THAT NIGHT IN ROOM 401 Part 9 – 12 by Opeyemi Ojerinde Akintunde

THAT NIGHT IN ROOM 401 Part 9 by Opeyemi Ojerinde Akintunde

As I drove close to my mother’s house, I realized the drum beating was from my mother’s house. There was a feast going on, the moment I parked, the drum ceased… My mother was shocked to See Me. I am sure she was torn between running towards me in excitement or showing her anger towards me.

Maami and I had not spoken in the past two years, because of my disobedience to her as regards coming to do a ritual, precisely to carry a sacrifice to appease one of the Orishas to aid my fruitfulness…. We stopped speaking two years ago after a very hot argument, but I never stopped sending her money through her bank account…

My sisters ran towards me in excitement, the drummers moved towards me as I began to spray them money… They were singing… ” Orishamuyiwa tii wale” ( Orishamuyiwa has come home)… I walked towards my mother and knelt before her, asking for her forgiveness, my mother turned her face to the other side…

” You have to give birth to the child, the gods forbid I tamper with their works, Do you know how many sacrifices I carried on your behalf… This is the doings of the gods”… My mother said at night when we sat down to discuss my ordeal.

What was my mother saying, No wonder we were never on the same page…
“Maami, how did adultery become a way of your gods answering prayers? ” I said in disbelief at my mum’s mindset…

” Orishamuyiwa, the truth is, in what has been written about your destiny, You and your dead husband were not destined to have children together, ….that man Larry , your keyboardist or what do you call his name is the one your destiny matches with…. So that useless talk about killing him is totally nonsense… What is wrong with being a second wife? It is destiny…. Accept it… ”

It dawned on me why I shouldn’t have come to Igbonla, my mother was going to complicate matters, this was exactly why I left Igbonla years ago… I didn’t want to turn out like my mother, She was married Four times, my three sisters are my stepsisters…. One daughter, one husband….
This was not the advice I needed, Maami was only going to complicate matters…. I slept off that night with a bigger plan in mind….

Early the next morning, I set out to boy’s corner in Igbonla, that was where all the rogues, touts, robbers, cultists sit , smoke and drink all day….
Stepping down from my car, I tried to see if there was anyone I could recognize, when I heard my name….

” Oosamuyiwa…. A. K. A Grace the Singer, wetin you dey find? ” I could not recognize the face instantly, but looking intently, it was Ifakolade, my first crush as the age of 10..We were always called husband and wife when we were younger. His teeth had turned brown from smoking… We exchanged pleasantries and we had time to talk. I narrated my ordeal and told him I needed someone to kill Larry for me…

Kolade told me he was up-to the task and we bargained Four hundred thousand Naira. I paid him half of the money instantly.. How desperate I was!!!

Two days later, Ifakolade brought me BAD news, they had gone to Larry’s house in the city and shot at him, only for the gun to have no effect…. Larry took the gun and shot one of the boys that went with Ifakolade ( Ifakolade ‘s only brother). He then asked Kolade to deliver a message to Grace…. It was a written note…

“Grace, You think you are dealing with a boy?…What I felt you before has become full blown enmity.. Be ready for war, I know where you are, by the time you will be reading this note, you will be putting on a red top and white trouser….that is to let you know.. I am ahead of you…I am coming for you soon to take something precious ” My hands were like Jelly, I was really putting on red top and white trouser…

I realized I was in soup, Larry was no ordinary human being, now I knew I needed supernatural powers, that was more than Larry’s…. This was not going as planned….

Ifakolade was lamenting over the loss of his brother, telling me why didn’t I tell him, Larry was diabolically empowered….. I was blank…. Larry was a Christian or so I thought…. Hot tears dropped from my eyes, the baby inside me kicked and that moment I felt like stabbing the seed of the monster inside me….

Suddenly, I heard a loud cry from inside the room, I dashed In…. What I saw made me pee on my body…

My youngest sister was dead…. I knew Larry did this….
It gets deadlier after this, all because of one night of adultery….Continue reading my tale, and be ready to cry for me….

