The Second Sight – Episode 49

THE SECOND SIGHT EPISODE 49

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SEEING DEATH

He chuckled, and the flames danced higher in his eyes.

ANDREW

Yes, Yaw, I was. I sold my soul for wealth and power a long time ago. Sure, I wasn’t a Christian. All that stuff was shoved down my throat by a stupid father who would accept nothing else, and went as far as threatening me with withdrawing my inheritance if I ever strayed from the straight and narrow. So I played along to please him, and then I met Nicole, and for a moment the deception was worthwhile. And then you came along, and last night, after she saw you kissing another woman, and after I had offered her the world, she still had the audacity to admit to me that she was in love with you, and couldn’t marry me because that would be wrong.

I smiled as the warmth shot up within me.

Nicole, oh Nicole! She loved me!

My Nic!

I sighed heavily.

Oh, how much I needed her now.

ANDREW

(coldly)

Don’t gloat so much about that, Yaw. Of course I was maddened by her betrayal, and felt so vengeful, and then luckily for me I was chosen to replace you by my wondrous masters. There was a short ceremony, rather unpleasant, I might say, but absolutely worthwhile. I went through the initiation you spurned, and accepted my future. I became the new host that replaced your father, Yaw. Frankly, I’m awed and humbled by the sheer power I now have. You’re such a fool to refuse such glory, such … tumultuous ecstasy!

And he did that crazy vanishing act again.

He appeared on the balcony, and this time he hovered, feet off the floor, hanging in the air.

A moment later he was invisible again, and then he was standing beside Elaine. A flash, nothing more, and they were sitting on the settee, side-by-side, his arm around her shoulders.

He gloated at her, lusted after her. His eyes roved her chiselled beauty.

ANDREW

(lustfully)

And of course this wonderful princess shall be my queen. As I said, you’re such a fool. What woman can compare to this angel? Even Nicole can’t be compared with this ethereal beauty.

BOAT

(dryly)

You can have Elaine, Okai. Her dark soul matches yours perfectly.

Elaine’s eyes came up sharply as if I had slapped her.

Her lips were slightly parted, and her eyes were bright – too bright.

ELAINE

(softly, passionately)

I loved you! Damn you, Yaw Boat! Everything was so complete. You and I were meant to have a good life together, and to rule over the earth together! And you had to go and ruin it all! I did what I did because I had no choice, do you understand? I had no choice!

We all heard the sincerity in her voice, the choked element of hurt.

And finally I understood: as a human, or the rest that was left in her, she still felt love. She still felt the necessity of a woman’s cravings.

She had hurt me, but she would not have done it if she had ever had a choice.

Okai’s eyes were blazing a fiery red now, a raging cauldron of hatred.

He got to his feet, and his face was as nasty as the passion core of hell.

ANDREW

(savagely)

Nothing is going to give me more pleasure than watching you die, Yaw Boat!

And it wasn’t his voice at all.

It was the ancient sewer voice, the voice of the demons, and now I could smell them; the terrible stench signified their presence.

ANDREW

Both the women I love prefer you, but no problem. I just want you to know, before you die, that I will go on taking revenge on your friends. Pastor Paul Anderson and Charles Bonner will die. I’m going to ki*ll them personally, and after that I’ll ki*ll Nicole, her mother and her brother. As for this arrogant little b**** here, I see a lot of lessons to teach her in life!

Elaine’s head was bowed in silent submission.

ANDREW

(savagely)

Adios, friend. I wanted to manifest and tear you apart, piece by piece, but I’ll reserve that for that pompous, silly little Nicole. Now, I’ll just ki*ll you!

He stretched out his right hand to Samson Basoah, who came toward him with a huge automatic pistol in his hand.

Samson Basoah screwed a silencer on the barrel of the gun, cocked it, and wordlessly handed it to Okai.

Things were not funny anymore.

Surely I wasn’t about to die, was I? This just couldn’t be happening to me. I began to panic. Somehow I was going to end up dead if I didn’t move … now!

I swung toward Samson, crouching, my fist primed for his jaw…

That was … I tried!

But I couldn’t move a single limb.

I was fixed to the spot, as if I had been turned into a statue.

Horrified, I looked down, and saw Hideous smiling up at me from the floor. Its green tentacles were extended, holding me fixed to the spot, just like it had held Bob fixed until the truck smashed into him.

I turned pleading eyes to them now.

BOAT

(hollowly)

You can’t do this!

