The Second Sight – Episode 57

THE SECOND SIGHT EPISODE 57

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JUST LIKE IN CHRIST’S TIME…

I looked into Nicole’s traumatized eyes, and even before I could speak she reached out and took my hands, and I could feel her hands trembling rather badly around me.

BOAT

(lamely)

The pregnant women are gathered at a place called Devil’s Drop. They’re threatening to fling themselves over if I don’t go to them. The police are sending a chopper for me.

Nicole deflated against me, and as I held her I just couldn’t tell which of us was trembling so badly.

BOAT

Where – and what – is the Devil’s Drop?

Bonner’s face was white with a terror he could barely hold back as he sat down on the chair in front of the huge desk. He had aged ten years more, or so it seemed, and his eyes bored into mine frantically.

CHARLES BONNER

(slowly)

The Devil’s Drop is located on the extreme western end of the town. It is now fenced off and always under guard. It is a little mountain that climbs steeply up to the beach. Below it is a thirty-foot drop to the roiling sea and the jagged slivers of a freak formation of razor-sharp pointed thin rocks. Many people lost their lives at Devil’s Drop. Used to be a favourite suicide site in the past until the local authorities decided enough was enough and closed it up to the public. People who want to die quickly just flung themselves down the drop unto the jagged knife-edge rocks, and sometimes the sea just took their bodies away. Gangsters used it for committing untraceable murders. Now it is under Government control and fiercely guarded to prevent further deaths.

PAUL ANDERSON

(dazed)

Jesus, the Devil’s Drop! Why the drop?

CHARLES BONNER

(harshly)

It is so simple, isn’t it? Quite reasonable and obvious, don’t you think? Why didn’t I think of it. It is the perfect end to the whole matter, isn’t it? What is more apt than a re-enactment of Jesus’ encounter with the Legion? This time, instead of using pigs, our clever host of evil demons plans to use pregnant women! Oh, dear Lord, this is terrible, terrible!

BOAT

(desperately)

Tell me what is going on, please.

Bonner looked at me, seeing my acute stress, and he nodded with understanding. I saw, however, that his hands were not quite steady as he reached across the huge desk and pulled out a big Bible bound in red.

He took out a pair of spectacles and perched them on the edge of his nose. He was fully concentrated now as he flipped through the pages of the Bible until he came to what he was looking for.

He looked up briefly and his eyes were magnified orbs of fear that sought me out.

CHARLES BONNER

Are you conversant with the story of Jesus and the host of demons known in the Bible as the Legion, boy?

I nodded uncertainly.

BOAT

Vaguely, yes. Jesus exorcised a host of demons inside a man, the demons entered some pigs which ran into the sea and died.

He nodded, his concentration once more on the open Bible in front of him.

CHARLES BONNER

A good enough summary. But let’s recap quickly. Here, in the book of Matthew, the story can be found on chapter eight, the verse twenty-eight. Here, Jesus came to Gadarenes, he met two men possessed of the Legion. The book of Mark talks about just one man, whilst Matthew spoke of two men. The argument has been that one of the men was much stronger than the other, and maybe this was who Mark concentrated on. Now, continuing, the Legion first asked if Jesus had come to torment them before their time. Jesus just wanted to exorcise them. Note that the man, as described in Mark, was exceedingly strong and untamed. He cold snap chains that were used to tie him up like threads. Now Jesus allowed the Legion to enter the two thousand swine! These pigs ran down a steep incline into the sea and died.

He closed the Bible with a bang and slowly removed his glasses, which he carefully folded up – it was one of those spectacles which could be folded into a tiny pack – and put it back in his pocket.

CHARLES BONNER

Now what happened to the Legion after the pigs choked to death? Did they possess some fishes? I don’t know. Did they escape somehow? That too, I don’t know. Are they the same Legion we’re dealing with? Or another bunch of evil demons that have bunched together? I don’t have the answer to that one also. What I know is that, somehow, this Legion we’re dealing with is enacting that scene from the Bible. Now the scene has changed, and instead of swine the Legion has selected a hundred and three pregnant women and taken them to a death drop overlooking the violent sea. Jesus Christ is the greatest Unblind that ever walked the earth, but we don’t know what happened to that Legion in Jesus’ time that entered the pigs. Does this Legion know something about that event that we don’t?

Somehow it is confident that by re-enacting that scene, it can get rid of you, son.

I wondered if the room had somehow gotten colder, or it was just my fear that had gotten stronger.

Bonner leaned back slowly, and when he looked at me I saw the face of a haggard, broken man.

CHARLES BONNER

(quietly)

I’m afraid, son. I’m afraid for you. Going to Devil’s Drop you’re also compromising, giving in to the terms of those vicious demons. If I had my way, I’ll advice you to stay right here, and face it another time.

I shook my head slowly.

