Grabbing The Hot Gate - Episode 10

Dragged Through The Steaming Gate

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 The little fear that sprouted in Gladys' heart when she entered the compound dried off as she entered the parlor.
Her work at RexusHerbs as the Managing Director had exposed her to a lot of herbs, so she could attest to the fact that most of the flowers and herbs Stella planted outside her house were many of those her company rarely had access to. Even the few they had access to were gotten at expensive prices, all of which the Indians working with them referred to as the plants of the witches.
However, entering the house to meet a nice grey-painted, highly-decorated parlor, made her fear deplete . Looking about ravenously, she wondered what more one would need. The parlor contained everything that could make one comfortable in life.  
The moment she entered Kojo Dray Close, Stella's house was the first to catch her attention. Kojo Dray was said to be the most expensive close in Black Town because of the wealth of the pioneer of the street. It was a huge house and it spelt money. Though the street was busy, her house looked secluded from the others.
'Sit What would you like to drink?' Stella said in her motherly manner. 'How was work today?'
'Don't bother ma, work was fine. How was your work too today?'
Then, it occurred to Gladys that she had never ever considered trying to find out what Stella did for a living

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. At least one ought to have a good knowledge of his or her mentor. In fact, it wouldn't be a good thing to hear that she didn't know what her mentor did for a living.
'Are you fasting?'
'Yes ma'.
'Then, I break your fast right now. How will you fast when you know you would come visiting?'
'Err Ma, technically, I'm an invited guest'.
'And that's the main reason you must eat something'.
Stella left to get her something to eat. Her beautiful wide gown had pictures of two beautiful flowers on them. Gladys tried to remember their names. She had seen them in one of those books those Indians brought about witch herbs. They had to bring the book to teach the company about rare herbs during their company's workshop.  But she couldn't remember their names.
When she sighted it at a corner, Gladys went over to the parrot's cage and played with it. But, what she saw scared her. A dead raven laid in the same cage as the parrot. That should have only raised sympathy from her; instead, it raised premonitions in her heart. 
'Oh! That', Stella said dismissively as she placed a tray containing a carton of Hollandia juice, and a packet of biscuit, in front of her. 'Don't mind, Jiggs. The Raven is its award'.
Jiggs clicked excitedly and whistled Stella's reply.
Wide-eyed and holding her breathe, Gladys walked slowly to her chair. Her sleeveless blue straight gown suddenly became useless because right there she needed a jacket to cover the hair that was raising on her arm.
'It's a dummy', Stella whispered.
Gladys released her breathe, sighed and burst into laughter. 'Why?'
'Why does it look like that?'
She nodded.
'I had to paint it and make it think it had won a price. Jiggs likes to win'.
Gladys laughed again in the realization that she was afraid for nothing for the second time. She sat, relaxed, as she glanced from side to side to see the different paintings and picture frames hanged on the wall. One of the paintings was that of a woman, who was being set ablaze. She saw Stella's picture, her late husband's own, and some paintings with no serious value to her recognition.
'How's Bro. Japheth's progress?' She asked. The curiosity had been biting the top of her mind for close to a month, she kept it to herself.
'You just deemed it fit to ask me after his fourth week of learning with me, well done'.
'I'm sorry'.
'For what? But he's growing anyway'.
They sat and began to gist on different topics as if they were opening pages of the Bible, expounding it on the go. Along the way, Stella gave her a lot of advice on spiritual matters.
'So, Gladys, when you came to celebrate the new year with me, there were a lot of people here preventing me from doing what I wanted to do today for you', Stella said as she sat upright in her seat. Her gown curled around her body as if it was her baby and it needed her cuddling.  'I've seen your desire to have this power. You want to see the raw power. You want to be in the system'.
'Yes, ma. I feel alienated. I feel drawn to the spiritual, but I'm not getting a grasp of it. I want to feel the power of God. To have the ability to touch the realms of the spirit', she replied as her mind wandered to the pictures on the wall. How could someone as powerful as this not have children of her own?
Stella nodded. 'You're right. You haven't been able to reach realms, which our fathers have reached, and it can be devastating'.
Gladys nodded. Her desire was to have more of everything. She had the ability to visualize things in the spiritual realm, and would want more of God, and of such ability. It made people know one was closer to God. Despite the fact that God can make one suffer even with his power, she still wanted to have a grasp of the hot power. Gladys was using a hearing aid despite serving God faithfully, while Stella remained barren. But she was sure that if she got the power, she would have the ability the fathers of old had.
'I have what you need. You don't need to climb the mountains the fathers climbed. You have the knowledge they never had. God is not a fiction, and you're not worthless', Stella said as she rose from her chair and stretched her hand. 'Follow me, let me take you into my prayer room Are you ready to be like Jacob?'
