming close. There was a prophecy that a great one was coming to take over Black Town after Lucifer's visit. She should have known that Lucifer had a plan that was beyond her reach with Gladys. Heetah had just spoken through her to Matthew, and she had to keep the pretense. 
'Yes. I notice'
'Oh! Please let's have our seats', Stella said as she dragged a seat out of the row to sit in. Matthew sat as if he was pulling a rope, and she couldn't imagine the pain that would surge through her body if she ever had that deformity or any deformity.
'You were saying?' She said.
'Yes, I said I noticed you two are getting closer day by day'.
'Good. I'm her mentor or a sort of umguide for now. And one of the components of her training is to be actively involved in the unit she is'.
 'That's lovely. I also noticed that she has been actively showing her ability in God'.
'So, I want to advise that you sort of make her cattle have something to do. Let it mow the field for God. Let her follow-up one of the new members'.
'Well there was only one today', Matthew replied dejectedly, and she gritted as she knew she would soon be soaked in the same message Matthew preached every time he climbed the altar. But she couldn't resist it. Staying behind to listen would propel him to do her bidding without her having to cast any spell on him.
'It's so painful to see the people of God gallivanting around, and not do the sole purpose of their salvation. The main aim of the gospel. How will it be today if everybody brought somebody to church? Oh! The church is dying, and we need prayer. Prayer should resound in rooms, and doorways, and on the balconies of people for the Church of God'.
She nodded approvingly. He was right, but not about the prayers for evangelism; rather, for the gospel to be rejuvenated. 
'Do you know that last week, just last week two brothers left the Church for another Church?'
That caught her attention and she had to make Heetah stop his search for someone to disturb their meeting. Earlier, when his rambling was becoming overbearing, she had made Heetah scout for someone to break their meeting.
'Where did they go?'
'Who cares? They said that the Word of God is not here. They are going to one fellowship in Brown Valley. Can you imagine? Fellowship. When there is a Church of God, established and known for the wondrous ways God works'.
'So they left the Church for a fellowship?'
'Yes, my sister. And we need to bring back'
 By this time, Stella was tired of his rant, so she made Heetah nudge a woman to come to meet her. The woman, who seemed to have been waiting for her, edged towards them and bent her knees.
'Oh, Mrs. Kolawole' she said and pleaded with Matthew that she wanted to attend to her. 
'Matthew, the prayer unit would bring back the fire'.
 He nodded and heaved.
 Stella also heaved as she led the woman to a corner of the Church. Although she had left his side, she wanted to knock his head for referring to her as his sister. Her mother knew how many children she gave birth to, and she was aware that Matthew wasn't one of them. If he saw in her old form, he would refer to her as his ancestor. 
 She allowed the womans talk bore her, as she continually listened to her claim about how the devil was disturbing her family. Stella glared at the woman for a while and felt it was time to finally ruin her family. So, she informed the woman that her husband and her sister always provided comfort for each other in bed. The only pretentious advice she had for the woman was that she needed to be patient enough to pray to God for direction. At least, she did it in the Christian way. She didn't have to wait to know if the woman prayed or not because immediately, the woman stormed outside and landed a loud slap on her sister's alluring petite face. People gathered around her, and enquired about why she was hitting her sister.
'She's sleeping with my husband', the woman yelled.
The church members around the little rancor saw the need to teach the naughty girl a lesson, so they dragged the girl to the Pastor's office, where the woman's husband, the assistant Pastor, was having a meeting. As their noises faded off, Stella couldn't help praise her prowess. She had to see the end of it. She rose but was stopped on the way by the Bible Study Secretary, Christiana.
'Sister Stella, can I see you?'
Stella stared at her in surprise. She had always noticed the other witches in the Church, but had always assumed that the disguise around Christiana was some burden placed by one of the witches of the church.
'You either have to leave this church or die', Christiana, whispered, smiling broadly. Christiana was known for snide responses to people's questions, and the big smile that always accompanied these responses.  
 If Stella was a normal ignorant Christian, she might have assumed the Bible study teacher was pulling her legs, but her aura said more than enough for Stella not to believe her. 