BOAT

That would be like sentencing those women and their little unborn babies to death. If I refuse to show up on Devil’s Drop you know they’ll all end up dead.

Bonner shouted, losing his cool for the first time since I met him.

His right palm came crashing down on the desk as he got up on his feet.

CHARLES BONNER

But you’re not ready! This thing has been battling for survival for centuries, boy. Somehow, I think it is now calling the shots. Unless you back off and find a way to battle it, on your terms, you could end up dead. Today!

And his words were emphasized by a terrible blast of thunder that shook the walls and a prolonged slash of lightning that blazed through the glass windows, throwing everything into a sharp black-and-white relief for a moment.

We stared at each other, five scared little human beings, and then it happened.

In the depths of my fear, in the aftermath of the paralyzing panic that had assailed my bones, I suddenly felt a coolness spreading through me. I didn’t know where it came from, or why it even came.

Frankly, I had not exercised any form of mental prowess or any known procedure for beating the scaredy little blues. It just happened: one moment I was scared stiff, and the next I was being suffused with this strange serene calmness.

It stilled the trembling of my body, and doused me with a good measure of good feeling. Instead of my fear a slow anger began to stir up in my brea$t, and I knew that I was on firm ground.

It dawned on me that somehow, somewhere deep inside that great expanse of skies and beyond, a powerful God has just poured a coolant on the sizzling fiery embers of fear in my heart, dousing me with a dose of divine strength that even Unblinds like me could not see…but could feel.

BOAT

(softly)

I’m ready, old man.

NICOLE

(tremulously)

Yaw!

Tears bubbled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks like diamonds.

I traced a finger down the precious liquid and smiled into her eyes.

I bent and kissed tears off her cheeks lovingly.

BOAT

Don’t, my precious Princess. Your tears will break me. I’m alright. I’m ready. I need your strength, and the knowledge that I’ll come back to the comfort of your love.

And then we all heard the helicopter.

The sound of its heavy rotors filled the study, and a moment later we caught sight of it through the glass windows as it hovered over the grass.

It was a dark-green army chopper, heavy and a little awkward but supremely capable, especially in bad weather.

Perhaps the most difficult thing was letting Nicole go.

I was at peace within, but that peace didn’t stem from the fact that I was confident of certain victory over the Legion. On the contrary, it was the kind of peace that one would feel and appreciate most in defeat.

I knew I could die, yes, but that fact did not make me cower and tremble with the near panic that had almost overtaken me. And looking at Nicole I was struck afresh by how much I love her, and how much I wanted to stay with her.

But not now.

It was time for battle, and sentiments were luxuries that could not afford right then.

She would wait for me, I knew.

My only prayer was that I would survive the night, and come back into the waiting arms of love.

ON DEVIL’S DROP

I looked at each of them in turn.

Somehow they had become a family, my family, and represented everything that I had lacked in life previously.

BOAT

(softly)

“I’ll see you soon, folks.

Nicole’s eyes roved my face, and although I saw the great effort she was making not to cry again, tears nevertheless glistened once more on her lashes.

NICOLE

(heartbreakingly)

Yaw, live! Do you hear me, Yaw Boat? Live for me. Please. It is all I’m asking. Live, because I can’t live without you, my love!

I nodded, suddenly not trusting my voice anymore.

CHARLES BONNER

Go with God, my son.

He sat down heavily in the chair he had exploded out of.

PAUL ANDERSON

We’ll be here. Praying. We won’t cease praying.

I nodded again.

They did the right thing in not coming with me to the door.

I walked through the living-room and opened the door to the persistent knocking from outside. I wondered vaguely where all the servants had gone to.

Chief Inspector Jack Frost was standing on the doorstep, his long overcoat buttoned to the neck, a flat-crowned felt hat jammed tight on his head.

His eyes were bloodshot and there were long lines drawn deeply across his face.

He was a troubled and tired man.

CHIEF INSPECTOR FROST

This thing should stop, boy, permanently! None of us can take it anymore.

The chopper’s rotors were still whirling, and the sky was getting darker by the second.

Thunder shattered the sky, so loudly that it almost rendered me deaf temporarily. The lightning that followed split the sky into many webbed parts, causing Frost to lurch forward and grab one side of the door post.

His face was that scared, but he could not speak because the noise made it impossible. His eyes searched my face desperately as I stepped past him and walked toward the helicopter.

A cold wind was blowing, and it caught my coat and lashed it around my body.

I felt the first pinpricks of rain on my face, and again I looked into that terrible sky with its terrible red-ringed clouds, and I smiled grimly.

The hour had indeed come.

We entered the helicopter, and it took off sluggishly again.

I did not know how long we flew, but eventually the helicopter touched down behind a huge rambling flat building.

The rain had intensified, and it was a full-scale lashing torrent now.

Thunder and lightning fought violently for supremacy of the sky, and never in my life had I heard such a cacophony of sounds that were as scary as they were unwanted.

