KARMA'S LOVE - Episode 13

Kachi let himself be dragged out from solitary confinement and pushed down to the hall designed for visitors on death row. He wondered briefly who was here to see him. His sentence was due to be carried out tomorrow and at this point, he had accepted faith and was no longer looking for a miracle.



When the verdict of death had been read out by the Judge after his trial, he couldn’t say he was surprised. At that point, it was safe to say everyone who seemed to matter had wanted him dead for killing his wife and children so gruesomely. His wife’s family in particular had championed the cause.

His lawyer had told him to appeal on the grounds that the Judge had been swayed by popular opinion but he hadn’t had any money for a protracted appeal case he was sure he would never win. He was already very tired of the whole process and he had hoped before his sentence was carried out, the realkiller would come forward but apparently, the killer had no conscience.

At this point, he was no longer angry or depressed, mostly he was scared of what death held for him but he had leftthe real culprit into the hands of God, he knew God would avenge him yet.

He veered out of the corner that led into the waiting room and dint recognise the big hairy guy sitting at a table, waiting for him. And then he did.

Kachi: “Biggie!! Biggie!!” He shouted as he ran towards his friend, forgetting for a second that he wasn’t allowed to hug his visitors. It took the Guard’s loud clearing of throat for him to remember himself. Just another one of the privileges of life that were taken from him, he thought as quiet tears slipped out of his eyes.

Biggie: “Hey, hey! Don’t cry, guy. Abeg.” He said rubbing his friend’s orange scrub clad shoulders.

Kachi: “How won’t I cry? My life is messed up, you have no idea!”

Biggie: “I know, I know.” He said as they both sat down opposite each other.

Kachi: “I’m going to die tomorrow……and for a crime I didn’t commit.” He sighed out.

Biggie: “That’s not how it’s been reported.”

Kachi: “I know what peeps are saying but I didn’t kill her, I swear to you, please believe me.”

Biggie: “How come you were caught with their bodies?”

Kachi: “I explained that…..” he grumbled “….and my explanation was the truth!”

Biggie: “Really?!” He was shocked but he believed his friend. “Who do you think did it?”

Kachi: “I don’t know but I hoped whoever it was would come forward when they knew an innocent man would die but they haven’t. I pray God will punish that person.”

Biggie: “Really?”

Kachi: “Yes really! This is tantamount to killing someone!! I believe God is watching and he won’t sleep. He would deal with them!”

Biggie: “Like he is dealing with you?” he asked gently.

Kachi: “What?”

Biggie: “I said will God deal with them like he’s dealing with you?”

Kachi: “I….dont….un…derstand…..”

Biggie: “Ada? Do you remember her? “

Kachi: “I…yes…..i, yes….i do.” He said moping sweat off his brows.
Biggie: “They found her body 8 months ago where she was buried.”

Kachi: “Oh God!! O, my God!! Do they know what happened to her??”

Biggie: “No, not yet. She has been buried though.

Kachi: “I killed her…….. me.”

Biggie: “I don’t believe that! You know what happened but Anslem probably did it…”

Kachi: “No! It was me!! I killed her!!”

Biggie: “Stop shouting!” He whispered aggressively, sending glances at the security guards and camera. “You were part of those who killed her?”

Kachi: “Yes, but it was me. Just me. I stabbed her!!”

Biggie: “Kachi!! Why?! How could you do that?”

Kachi: “I was young, I was stupid! I felt invisible, but believe me I’ve never killed anybody else. I am not the same person I was all those years ago. I have changed.”

Biggie: “Oh, Kachi, why? Why did you go with them that day?” he suddenly felt very old.

Kachi: “We all raped her that night….” He started crying

Biggie: “All of you?” Biggie was shocked, he didn’t ever think anyone besides Anslem had done that to her. “Including you? And then you still killed her?”

Kachi: “Yes.” He nodded miserably. “Oh, indeed, God is punishing me, I’m suffering for my past. Oh, Goooood!!” He began to weep.

Biggie: “What do I say to you now? She’s gone and you can never take that back. Just ask God for forgiveness and mercy. I checked on Anslem and I found out he lost everything to a divorce with his wife, then he had an accident and now, I don’t know where he is. Nobody does. Juwon was robbed recently and all his children were killed, it’s all over the news back in Nigeria!”

Kachi: “Oh my God!! Oh, our pasts have caught up with us. Oh, God please forgive us. I beg you!” He laid his face on the table and mourned the family he had worked to build, for the life he hadn’t lived enough, for the young girl whose life he had ended without giving her a chance.

…………………………………

They were all gathered in the sitting room of Juwon’s big house. Juwon’s mother and Biodun’s mother were crying as they tried to hold on to the inconsolable Biodun.

Biodun: “Haaaa, aiye me oh!! Jesu!! Omo mi oh!!” She cried, devastated. “God, why me?”

