She had a headache. I was with her when it started. I told her to rest for a while and see if it will go; “It’s normal. You’ve been working in the sun all week. Just take a full day’s rest, it will go.” The next morning she called me on the phone; “Maxwell, kindly get me some painkiller on your way coming. The headache is getting worse.” I went to the store to get it before going to her place that day. When her mother saw me she said, “Your girl had been crying all night. I’ve told her to visit the hospital but she’s adamant. Add your voice. Maybe she’ll listen to you.”

She was lying on the sofa when I got in. I called her name but she didn’t have the strength to even raise up her head to look at me. She said, “Maxwell, I’m suffering. This is not just a headache. I feel this severe burning sensation in my head. It’s like my head is in flames It’s been like this all night. Max, I’m suffering.” I held her hand and helped her to sit up. I told her, “Why don’t we go to the hospital? Get ready, I will call a taxi so we go together.” She said, “Don’t worry, I will be fine. When I get to the hospital, they’ll end up giving me painkillers. Let me take what you brought and see how it will go.”

She took the drug. I stayed with her until the evening before I left for my house. Around 10pm when I was about to sleep, I called her line. I asked if she was doing well and she said, “I’m managing. If by tomorrow the pain is still the same, I will know what to do.” We said our goodnights and hang up the call. 

Around 2am my phone rang. I checked and it was her. Immediately I picked the line she started ranting; “I know you won’t believe it but this headache is not normal. I’ve had several nightmares. I can’t even close my eyes and have some little sleep. They lie bad. They won’t get me. Early tomorrow morning, I will travel. By the time I return, those behind this headache will confess. They think they can get me. I will show them it’s not all human meat they can peacefully consume.” I kept listening to her with slumbering attention. When she finished talking I said, “Try to sleep. I will come and see you tomorrow morning.”

The next morning when I got there, her mother told me she had traveled. “To where?” I asked, “She went to our hometown with the first bus. She should be there by this time.” I called her phone and she didn’t pick. She called back around 6pm to tell me she was on her way coming back. I asked her, “Are you healed?” She answered, “I’m very fit. I will come and see you when I get to town. There is a lot to say.”

She knocked on my door around 9pm. She took something from her bag and entered the bathroom with it. She came back smelling like boiled herbs. She spread her cloth on the floor and slept. Early morning around 5am, I heard the sound of running water from the bathroom. It was her. She went to bathe with the herbs again and came back to sit next to me in the bed. She started talking about what she found out when she went to her hometown. “They said the person causing this sickness lives in the same house with me. She’s a little bit older and fair. Immediately they said that I knew who they were referring to. It’s my mother’s senior sister. That woman has tried in so many ways to bring me down but if she doesn’t take care, she’ll die before she sees me fall.”

She doesn’t come from a rich background. Her father was totally absent. Her mother raised her and her three senior brothers alone. According to her, her senior brothers are not doing well in life because of the witches and wizards in their family. One of her brothers started a poultry farm. Just when it was getting to Christmas for him to make sales, all his chickens fell sick and started dying one after the other. By Christmas, he was out of business. The same thing had happened to her other two brothers in different forms. She had vowed never to allow them to get her like they’ve had her brothers. 

She completed polytechnic and started a soap-making business. “They attacked me. I could work hard for a month and raise a substantial amount. Just when I’m about to expand my business, they’ll strike me down with a sickness. I’ll end up using all the money I’d worked for to treat my sickness. For three years, my business remained the same until I decided to take my destiny into my own hands. They haven’t had it easy since I started walking around carrying my destiny on my head. I won’t drop it for them to play it like football.”

She opened two mobile money joints around her area and hired people to operate for her. She worked all week to set it up. She moved between the two joints all week ensuring that those working there won’t make losses. It was within that same week that the headache started. “They always strike when they see that I’ve achieved something. But they lie bad.” She said.

After visiting all these places seeking spiritual reinforcement, on Sundays, she’ll pick her bible and go to church. I’m not judging but I told her to stick to one; “Choose one and be faithful. You can’t worship God and also visit those places.” She told me, “Caesar deserves his dues too but who told you I worship at those places? I go there for healing and ask them to be behind me. Maxwell, this world is full of strange things oooo. I know you don’t believe me because you haven’t seen half of what I’ve seen. Trust me, there are horrible things moving around. Ask God to open your eyes.”

She’s a good person. When she’s not chasing her demons, she’ll spend all the time on her work and give love where she’s supposed to. Very hard working and truthful. Her life’s motto is, “Speak the truth and die. The lies will kill you anyway.” I’ll give her money today and tomorrow she’ll buy me a gift with half of the money I gave her. There are only four places you’ll find her; work, home, church, and then with me. She talks about working hard to make money so she could take very good care of her mom and also help her brothers. I love her heart and how genuine she’s been ever since I found her. My only issue is with the places she goes to seek reinforcements.

I met a very good friend of hers who told me, “Jennifer had always been like that when we were in school. Her calculator got missing. She stood in the middle of the class and asked the one who stole it to return it before tomorrow morning. The person didn’t. She went home and came back and the following day, the calculator was on her table. We were in SHS.” When I talk to her about it, she tells me, “Max, if I don’t do that, I will die before my time. You come to my house and see beautiful faces smiling at you so you think all is well? They are all Babylon people. Just a snap of their fingers and you’re down for life. Don’t trust smiles when you can’t see what’s in the heart.”

She spends the night at my place on Saturdays because on Sundays she doesn’t go to work. I woke up one dawn and saw her burning incense. I’m a Catholic so I’m used to the scent of incense in the church and not in the house. When I got up I screamed, “What are you burning the incense for? At this time of the night?” She said calmly, “I’ve had nightmares. They are here?” “Who and who are here?” I asked. She responded, “Just go back to sleep. Everything is fine.” I couldn’t sleep again. I lied there and watched the incense burn all night. While it was burning, it also burned half of the love I had for her. For the first time in our relationship, I thought of walking away. “I can’t be in a relationship with a fetish priest,” I said to myself.

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But she had never done me any wrong since we dated a year ago. Do I have to walk away from a woman fighting for her life? Yes, I don’t see what she sees and I don’t believe in most of the things she says but is it enough grounds for me to walk away?” 

Days ago she traveled. Her heart was aching and was experiencing dizziness. She couldn’t work all week. When she came back she said, “They say I should leave the family house. They told me as long as I’m living there, they’ll see my progress in life and try to fight it. And the way I’m fighting against them, they may decide to kill me so I should leave. I need a room to rent as soon as possible.” 

We are currently on the market looking for a single room self-contained to rent. My plan is to get her a place to settle and slowly walk out of her life. She doesn’t need my money to rent a place. She has her own and she has not asked me for money to rent a place. I just want to do it for her so she wouldn’t be angry when I finally decide to walk away. 

Do you think it’s a good idea? Sometimes I get scared. One day she told me she was going to ask her people to look into our future and see what’s in for us. I protested. I asked her never to do such a thing but rather leave everything in the hands of God. She told me, “Your heart is not in it so even if I try, I won’t get accurate information.” She didn’t do it. She’s so into the dark world that it scares me. I don’t know how long they’ll continue pursuing her. I have to look out for my own future now before it’s too late. That’s why I want to leave. 

Is that a good idea?    

–Maxwell

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