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Part 10
(THAT NIGHT IN ROOM 401)
©️Opeyemi Ojerinde Akintunde

I was told someone was outside asking to See Me. I thought it was one of the villagers coming to ask for money, because ever since I got to the village, it had been one villager after another coming to ask me for money…

I told my immediate younger sister to discharge him, but she insisted I see him as he was a stranger and he asked of me by the name ” Sis Grace”…That caught my attention, immediate fear gripped my heart as I hoped it was not Larry. I ran out of the house through the back door to escape, and hideously stole a peek at who it was…. It was a strange man with a Bible under his arm. I looked around and there was no sight of danger. I walked towards him and as he saw me coming, he had the best and most innocent smile I had seen in a long time…

” Sis Grace!… I knew my eyes could not deceive ME, I said it, I knew it was you I saw yesterday, when I drove past here, ” then he looked down at my bulgy stomach

” Hallelujah!… God has done it… Okay .. No wonder you came here to hide from the public eye… That is wisdom MA… The thing is I have been one of your secret intercessors, praying that the Lord will bless you with the fruit of the womb…

Sis Grace, you don’t know who you are to me, you are my personal bishop, Your songs are the messages I listen to day and night and the way you sing with our native Yoruba Language makes it drive home your message into my soul “… He said

This man must have spoken excitedly for over 5 mins without me uttering a word…. I just kept giving fake smiles as the conversation warranted….

“Sis Grace, the best time of my life was after I Lost my beloved wife, I thought I was going to die, but your song was my daily capsule of hope…. Now, I think this is the best time to pay you back, you know ma, now I know why God brought me here….

You see I was just newly posted here as the branch pastor of our church in Igbonla…. I was a bit angry, but now I know God brought me here to keep interceding for your safe delivery…. You shall deliver this baby with ease, this baby shall be a great baby, this baby shall grow up to do great works for the Lord, this baby shall…..”

” Enough pastor, please with all due respect I don’t need all these prayers. I am fine… the GOD of the Christians have failed me, I am no longer Sis Grace, I am now Orishamuyiwa, I am back to the gods of our fathers.. Thank you for stopping by…”

walked back into the house and from what my younger sister told me, the man stood in that position for over 45 mins like someone who saw a ghost…He left much later really downcast.
Later, that evening Ifakolade paid me a visit, and I saw him and my mother having a secret discussion. After the discussion kolade walked up to me…

” Oosamuyiwa, the loss of my brother can not be in vain, and the death of your sister and husband can not be in vain either…. Who does this Larry think he is? , wherever he thinks he got his charm from, I know somewhere deadlier to go to… I just came to inform you I am going on a revenge mission and your mother is in support… All I need from you is financial support, I am going to spiritually reinforce against Larry, so whatever money I am told to bring, you will have to bear it… So are you in OR….? ”

” I am in…. I don’t have any choice anymore… He is after my life too…. Just tell me what it cost and I will pay….”
My mother took Ifakolade to the most terrible herbalist in all of the 6 towns that makes our local government… Baba Jawegbona.

I was told Jawegbona said Larry was the son of a herbalist and had been fortified heavily, and could not be easily destroyed. He said no bullet could ever penetrate his body except if a man and woman who are married, hold a gun together to shoot at him in unity…. Only then could a gun penetrate into his body as the blood of a couple was used in the preparation of the charm used in fortifying him.

essence, my mother and Ifakolade came back with the news that if I wanted revenge, I needed to marry Ifakolade and together pay Larry a visit… So with hands in unity, we will shoot Larry dead….

this make sense in anyway…. Me? Marry Ifakolade…..
Ifakolade was ready, he didn’t mind I was pregnant, the fire of revenge was burning in HIm…He said he didn’t mind sleeping with me while pregnant to consummate the marriage, and thereafter, we go to the city to finish Larry… He went further to promise that after the killing, we could go out separate ways…

It looked simple but the part I didn’t like was that I will have to sleep with Ifakolade too, making it 3 men….

Was I not gradually becoming like my mother and was the search for revenge not going to give birth to something else???

THAT NIGHT IN ROOM 401 Part 11 by Opeyemi Ojerinde Akintunde

I can’t marry Ifakolade, God forbid… Ifakolade of all people, because of revenge… Maami, don’t force me into another error, this was exactly how you forced me into marrying Daniel the Igbo man because of money. Maami because you want to kill Larry out of revenge, you want me to marry Ifakolade… a drug addict, an assassin , a tout…. Maami…. Please let me be… You know what, I am no more interested in killing Larry again, Let God fight…” I said

” What did I hear you say?, God will fight?… How come God has not been fighting, why did God not stop him from killing my daughter…. Muyiwa, why did you come back, you have brought us back luck…. Get out.. Get out…. “Maami said
” Maami, what? ” I asked in disbelief

” I said get out..” My Sisters were pleading on my behalf, My mother was definitely high on something, I took my slippers and left the house, it was around 12:30am… My immediate sister was calling me to come back…. But I was not listening… I wanted out..