Jeeps, patrol cars, and sedans belonging to the police and BNI were parked haphazardly in front of the building. Ambulances were parked to one side, lights flashing. Uniformed cops and tired-looking Agents were milling around on the veranda.

Frost held onto his trilby with both hands as he got out and raced for the low-slung veranda of the building. I followed him, but I didn’t run. I walked, and I kept my head low as my nose was assailed by the repugnant smells of the Legion; it permeated the whole atmosphere, and I breathed shallowly and sparingly.

The rain was a slanted sleet that cut through material to the bone, but I didn’t really feel a thing as I joined Frost on the veranda.

He gestured toward a narrow corridor lighted with a single bulb overhead.

CHIEF INSPECTOR FROST

My superiors are in there. They want to talk to you.

I shook my head silently.

My nerves were taut, strained to their very ends.

It wasn’t the time for long speeches; it was time for war.

BOAT

I forgot to ask you how those pregnant got to you and demanded for me.

CHIEF INSPECTOR FROST

One pregnant woman came down here. She was holding a gun aimed at her own head, can you believe that? We ran her down on our database. She’s Maame Adutwumwaa, an investment consultant, and she’s seven months into her first pregnancy. She told us to get you, and that you should come to Devil’s Drop. She backed away and went up the Drop again, and all along that damn gun never wavered or left her temple. She was ready to ki*ll herself because somehow we all felt it wasn’t really her speaking, see? She had this kind of plastic body chem, like she was a zombie or something, and had that glassy look in her eyes, like a sleepwalker. Something bad happened to her, I’m sure, and she scared hell out of us. We let her go.

I nodded.

BOAT

So right now we’re on Devil’s Drop?

CHIEF INSPECTOR FROST

Yeah. Used to be great tourist site, you know. The Drop itself is up there, just about a kilometre away, climbing upward. sh*t, I always say that piece of killing zone was never created by God, if He really exists. Anything that terrible could’ve come only from the crazy head of Lucifer. Never knew what people saw in that place that made them love it so. But not everybody saw it as a nice place to hang out, though, because the death by suicide rate became too high, and so it was closed to the public. We had reason to believe that they were not all suicides, though. Homicides occurred here, and were disguised as suicides.

BOAT

You let the press know that they asked for me?

CHIEF INSPECTOR FROST

No. The Senator and the Chief wanted to give them something, but I told them to hold on until you got here. Helicopter flyovers confirmed that the women are bunched close together on the rim of The Drop, their arms linked together. A slight push would send all of them crushing to their deaths on the reefs below. We have agents and cops staking out the place though, and medical staff on standby.

BOAT

Good. You go on in and talk to the Senator and other big wigs whilst I go up. Remember, nothing to the press, and please, don’t let anybody stray up there. This is very important. No one should go beyond this building! If you’re in contact with your cops and agents, withdraw them immediately.

I began to turn away.

He was on me like a flash, gripping my arm hard.

Most of the people had stopped what they were doing and were staring at us now.

CHIEF INSPECTOR FROST

(harshly)

sh*t, man, do you know what’s going on here? We have a near-riot situation down there at the main gates! Husbands, fathers, mothers and relatives of a hundred and three pregnant women, not counting the press and other social groupings, all down there breathing down our necks. I don’t know what the sh*t is going on here, so you better come inside and give us something to feed them!

I pulled my arm free, and glared at him.

I never knew what he saw on my face, but he did the wise thing and stepped away from me.

BOAT

Go and tell them they’ll have the women back, but no one should follow me up there.

His hand went into his coat.

BOAT

You’re not going to point a gun at me, are you?

My voice was soft enough, but suddenly he checked the movement of his hand, and it remained still in his coat.

He sighed, and his hand became still.

CHIEF INSPECTOR FROST

f**k you, Yaw Boat. No, I won’t point a gun at you. I never do that to my friends.

I turned away from him without another word and began to walk.

CHIEF INSPECTOR FROST

Yaw!

I didn’t halt, and I didn’t turn.

CHIEF INSPECTOR FROST

Take care, and good luck, you bas***d. May your God be with you, bas***d.

If I could, I would’ve smiled, but as it was my emotions were frozen at the moment, and all I felt was the intense urge to punish.

The sky was rocked by a series of violent lightning, sending everybody scrambling for cover, and then the ground shook frighteningly as if from a mini earthquake.

The sky darkened, the wind howled, and the rain became a fierce driving force that I found terrifying.

I smiled bleakly.

Yeah, Funky Grounds come to life.

A fine day to die.

 

To be continued…

©Aaron Ansah – Agyeman

Ask Rights Reserved.

 

ALL EPISODES OF THE SECOND SIGHT

10 Comments

  1. This is electrifying and captivating.
    It feels like am there witnessing all these. Funky grounds Alive indeed!!
    Mazel Tov author!

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