The women just held her for none could tell her to stop crying. The loss of a child was bad enough but to lose five children in one night was obviously driving the woman crazy. Only their fourth child, Simileoluwa had survived the incident and she had to have 2 surgeries before she was totally safe. As it was, she was still in the hospital, recovering and would be discharged in a few days.

Biodun: “Haaa, my life has spoilt, aiye mi baje!! Mo gbe oh!! Ha!! Ni bo ni mo ma gbe gba? Olorun, shanu mi!! haaa!” She cried, holding unto her head and rolling on the chair amidst the women holding her.

Her husband watched her from his seat opposite. Juwon’s head was full. What was he to do now? Was he not responsible for what had happened to his family? He had killed his children as surely as if he had fired the bullet. Why did he steal that money? Why did he take that money? Now, he couldn’t even finger the accountant because then his father would know he stole his money.

When the police asked, he hadn’t told them that it was 10 million that he brought home because then his father would know where he got it from. He had reduced the amount marginally and told them it was a bank loan. Fortunately, the police weren’t very competent and they never went to the bank to check his claims.

He wished he hadn’t taken that money. He had just been so scared that his father would truly stop sponsoring him. What would he do then? he had never had to work in his life, how would he take care of 6 children and his forever pregnant wife, what was he to do now? He had ruined his life with his own hands.

Ha, to never hear the laughter of his sons again, to never be able to see his precious Abigail, to not watch his first daughter grow into the beautiful terror she was becoming. Oh God, why me? Is this the punishment for greed or something else? Even as he asked, he remembered.

That memory of the night when he had been less than human. When he did something that human beings didn’t do. When he had joined a group of boys to shame, kill and bury another person. He shook his head to push the memory back to where he had since buried it.

He wasn’t that person anymore. He had changed. After that incident, he had stayed far away from those guys and never gone near them again. When that hadn’t even brought him comfort, he had followed Ufoma and Kosi’s example and withdrawn from school to start somewhere else.

He wasn’t that person anymore, he had changed, and even God knew that. He was a changed person. He didn’t deserve to have his children killed that way, God knows. They hadn’t even had a chance to start living their lives. Neither did Ada, a voice whispered and brought tears to his eyes. Tears of guilt, shame and regret.

Biodun: “Why are you crying, you bastard?” Juwon was startled at his wife’s voice. “Wasn’t it you who allowed them kill my children?”

Juwon: “Me, what are you saying?”

Biodun: “Was it not your fault?”

Juwon’s mother: “Biodun, don’t say that please! Blame the robbers, not your innocent husband!”

Biodun: “Innocent! Mummy! Juwon is not innocent, rara!!  He was playing with those men even when they threatened to kill my children!! He knew he had money at home yet he denied it.”

Biodun’s mother: “Biodun, oko mi, that’s a normal reaction. If he knew they would shoot the children, he wouldn’t have said he didn’t have money at home.”

Biodun: “Mummy, iro ni!! It’s a lie. Juwon lo pa mi lo mo!! Juwon killed my children. See his face, can he talk?” She pointed at her husband’s grief stricken face.

Suddenly, she stood up, pushing away her mother and mother-in-law’s hands and ran into the kitchen. Her mother stood up and followed her to see what she was up to. Before she could get there, Biodun ran out again, this time holding a knife.

Biodun’s mother: “Biodun!! Biodun!!”

She ran straight for her husband whose eyes were downcast. He raised shocked eyes and barely registered the knife before it was plunged into his chest.

Juwon: “Haaaa!” He screamed, grabbing the knife as Biodun pulled it out and plunged it into him again.

His father and brother grabbed her while her mother wrested the knife from her hands.

Juwon’s father: “Biodun!! Biodun!!”

Biodun: “Oya, go and join my children and take care of them!!” She told him with crazed eyes as he bled over the chair.

Juwon’s mother; “Biodun, o ti pa mi lomo oh. You have killed my child oh!”

Biodun: “Yes!! Just the way he killed my children. 50,50, God no go vex!!” She laughed as Juwon’s brother and father carried his bleeding body to the car. He never made it to the hospital.

…………………………………………………………………

James was all but crawling as he made his way to the office of Prophet Agadu. He was desperate now. The Doctor had just told him if he did not raise his money complete in the next 2 weeks, he would not make it to the end of month and now he was taking an option he couldn’t believe he could ever have taken. He was going to Egypt for help.

When his friend, Hudson had told him about Prophet Agadu months ago, he hadn’t been interested then. Now, however, after being told he had barely a few weeks left to live, he had agreed to come and see the man. He could feel his life source draining out of him and he couldn’t afford to wait for God any longer.