Gladys's heart warmed. Her excitement level spiked. Her eyes roved over the flowers that patterned Stella's cloth and she failed to remember their names again. Forgetting about those flowers made her angry at herself. She took her hand and rose. 
'When we enter that room, we would be there for three days, praying like our fathers. We won't see the sun until youre filled and fulfilled'.
Gladys didn't plan for that. She had work to do. She stared into Stella's eyes, and shook her head.
'Can we plan this tomorrow?'
'You only have the weekend to yourself, remember? You will have to wait till next week to do this again'.
She hurriedly calculated next week. Her mother's birthday fell on Saturday, the next week, so there was no way she could possibly miss it. It would mean war. She was sure her mother would call everybody to report her and accuse her of dishonoring her. More so, how would it be to live in her valley of dry bones for another week, when she could easily get an army there and then?
'Okay. But I have to call my mother to tell her I wouldnt be available until Monday'.
Stella nodded, and Gladys called her mother, who was curious about why she would just go off the radar for three days without even calling her. They argued for a while, and the matter died. Even if it didn't the woman mustn't be a hindrance to her glory. 
'Do you know that one lawyer mysteriously would soon give these girlswhat're their names?' Her mother said and tried to get the names.
'Tracey?'
'Yes o. That was how I saw Joana coming to praise God in my room that a lawyer came and said he was interested in helping in the eviction of those girls'.
'What was ', she said and kept quiet as it occurred to her that Mr. Akanni's hand was involved. Was he that desperate?
'That woman is really serving God. I fear her'.
'Yes ma'.
Afterwards, she switched off her phone and turned to give Stella a stiff smile. Mr. Akanni was really terrible. How could she live with such a man?
 After the call, Stella guided her towards the farthest part of the room. The neatness of the house intrigued her. That was one advantage of not having babies. The house looked new as if Stella barely walked within it, but those were frivolities. King Solomon called those vanities; yet, he enjoyed life than anybody on earth. 
'I'm taking you to the place I touch heavens and make the earth shake. It is here I shake the foundation of the power with which we use to minister'.
Gladys' interest was piqued. Her eyes lit with hope. She had been a Christian for most parts of her life; yet, everything seemed awkward and plain. She always wished for God to give her more and had fasted and prayed, but all she got was just a glimpse of this power. She wanted to deal with sickness and make demons tremble. She wanted to see visions like others. Although her spirit connected with visions more than before, she needed more. Power so real, that others would see it ooze out of her.
Stella fiddled with a lock for a while, opened a trapdoor, and gestured for her to enter. Gladys looked at her in fear of the darkness, but Stella smiled reassuringly. Stella nodded as she climbed down the first step. Then, she remembered the name of the flowers on Stella's cloth- Knotweed and Horsetail. One was used for binding things and for health, while the other was used for snake charming. She blinked repeatedly and shook her head. All were the imaginations of her fear.
Immediately Stella switched on the light, Gladys held her breathe. The room was a home to the scariest objects she had ever encountered. It wasn't a room on its own. There was a pyre and there were a lot of statues. Different tools laid on the pyre. There were two cages that hung from the ceiling of the room and some were on the floor. The hanging cages were big enough to take ten full-grown people, but the scariest part was that it hung over a horribly dark hole, from where simmers of smoke climbed out in the shape of rats. Gladys stirred to face Stella. 
Stella entered the room slowly, her eyes were fixed on Gladys. Everything seemed to fade away. The terror of the room was grounded out of existence as Stella's blood-red evil eyes stared back at her. 
For some absurd reason, she turned again. Her fear wasn't about the ominous room or the fearsome way Stella stared and advanced towards her, it was for the fact that she remembered that place from her dream.
'What is this?'
'The seed has been planted. You know where you are'.
'Do you mean?' Gladys asked and hurriedly glanced about to see if there was any way to escape. It couldn't be true. There was no way she drank part of the blood. She touched her lips and excited laughter from Stella.
'Yes. You know where we are', Stella said with such grace as she strutted towards her as if four hefty men were behind her.
 Gladys shook her head, hyperventilating and panting. Stella's body frame was thin and if she rushed into her, she would definitely be able to escape. Sweat covered her body. Stella kept edging towards her and Gladys withdrew. 'It's a lie...'
'Tell me which part is a lie. I think you know I'm not lying. This is the major inconsistency with the word of God you should have looked out for'.
'You are a liar'.
'It's not in my nature to want to say the truth, but this is the truth. I guessed I've sinned against lord Lucifer for saying the truth, but he wouldn't be as mad as if I told you it was a figment of your imagination'.
'I'm dreaming. I'll wake up'.
Gladys ran to the pyre, touched it. It was real. It couldn't be real. She jumped, screamed, turned to check if she would at least wake from her dream. Everything was real in the house. What of herself? She pinched herself and the pain lingered to show her they are real.
