March 2020

By Jenn Azu It was on a dark and lonely road like one of the bush paths in a rural village. I was lying there on my back struggling with this creature trying to strangle me. At a closer look, it has the shape of a man but faceless. It also has no legs and seemed to move with the wind but its strength is ten times that of an ordinary man. At first, it had chased me sore with a glittering sword in hand until I fell over. It pinned me down to the ground and was overpowering me when I remembered that my wife had once mentioned that a man in the bible fought with an angel and won. So, I tried to do a rollover maneuver and landed on the tiled floor of my room with a loud thud.  It had been a dream. I laid down there for a minute breathing heavily as I pondered over the dream. Ever since my last operation, it has been one terrible dream or the other. The man I have in custody is not an ordinary man, I knew, but my dreams are definitely telling me there’s something more.  “But why me?” I queried. “I am only carrying out instructions from the President.”    I tried to raise myself from the floor but felt an ache in my side which must have resulted from the impact of my fall. My bed is thirty inches high so I prayed silently not to have broken something. As I pulled myself up to sit on my bed, a cold mysterious air blew in my face and sent shivers up my spine. I looked straight at the window, it is shut. The air conditioner is also turned off. Where could that wind be coming from?  As I surveyed the room to determine the source of the cold air, I felt it again but this time as a light touch on my bare back. My heart went cold in my chest as it dawned on me that I was not alone. The curtains hanging over the window starts dancing to the move of the wind as if the window is open. The creature followed me to real life? I wondered in shock. I felt the strong presence of a being even though I saw no one.  “What do you want from me?” I cried. By this time half my body felt paralyzed. “I say who are you and what do you want from me?” There was silence.  The thoughts of my wife crossed my mind and I wished she was home. I quickly reached for her  bible on our bedside drawer and opened it to find anything that could help. I know very little about prayer, but I remember how my wife does it and will mimic her. I opened to  the book of Psalms and my eyes caught chapter two. “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together     against the Lord and against his anointed…” “What?” My eyes widened at what I read. I hissed and was going to turn the pages for something more comforting when suddenly a voice invaded my thoughts. It is  unmistakably clear and certainly not my own.  “Continue!” The voice commanded and I did.  “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath.” I read aloud and stopped. “Please who are you and what do you want from me?” I cried. “Don’t kill me.” “How dare you touch the Lord’s anointed?” The voice said I could have feigned ignorance of what the voice referred to but that was not possible because at that instance I understood the question. “I am a police inspector sir. I am only doing the bidding of the President. Please don’t kill me.” “Like Your master, you are judged!” It said. My actions in the past months played before me in quick moving frames and for the first time I saw the evil I am.  I had been appointed to my position six months ago by my country’s President. It was for his selfish desire to carry out dark deeds and have his tracks covered. He fed off of my greed and ruthlessness. The moral decadence in the force tripled under my watch. There were extortions and careless killings by the police I ignored. Personally, I have oppressed and eliminated people who the President desired eliminated. Many were his political opponents or activists whose activism threatened his presidency.   Last month, a staunch political opponent of the president had been very outspoken about the incompetence of his leadership and rallied for impeachment. When I received the president’s call to take this opponent out, I arranged for his kidnap, did a quick job that included charing his remains. He was simply declared missing and has remained missing.   The man in my custody is a pastor. Him like others is outspoken. At first, it was difficult to track him down but rounding up his family smoked him out of hiding.  I was not afraid to lay hands on him because I thought he was like any other man.  “I am sorry. Please don’t kill me.” I cried. A soft hissing sound blew across the room and I felt life draining out of me. Suddenly, my phone rang. I pushed back on the prevailing weakness and picked the call to cry for help.  “The President is dead.” Said the voice at the other end and my heart failed. I simply gave in to the force pulling my life away and darkness took over.