They walked into up to the 2nd floor of a huge office complex and as he stepped into the surprisingly well decorated office with Hudson holding his hands, he saw the thin frail man sitting behind a huge desk, wearing an outfit better suited to a Shaman. He urged them forward with his hands and Hudson dragged him further into the room.



Hudson: “Good afternoon, Prophet.” He said, genuflecting.

Prophet: “How are you, my son? Please, have your seats.” He motioned to the chairs in front of his huge desk. And they sat down.

Hudson: “Thank you, sir. This is my friend, James. He had end stage Kidney problems. He has need for a surgery in India and he hasn’t been able to raise the money for the surgery. When I remembered all the good works you’ve done for other people, I decided to bring him to you. The doctors say he only had about a few weeks to live and we need your help urgently, Prophet.”

Prophet: “(To James) is that true? Do you want to live to see your children’s children?”

James: “Yes, yes, yes sir, I don’t want to die yet! You see, sir…..I have a lot still inside me and I believe God still wants me to manifest glory.”

Prophet: “Very good answer!! Yes, young man, you have given me the perfect answer!! Give me your right palm.”

James: (Stretches his right palm across the table to the prophet)

Prophet: “Hmmm, hmmmm, I see. Young man, I see that you still have a lot of living to do before you die. (Nodding his head and staring intently at James’ palm) you don’t have children yet, do you?”

James: “No, sir.”

Prophet: “Hahaahhhha, it never fails! It has been revealed to me, you will have 3 children after this. The woman is just around the corner.”

James :“Really? Prophet? Could it be real?”

Prophet: “I do not do anything fake here! If I tell you something, take it as the word directly from above. You will have 2 boys and a girl after all this.”

James: “Oh, thank God, I have lost hope that I could have children. Thank God.”

Prophet: “Now, I will make a treatment for you…..” (Consulting the big book on his table) “Hmm, yes, your case is peculiar but it isn’t beyond what I can do.”

James: “Thank God!” He sighed.

Prophet: “For this concoction, we will need a horse, a pregnant goat, 12 chickens from the same mother, an albino dog…..”

James: “Ha, prophet!! Where will I get all these? They are too much oh.”

Prophet: “Keep quiet!! Have I finished? Won’t you let me……”

James: “I’m sorry sir, it won’t happen again.”

Prophet: “……the intestines of a pig, the Kidney of a cow and the …….That’s all we need for your treatment and you will be whole again.”

James: (trying to hide his dismay) “But, but, Prophet, I can’t get all these things. You can see my friend brought me here, I cannot walk.”

Hudson: “James, don’t worry your head, Prophet has an alternative. My sister’s husband also had the same problem, it was Prophet that healed him so just cool down.”

Prophet: “If you can’t get it, I will get it for you, it isn’t expensive at all. Everything plus the work and special prayers I will do, will cost you one million, five hundred thousand.”

James: “Ha!!! Prophet!! Do you want to kill me? Where will I find that money?”

Hudson: “James, wetin they do you? Will you tell me you don’t have that money?”

Prophet: “Me? Have I ever had two hundred thousand naira not to talk of one million!!! Me!!”

Hudson: “This is your life oh! You can’t afford to play with it!”

James: “Hudson, I no get that kain money!! For where??”

Hudson: Whispering to him as the prophet busied himself, seemingly uninterested in their conversation) “What about the money church raised for your surgery? Can’t you use it? I remember they raised almost 5 million that time!!”

James: “Since when? Right now, it’s not even up to one point six million now. I’ve used almost all on drugs and dialysis!!”

Hudson: “Really? That’s serious oh! Oya, you know what? Bring one point three million, I will help you with the rest.”

James: “Hudson, that’s too much. What if it doesn’t work, I will now be back to square one. I don’t think I can afford this….”

Hudson: “James, I don’t like what you’re doing! I brought you somewhere so you can get better now you’re saying you can’t afford it. With this treatment, you won’t need anything again. I dey tell you!! I cannot count on my hands how many people this guy has healed, seriously.”

James: “But Hudson, the money is plenty!! Most of the men of God I met did not collect a dime…”

Hudson: “Ehn, they didn’t collect na. Are you better now?” He asked James.

James: “No” He said as he shook his head.

Hudson: “Ehn! Can’t you see that anything good requires money? If one of those men of God had asked you to bring money, won’t you have taken it?”

James: “I might….”

Hudson: “Forget that thing!! You will! See, this guy is real. If you don’t feel better in two weeks, I will make sure he refunds your money. Okay?”

James: Nods. “Okay.”

Hudson: “Prophet, when do you say we should bring the money?”

Prophet: Raising his head from his book, “Oh, you’re ready? Bring it as soon as you can if you want to remain alive.”

Hudson: “Okay sir, we will bring it tomorrow. Thank you sir.”

Hmm, am i the only one who doesn’t believe Prophet Agadu has any miracle cure?