'I'm a child of God. You can't do anything to me'.
'Well, in your words, technically, I'm not doing anything to you. I told you I would be here with you all the way'.
Gladys felt her mouth become dry. 'Please, let me go. Whatever'.
'Gladys, fear not...You are in safe hands. You will get raw power'.
'No. I don't want. I invoke the curse of God on you. In the name of Jesus, I am freed from whatever thing you have done and want to do to me'.
Stella laughed hysterically. 'You know my father or one of my fathers as I have had many fathers; the Australian father once told me about the story of a soldier who left the shore of America to fight the Germans. When he got there, instead of accepting defeat he kept invoking the power of being an American. In other words, he had left American soil and no longer had the protection of their power especially as he went AWOL'.
'I'm a child of God'.
Stella shrugged. 'Well, it depends on which God you're talking about: You have no right again as a Christian to make any demands. You've broken the edge and a snake has entered. I have entered. In fact, the snake is so pregnant within you and would soon give birth'.
'Shut up! I rebuke you. You're nothing but a liar and I will show you what stuff I'm made of'.
Gladys ran towards her. If the name of Jesus wasn't working, the strength Jesus gave her would do. She struck Stella's head. She was thicker than the frail Stella, her punch should have brought Stella down, but Stella was as fast as light. She side-stepped and rammed her fist into Gladys's ribs. The pain surged through her body to her head. Gladys yelled and crumbled to the ground, holding her side, but she tried to rise when she saw Stella advancing. 
'You're a devil...', she said with clenched teeth as she grasped the pyre for support, groaning. A hammer rested on the pyre. Gladys picked it and stood straight, still panting heavily.
 'God forgive me', she muttered as she poised herself to strike Stella. Although it was painful to do, she used all her strength to slack the tight blue armless gown she was wearing. People had commended the clothe after she got it from Fundel Collections, now Stella was making her tear the beautiful thing. She would crush her, and beg God for forgiveness later.
'Wow. I've never been called a devil in my 950 years plus on earth. Even Lord Lucifer would agree that I'm the next in command'.
Gladys stared at her in awe. What was she doing? How did she get involved with someone like this? Was she crazy? Was she blind? But she couldn't give herself an answer before a kick sent her sprawling on the floor. The hammer flew out of her hand while her hearing aid rattled away to one side, and Gladys was so sure she heard another rib-cracking before her hearing aid fell off. She crawled towards the Pyre to pick her hearing aid. With quivering hands, she positioned it in her ear, firmly. There was no way she would die without trying to fight off this evil that called herself her mentor. Stella sneered at her and punched her jaw thrice before bending near her bleeding head.
'It's a simple thing. You can either take it compulsorily or willingly'.
'No', she grunted.
               ***
Kingsley opened his wallet, stared at the few crumbled naira notes remaining in it and closed the wallet again. He had switched off his phone to avoid the incessant call of Gerald's little sister. If she were an adult, who could cater for herself, he would have told her to also source for funds for their mother's operation. The little girl had recently finished her secondary school examination, and was awaiting her Post-UTME result.
He crumbled the can of malt he was holding, and hoped to crumple his fear like that, so that he could be bold enough to enter the huge ominous house. That night, he talked his friends out of such rushed effort. They didn't have a serious plan, but Gerald's mother's health was seriously becoming critical, and they needed the money for the operation.
'Solution was coming, son of the soil'. 
When that new lady that went into the house came out, he would surely recruit her help. She seemed like a lady that might help. He took another nylon of chin-chin and tore it.

Read " Don't! Look Closer " by the same author ( Akíntayo Akinjide )

. All he needed was evidence to show the police.
                    ***
Alexis was in her room the whole day to the chagrin of her mother. It only took her father's order to make her stay alone. She had been crying all day. She was like that until her father knocked on her door. If it were her mother, she would have stayed till Jesus returned. 
Although she tried to clean her nose, she couldn't bear the thought of telling her father she had someone she loved. He had stopped beating her since she was done with her secondary school education, but if it was up to her mother, he would have continued.
When he entered and slumped into her bed, she hurriedly wiped away the tears.
'Daddy pray for me'.
She could see the exciting thought that ran through her father's mind displayed on his face. He stared at her for a few seconds, and stretched both of his hands. She took it, and wholeheartedly said 'amen' to every of his prayer.
After the prayer, he didn't bother to ask her what was wrong, which she was happy about. He strode out of the room, and turned to her.
'If you need anything, anything at all, ask God'.
She nodded and watched him leave the room. Her mother's murmur sieved into the room. Alexis locked the door, and crumbled to the floor to pray. 
'God, if Jaffy accepts me tomorrow, I'll serve you forever'.

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