Stella sat straight and leaned on the back of the chair and said, 'he who dwells in me is greater than he who is in the world'
Christiana chuckled. Her black hat was beautifully balanced on her head as if it had finally gotten to its permanent site. A fluffy yellow feather waved from the side of the hat. She was a fashionista who always mixed beautiful colors with simplicity. Her grass-green gown went along with the gold pendants she wore as a neckpiece and the simple stone earrings she wore. Yet, one could still notice the fire in her brown eyes. Disfiguring her beautiful look was a scar that looked as if it was penciled by an evil artist to look like a whisker. 
'Your blood will be on our altar next. I saw what you've been doing to most of my people', Christiana said as she stared at her fingernails as if she was seeing them for the first time. Her fingers were trimmed in such a way that was extremely normal, yet conspicuous with its peach color. She then proceeded to pull them as if she was straightening them, and folded them as if she was trying to claw at Stella's face.
'Leave this church and give us our freedom to act. By the time I'm through with you, even your Jesus won't be able to save you from the gruesome death you would die. We would feed your body to the crows and vultures. If you're lucky we can give some parts of your body to the great eagles that assailed the mountains of the ages and ancient ones'.
Stella stared at her and was only angry at Lucifer for making her pretend about who she was to Christiana.  At least, she would have made this scarecrow know that she, Stella, wasn't one of the birds she could scare away, that she was the fire sent to prepare the field, to propagate the land.
'You've been warned', Christiana said as she rose and then bent towards Stella. 'We, the witches of Black Town want you gone before we sacrifice you to our Lord, and we want you gone before next week Sunday'.
Stella touched her yellow turban and wiped down the long skirt she wore. She hated turban, but the one she wore was meant to hide the injury she got from setting herself on fire after practicing a fire spell. The spell was supposed to stop her from catching fire, but she made the mistake of putting her hand on a part of her head. Now, the part was singed and should be healed before nightfall. If not, she would have loved a cool air to blow through her head while she made sure the scarecrow in front of her suffered for her foolishness. 
'Because you've threatened the chosen one of the most-high', Stella said as if she was in a trance. 'You will suffer for it. You will be punished with the thing you love the most'.
Suddenly from outside the church, a little child screamed and someone yelled. Christiana looked outside with trepidation written all over her face, while Stella retained her angry trance-like face. Normally she would have leered to show her dominance, but it wasn't one of the characteristics of Christians to revel in such victory.
'Mummy Divine', some shouted for Christiania from the doorpost of the church.
If she was still trying to figure out what had happened, she didn't need to be told that it was her daughter that screamed outside. Christiana removed her shoes, dashed out of the Church, and cried as she met a crowd around her daughter.
'Now, go outside to take the glory', Stella told herself.

Read " Lost But Satisfied " by the same author ( Akíntayo Akinjide )

. She pleaded with the woman, who wanted to see her, as she began to rise from her seat, to be patient with her.
However, when she got there, she met humble Pastor Praise bending and praying over the girl. He had gone out to take something in his car, probably to reprimand his assistant, the adulterer, but was met with the trouble of the girl. The little tiny innocent girl was fuming terribly, and an old woman had plugged her fingers in between the girl's clamping teeth- she was convulsing. 
Christiana stared dagger at her and wailed. The other witches there took Christiana's cue, and tried to make Stella know they suspected her. 
'Oh God, save my daughter'.
The young man, whose light she was to quench, ran out speedily with Matthew trailing after him. 'Get everyone away from her', he shouted to no one in particular as he rolled the arm of his shirt. 'Come on people, get back', he shouted.
'Window closed', Heetah complained.
'Yeah, right.' She said and edged into the little crowd that had begun to gather. 
Christiana shook from side to side like someone infested with ants, and looked as if she would explode. The young man was bent over the little innocent Divine, employing every means to save her. 
'Heetah, save her', she muttered from where she stood. Although he hated her leniency, and promised to get back at her later, he stopped tormenting the little girl.
'In Jinsus name', she said as she moved closer to Christiana. Christiana gave her cold glare, and hissed as she wrapped her hand around the girl, who was now lying still. 'Never promise to hurt the chosen one of the most-high. You can't, because I'm under his shadow, terribly and dangerously protected'.