My panicked eyes seeking Okai.

ANDREW

(with a chuckle)

Of course I can do this. You just can’t imagine the satisfaction I’m getting out of this. Poor Nicole, to find out that she loves you, and yet she’ll never get the opportunity to tell you because you’d be dead. But don’t worry, pal. The fact that you failed God doesn’t mean you’ll inherit hell after your death. You will definitely go to a better place!

I closed my eyes and felt the pinpricks of tears.

What a waste, what a way to go.

I closed my eyes tightly and concentrated. Maybe, just maybe…I focused on God, on all the powers He had given me. I prayed inwardly, seeking divine guidance and help.

Maybe…just maybe.

I opened my eyes and stared at Okai, and when I spoke my words sounded sincere to my ears, and I felt almost powerful.

BOAT

(furiously)

You can’t do this, mammon! You can’t touch any of God’s anointed. In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you out of your host!

Okai chuckled again and shook his head with real mirth.

SAMSON

You dumb stupid little prick!

ANDREW

(chuckling again)

That was so pathetic. You didn’t even believe it yourself.

Have you finished, Unblind?

He quirked an eyebrow at me, the shades of his eyes changing quite rapidly now. The host of demons wanted to see me for the last time, to relish in the final destruction of their antagonist.

ANDREW

Goodbye, a**hole.

Andrew raised the gun.

I looked at Elaine, and this time the tears of helplessness spilled down my cheeks.

Elaine looked back at me, her face a little sad, but just that.

She seemed to have composed herself and accepted the way things had turned out. Maybe Okai’s threat to teach her some lessons had gotten to her, making her afraid.

Whatever it was, she was with them now, and wouldn’t do anything to help me.

And then Andrew Okai shot me.

I felt the bullet tearing its way through my body, bringing with it a sudden shaft of pain. I looked down, horrified, and found that there was a red-ringed hole in my stomach.

I looked up, and then he shot me in the chest. The bullet smashed bone, ripping cruelly through me.

I was aware that Elaine had uttered some kind of a sob and had turned away.

I wanted to fall down, but Hideous was holding me fixed upright.

Andrew Okai shot me in the chest again, just above my heart, and this time I screamed, and blood sputtered out of my mouth.

Hideous left me then, and I fell backward.

Already everything was getting kind of unfocused.

My body was filled with heat and coldness at the same time.

I could feel blood pumping out of me, and I looked at the ceiling dazedly.

Okai was standing over me, looking down at my face, his face no longer filled with controlled contempt but with great hate.

ANDREW

You f*****g cvnt!

I heard him say from a long, long way off. He spat on me, and then he turned to Basoah.

ANDREW

Would you like to finish this, Samson?

I couldn’t hear his voice.

I only saw his lips moving; my life was ebbing out fast.

THE BAPTISM!

Samson came into view, and his gun hand was extended.

SAMSON

(spitefully)

Die slow and painful, you damn little prick!

And then he shot me in the head.

Blood had formed around me in a pool.

My eyes were open, but I could barely see. I saw them moving, and a moment later they filed out of the door.

I was dying.

Maybe I was already dead!

The blood was pouring out of me.

Already I could see the pool around my feet, a tendril of it extending outward.

The pain was very excruciating, but nothing came through my lips. My eyes travelled upward to the wall…and then I saw it.

There was a painting on the wall, and it showed Jesus Christ and John the Baptist.

The greatest baptism of all time, the baptism where John had said he was not fit to baptize Jesus, but had been ordered to do so anyway. A baptism where the skies had split open, and a dove had descended from heaven…

Bonner had said whatever the Legion had against me, and was making me incapable of dealing with it, was something basic, something little!

Here was it, at last!

I knew without being told that here was the reason why the Legion had called me incomplete. I had accepted God’s word and become an Unblind, but I had not been a born again.

I needed to be baptized to complete the transition from a life of sin to one of righteousness.

I had just required a bloody baptism!

But it was too late now… I was dying, or I was already dead!

And then I heard it, the persistent sound from my brea$t pocket.

My phone was ringing.

My hand felt like a thousand-ton metal as I tried to lift it. One, two three, four times I tried to raise my right hand, but each time it flopped into the river of my blood.

I could not move my left hand at all.

But the phone still kept ringing.

Finally I managed to close my hand around it and took it out, sliding it upward and pressing the middle ‘OK’ button to activate the speaker mode.

It was Nicole, and she sounded absolutely depressed and agitated, as if she had been crying.