I kept walking with no destination in mind as a lot crossed my mind, from suicide, to insanity or going back to Larry’s place in the city and asking him to Kill ME…. but in the midst of this, it seem like someone was pushing me from behind towards a particular direction.

I must have walked for 20 mins when I became conscious of myself,… ” Where was I going at this hour of the night? ” I asked myself. I decided to turn back, but suddenly I felt this painful leg cramps that didn’t let my leg move one inch from where I was, I didn’t want to scream so as not to attract unnecessary attention, so I sat on the floor giving my leg time to rest…

Everywhere was silent, but in that silence, I could hear a familiar tone, it was one of my old songs titled ” NINU IRORA” ( IN TIMES OF PAINS). I stood up and followed the sound…Hoping I would be given shelter for the night…

I kept singing along as I drew near to the house where the music was coming from…
” Ninu Irora, Mo ba Eleda mi soro
( In times of pain, I speak to my creator)

Ninu Isoro, mo ba Eleda mi soro
( In times of Problems, I speak to my creator)
Tori Eleda lo Da Eda
( Because, it was the creator that created the created)

I kept singing this song as it’s meaning hit me… I wrote and sang this song over 7 years ago, and now I suddenly understood the song… In all of my problems and challenges, I had not been speaking ( Praying) to my creator… I started singing the song with so much passion, I didn’t care if any one heard me…. I sat on a closed well beside the house…

” Sis Grace…. ” I heard my name. It was the Newly posted pastor who had visited me few weeks back, the music was coming from his house…
” It’s late out here, what are you doing out here… Are you OK? ”

No words came out of my Mouth but the song and tears from my eyes. I saw him stretch forth His hand to me, the hand looked to me like a chance of a new life…. I was torn between accepting or declining, but I am grateful that I accepted that hand because it shaped the next two weeks after that night…

I got to know his name was pastor James, he had lost his wife Two years earlier, and he didn’t have a child. He took me in and for two weeks, I was pampered, he never asked me any question, he never preached to me, but every morning he would come to me in the room and pray for me and the baby…. His prayer was simple…

” Lord, show my Sis Grace how much you love her, Please encourage her and make her happy in Jesus name”…He always ended with a smile, a smile so genuine I wondered if he was human. Every day before he left for church which was just close by, he would play one of my Audio CD’s he had and put it on Automatic replay…

I had time to heal, I had time to think…away from the harsh world.
I spoke to him for the first time after 8 days…
” I need to tell you something, pastor James and I hope you still like me when I am done” I said very gently

He showed no expression as I narrated EVERYTHING… but when I was done, He looked at me with that golden smile and said ” Is that all?”….The way he asked so simply further broke ME IN tears… as he held my hands and said his simple Prayer again.
He wiped my tears and said this to me…

” The fact that a Lion is wonded and injured does not make it less of a Lion, it just needs time to heal and rise up to return back to the position of being called the “KING OF THE JUNGLE”… I believe my own Sister Grace will rise again, Larry was just a distraction…You will rise again… ”

I had not felt love and care like this before, Pastor James started making me see the pregnancy as something I should be joyful about. His smiles …. I was always looking forward to it…
Was this redemption?, Was this God’s second chance? Could God be Merciful enough to make Pastor James write a new chapter in the story of my life Or was this another deceiver like Larry….

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Part 12
(THAT NIGHT IN ROOM 401)
©️Opeyemi Ojerinde Akintunde

Every night after the 8th day I opened up to him, We would play a game, which Pastor James Invented … ” Who sings it better?”.

It was a game of all my songs from my 10 albums, he would pick a song and we both will try to sing it individually. Funny enough we were the judges as well…. I was surprised that he knew ALL my songs… There were some I even forgot the lyrics, he would be the one to remind me….

