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| The Strange land |
Chapter Four
Their journey as a youth corpers continued until one particular day that all of them assembled in front of the proprietress including the other staffs. The woman voice was really shaky as she speaks. She told them the reason why she wanted to be away from the school until further notice. She told the corper’s not to worry too much about record signature that she would assign someone else to take charge of it while she is away.
“We wish you speed recovery ma.” Mirabella said.
“Thank you. As you have been told earlier about the upcoming test because the syllabus for this term is coming to an end.
“yes ma”. They answered.
“So I want you all to be very prepared also for the exam because it will be just two weeks interval after the test. Mrs Feyisile will also put you through in whatever you needed to know.
“Yes ma.” They answered.
“I…”she cough harder. “ I want you all to be very careful and take good care of yourself, most especially our strangers.
“Yes ma. ”Paulina said.
“We are going to miss you ma.” Taiwo said.
“God will heal you permanently in Jesus name.” Timothy said.
“Thank you all. Ehn….(coughing and started Walking quietly to her car as they followed) I will call Mr gbadebo to bring the new items we ordered that are needed in the school.
“Snake!
Snake!!
Snake!!!
The pupils in primary 5 and 6 ran out screaming for help.
“Snake??”. Muhammad muttered and they all ran to the said class except the proprietress.
“Where is the snake?”. Timothy and Taiwo asked looking into the classroom.
“It is over there sir.” One of the pupils answered pointing at the ceiling.
Taiwo jumped back in shocked seeing the gigantic snake crawling on their zinc called ceiling.
“This one big oooo but how did it enter." Taiwo exclaimed.
“Are you asking me “. Timothy scoff moving back with him.
“is there snake there truly “. Elizabeth asked fearfully standing far behind with others.
“Yes there is and it looks like anaconda.
“yehhh Jesus Christ!”.
The girls and other staffs ran backwards. The proprietress was told what happened and she ordered all the remaining pupils to be sent out from their classroom for safety.
“How do we k.ill it now.” Taiwo asked behind a tree.
“K.ill what?.” One of the school teacher asked.
“The snake of course!.” Elizabeth answered.
“Nooo you can’t k.ill it.
“What do you mean by we can’t k.ill it. Or is it until it crawls outside to attack all of us.
“it will go back to where it comes.
“How did you know?.” Timothy asked.
“Because this is not the first time we will be seeing it.
“Are you joking?” Paulina looked at her surprisingly.
“She is not joking.” The proprietress answered behind walking from her car. That is the deity of this village.
“Haaaa!.” All the corper’s exclaimed speechlessly.
“Yes, that is Ogupa. The greatest of all gods. It’s the divination of every part in this village, and if it should appear anywhere. It shows danger is ahead of such vicinity. The last time it appears here it was doing that week that five pupils d.ied accidentally by jumping inside a well.
“Chinekeme! Elizabeth it’s like I will redeploy comot for here ooo.
“Na every time person dey hear different things." Paulina said.
They whispered to each other while the proprietress talk. Timothy raised his hand to talk and she gave him go ahead.
“Ma, Could it be that, this is why there is no single church in this village?.
“Yes my dear. We don’t have churches and that’s why I do caution you all not to pray for anybody in the school not even on the assembly. It can invoke the anger of OGUPA
“The devil is a liar.” Timothy said in his mind.
“So non of you should be scared as it should have gone from there. I believed it just came to showcase itself to all of you.
“Abeg ooo make e no showcase anything to us. We don’t want to know him or na it.” Paulina and the girls look around them fearfully thinking it could appear to them .
“This land is a cursed land. Jesus Christ of Nazareth! Things must change in this land father.
Faith stories content
Muhammad hit Timothy shoulder “Guy what are you thinking in your mind. I hope you now understand while that strange creature keeps appearing to me in the house. Definitely because of your prayers.
“Then it should have appeared to me instead.” He answered.
“You might not know na. Or you don’t know that you always sleep like d.ead fowl in the night.
“I don’t think it’s because of that. And moreover I am not a sleep Morgan. I am always sensitive.
“See see, forget all those thing. Abeg na beg I dey beg you. No dey pray for night again oooo infact no dey pray anytime again. Because if that witch vex now make e no go cut my head abeg. I no one di.e now. I still get plenty months to use here and my parents sef dey house dey expect my return.
“Muhammed, come on, you fear a lot. Why? Just because of the small words said by the proprietress you have started thinking otherwise. You don’t even have faith in your God at all. I can’t even blame you because I have never seen you praying for once talk of mentioning about where you could see mosque around to go pray. Faith stories content
“Na your headache be that. So hold your peace with your religion and live mine alone.
Just as it was said the snake has disappeared without traces. The proprietress left and all the pupils returned to their classes. Although Elizabeth and co were still afraid of what happened and was very scared, looking around persistently to be cautious of not seeing the snake again. One student got up and went to meet Elizabeth and gave her sweet to calm her nerves.
“Oh Thank you my dear.
“That’s how nice she is.” The main class teacher said.
“Really??.
“Yes.
“That is good.” Elizabeth tore the sweet nylon and started licking it. The girl smirk from where she was seating with two of her friends when they see that she has started eating the sweet.
Faith stories content
“She will see us in the night hahaha.” The girl said.
“She has finally becomes part of us.” Second girl said
“There is no escape for her at all.” Third girl said.
“But this deity of a thing is still baffling me. Like how can there be a place like this without one single church or mosque.
“Elizabeth, this is how it has been from decades and there is no one absolutely no one that will dare the OGUPA. Even if you’re ethnic of this community and you traveled to the city. Once you step into this community, just forget about anything religion you might have been into in the City.
“Really??
“Yes my dear. There are three ancient worshipers here.
“Three ancient worshipers? Tell me na.
“We have OGUPA, awon iya meta okukun……”
“Meaning??
“The Three witches.
“Ha, what about the third.
“Hmmm that one is yeye oshoromoga, eye fufun tin bó ilé. ómî ónà ótà sugbón ónbà ótà jà .
“And which one is this one that have long name or chant.
“It is the water goddess.
“huh! So you people worship mermaid too.
“Not everybody but if you choose to worship you can. But the greatest of them all is OGUPA the mighty dreaded snake.
To be continued…