NICOLE

Hello, Yaw! Can you hear me? Are you alright?

BOAT

(whispering)

I’m dying!

I was surprised to hear my own voice.

I had been scared I wouldn’t be able to speak.

NICOLE

(screaming)

Yaw, please! Oh, please, my love, don’t die on me! Please where are you? Oh, please I love you. Don’t die Yaw!

I tried to speak, to tell her how much I loved her, and how she should be careful of Andrew Okai, but I just couldn’t speak.

Tears were falling down my cheeks unheeded now.

What a waste! I felt numb all over, and my breathing was much laboured. I knew that very soon I would take my last breath.

CHARLES BONNER

(concerned, scared)

Son, what’s happening?

My hand could not support the phone any longer, and it dropped.

It got lodged between my neck and my shoulder.

BOAT

(wheezing)

I’m dying, old man! Baptize me, now!

CHARLES BONNER

(voice unsteady)

What?

My mind was going, and my heart was stopping, but I took a deep breath and said as loudly as my failing lungs would allow.

BOAT

Baptize me!

CHARLES BONNER

(in a shocked rush)

Oh, dear Lord, that’s it! Oh, why didn’t I see it?

BOAT

Go on, goddamn it!

I was almost crying, and I could barely hear my own voice.

CHARLES BONNER

(shouting)

But you need water! Are you near water? You need complete immersion in water!

BOAT

(weakly)

Just do it, please!

Pastor Bonner began to say words.

I bent my head a little, trapping the phone, and then I forced myself to turn over on my stomach.

I fell in a pool of my own blood, and my head seemed to be split into two, and a wave of dizziness and great pain washed over me, causing me to scream and almost grey out, and then it passed quickly.

CHARLES BONNER

…and in the name of God the Father, God the son and God the Holy Spirit, I baptize you this day, Nana Yaw Boateng, that being born again, you shall put on the full character of Christ, and be a joy in Heaven this very second!

I felt the relief washing over me, and I let the phone slip.

Now it was done.

The words had been said, and I needed water … complete immersion.

I could go to the bathroom and run water into the tub and then sleep in it, but this was not the movies. This was real life, and a person who had been shot like I had been couldn’t just spring into a death-defeating move like that.

My only hope was the swimming pool ten floors down!

The first step was to get myself to the balcony.

That was what I should think of now.

Maybe it would not work, but it was the only chance I had left.

I continued to drag myself forward.

It was the most painful, most difficult thing I had ever done.

A cry of pain came out of me each second I moved, and it was amazing that I didn’t pass out. Maybe a divine hand was watching over me, otherwise I couldn’t have made it to the balcony.

But trailing my own blood, I made it finally. I grabbed the railings and with a Herculean effort I dragged my body up.

I knew then that I was left with a last effort.

Death was already at my door because I could see a sudden sheen on the balcony, emanating from a foreign being, an indistinct being that shone so brightly that it hurt my eyes.

Whatever it was, it looked intently at me, seeming to glide toward my body.

I knew that the Angel of Death was at hand, waiting for my soul, and the second my heart stopped beating my soul would be whisked away.

That knowledge just came to me, and I knew that it was the truth. Time was running out for me and suddenly every little second seemed to count.

I got my head and shoulders over the balcony, and then I let myself fall into space.

There was every probability that instead of the pool I would smash headlong unto the concrete floor beneath and rip myself to smithereens.

Whatever it was I had been baptized, and no one would fault me for not making an attempt to get to water for a complete immersion that would complete the baptismal ritual.

I found myself falling freely in space, head over heels.

I could hear screams, shouts, confusion!

And that shining being was following me, just outside my falling body. It frightened me so bad that even in my sub-conscious condition my heart screamed for release, needing that thing to just disappear.

Far away … oh, Lord, so far away! Why in the name Hades was the water so far away?

It took an eternity, and suddenly I smashed first unto hard concrete and felt bones breaking in my body, and then my body rolled once, twice…

My body had struck the sloping concrete of the pool area.

Suddenly I saw my body lying on the hard ground, covered with blood.

I seemed to be hovering just over my body, screaming and weeping, commanding that big hunk of flesh to get up.

I knew my soul had left the shell that had been my body, and chances were that I would never go back to it again. The fear was so terrible that I felt an alien coldness.

Suddenly that glittering thing was hovering just above me, reaching out for me.

To be continued…

©Aaron Ansah – Agyeman

All Rights Reserved.

 

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