Pastor James, was too true to be real. I felt like I had known him for years. I felt I had seen my solution and that’s why one night I walked up to the living room where he was sleeping. I woke him up telling him I could not sleep, he asked if there was anything he could do to help me…

I simply answered ” Marry ME, please”…

Pastor James was shocked to say the least as sleep immediately cleared from His eyes… and his answer shocked me…

” NO.. I mean Yes… I would love to marry you. But not like this… I don’t mean the pregnancy, but I mean your state of mind, Grace… Marrying you would be the greatest privilege, but right now, you don’t need me, You need God…

You know since the last time you told me you are Orishamuyiwa, you haven’t rededicated your life back to Christ and the truth is after I lost my wife, I have been praying for a new wife…. So if God gives me the privilege of making you my wife, I would be the happiest, but I can’t marry an Orishamuyiwa, I can’t marry outside of Christ… ” He said in all honesty

“I am not yet sure I want to rededicate my life yet…I don’t know…I Am still in a confused state… ” I replied

“Then you don’t want me then… Grace I can’t love you outside God… The truth is I don’t know if this is God’s doing, but the truth is I really love and care about you, and I don’t care about the past, I care about the future… So what do you say?…are you ready to come back to God…? ” He asked looking straight into my eyes

I didn’t say a word, rather I laid my head on his shoulder, there was silence for close to 10 minutes without each of us saying anything. I guess God gave me that time to make up my mind because of what was about to happen….

What?
We heard a loud bang on the door, it was 1:30am ,
” Open this door….”

Ifakolade… Ifakolade was around… That was Ifakolade’s voice… I started shivering…
” Pastor, that woman in your room is my wife to be, we have an unfinished business together… Ask her, I was on my own…

She came looking for me… She brought me trouble, and I can’t have peace of mind until the trouble is over ” Ifakolade said while his boys were trying to forcefully open the door…

Pastor James faced me and asked me to run out through the back door, but I couldn’t leave him to their mercy.. They would Kill him…. While we were arguing, the door broke and I hugged Pastor James in fear. Ifakolade didn’t like that sight… You could tell from his eyes….

” OK… so it has been the pastor doing what I am suppose to be doing? …Good, then the matter has been solved, Baba Jawegbona said Two lovers must shoot Larry, then you and your pastor boyfriend must get my revenge for me… ” Ifakolade said with a sneer

” God Forbid… I can never shed Human blood” Pastor James said with all audacity…
” But you can be sleeping with a pregnant woman? ” Ifakolade said trying to ridicule pastor James

” I have not been …. “Pastor James was saying but stopped suddenly and said ” I am going to marry her and as my wife to be I would never let her shed blood…., she might have made a bargain with you in the past, but that was in the past.. ”

” Really?, ” Ifakolade moves close to Pastor James and pointed his gun at His head…, while directing the “REALLY” to me…
” Nooo…don’t shoot him please… Ifakolade… I will marry you… Don’t touch him please, he is innocent, I don’t want to be guilty of his own blood too. I am ready to do whatever you want” I said with tears and fear all over me…

” Stop it Grace… This has been the problem… You don’t know how to say No… Please Say no to this devilish bargain… He can’t kill me… It is just an empty threat” Pastor James said
As if to answer Pastor James, Ifakolade shot the pillow beside Grace to confirm that his gun was loaded…

” So Grace OR Oosamuyiwa… Which one are you sef? What is your final answer… It is either I kill your pastor boyfriend and I know I have gotten my revenge or you marry me and we get rid of that useless man together? ”

” Grace.. Let him kill me, I am not afraid of death… I know where I am going after death, but if you let him push you, you will kill Larry and be guilty of murder… Let him kill me… The world is waiting for you to rise again…. Please…”
” 1..2…3…” Ifakolade was counting….
” Stop it… ”
I walked closed to James, and with tears I couldn’t help, I held his hand…

“James …You have been an angel to me, I can’t bear to see you die, just let me do this, after Larry’s death, my marital contract with him will be over… I believe God Will still open his arms to receive me when I am done.. But will you still want to marry me….by then…???

For the first time, I saw James in tears, he had no answer for me… he was always hopeful and full of smiles…, but that day…I didn’t see any of those….
Ifakolade pulled me out of the house, Pastor James was not ready to let go of my hands, but I had to let go of his….
A new and interesting chapter in my life was concluded so soon, but now Ifakolade was writing a new one….

If you were in my shoes, what would you have done…. Would I have let poor James die because of me….?

THAT NIGHT IN ROOM 401
#OpraDre

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