I was beginning to find out, rather quickly, that death was a painful state of existence, especially in the Hovering Time. It was a state of perpetual pain, especially if you found yourself in the sort of stress I found myself in.
Death was not peace and bliss as I had always thought.
How many times had I not heard the cliché, that death was final and a time to rest? I guess that for few this probably held true, and those few were the ones the angel had told me were whisked away immediately they died.
Death was lonely, painful and final!
How I wished, above all else, that I could talk to someone, that I could let someone know the pain I was going through because of the betrayal of just four people: Tony, Esi, Yaa Yaa and that greedy lawyer Asante.
But I could not tell anyone, and I could not act in any positive way because my existence was separate from living people, and I was just a kind of air hovering around.
And pain, in its very raw form, was worse after death when we were in our spiritual forms. Maybe, just maybe, our physical bodies somehow helped to dull the full effects of pain on our souls, and without that protective cover, emotional pain became quite unbearable.
And that was what I was going through as I followed Esi into her office and moved restlessly around her, trying to hurt her physically in a way, but I was that helpless.
She sat down behind her desk and picked up a huge bowl of porridge from the floor and put it on the desk, and then she proceeded to enjoy it with roasted peanuts, milk and kose.
Oh, yes, why wouldn’t she enjoy herself?
I wanted to splatter that porridge all over her face and smear it into her nostrils and ears. I wanted to drag her on the floor and insert chunks of kose in all her orifices…yes, I was that furious and that hurt.
She was drinking water from a small bottle when her phone rang, and I blasted across to stare at the name on the screen. She had saved it as Yaa Ma Sis.
It was a call from Yaa Yaa, that slut!
Esi put the bottle down, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and picked the call.
“Yaa, how are you?” she asked quickly. “Are you still with Tony?”
So, she knew!
Dearest Lord!
This woman I had trusted with my soul, this woman I loved so much, had known all along that her little sister was having an affair with my husband, and even had a child with him! I had obviously been the fool in the equation, oblivious of the horror tales being spun around me!
I listened to her, horrified, as every drop of word from her mouth confirmed my worse fear.
“And when did Tony send the boy?” Esi asked, listened for a while, and then continued. “And make sure you don’t allow him to bring Abram back to that house, do you hear me? This is it, let him remain with his grandparents!”
I screeched with great pain this time, and I was rewarded with a blast of a sudden strong wind that toppled the almost empty bowl off the desk to the floor where it shattered!
Esi jumped, and I saw her looking around her with sudden trepidation, and a flash of unease flashed across her face.
She wanted to cut off the call then, but she was suddenly arrested by something her evil sister had said.
“What?” she asked suddenly with shock. “Korku Dogbe called Tony this morning? You mean Korku is in town? Do you know where he said he was staying?”
She listened for a while, and then she suddenly picked up a pen and began to write earnestly on a piece of paper!
And around that moment I froze suddenly on the ceiling as I watched Esi with horror!
She was busily writing down the address of a guest house!
Obviously, Korku – my dear, sweet Korku – had arrived in town and was staying at that guest house. Obviously, Korku had called and enquired about Abram, and wanted to see him!
Of course, Korku might have heard of my death, and his prime concern now was for his son, and so he had come to town to see to the welfare of the boy.
And although that piece of information gladdened and warmed my spiritual heart, it was relegated to the background as I watched Esi’s face!
I could see that she was excited…very excited!
Now, that was a very jarring and unusual emotion for a woman who had almost been raped by Korku, wasn’t it? Why would Esi take down the address of where Korku was staying? Why would she be so excited in the process?
Slowly, the horror began to fill me as I wailed within me with pain.
Dear Lord, please don’t let my worst fears be true…please don’t let me find out something this horrible only after my death, please, please, Lord!
Esi quickly said goodbye to her snake of a sister, and then she called one of her salesgirls to clean up the mess caused by the shattered bowl, and then she quickly entered the inner washroom of her office.
I glided slowly across the ceiling and followed her inside, and watched, nonplussed, as my best friend quickly took off the dress she was wearing. She used a pail to fetch some water from a jelly can in the corner, and then she sat down on the water closet and carefully washed her nether lips.
I would have wept blood if I had been alive!
I refused to wrap my mind around what she was doing because the guilt alone was capable of killing even my spirit. She was humming as she rummaged through a bag she kept in the washroom and took out fresh white panties and bra. She proceeded to dress with infinite care, slipping into body-hugging white jeans trousers and a tight flowery blouse with a low neckline!
This was the preparation of a seductress, and I watched her with numb horror. She slipped her feet into a pair of delicate glass-soled slippers, touched up her make-up, sprayed delicious fragrance on her body, and then she came out hurriedly.
She told her assistants she would be gone for a while, and then she picked up the sheet of paper she had written the address on. Out on the sidewalk, she hailed a taxi and gave the address to the driver.
Stunned and shattered, I slipped silently into the car and sat beside her.
Visit www.pobsonline.com for more amazing storiesShe arrived at the guest house and made her way to the exquisite reception area, and then my heart finally died when she asked for Mr Korku Dogbe, saying she had an appointment with him.
The pretty receptionist looked at her quizzically and raised her eyebrows.
“Mr Dogbe asked us he didn’t want to be disturbed for the rest of the day,” she said slowly. “He didn’t tell me he was expecting a visitor.”
“He was being discreet, dear,” Esi said in her charming voice and took out two fifty cedi notes and slid them across the desk at the receptionist. “Look, he knows I’ll be coming. He gave me the room number to come in straight, but in my excitement, I forgot the number completely.”
The receptionist took the money gratefully and smiled broadly.
“He’s in room fifty, please,” she said.
Esi thanked her and strutted her big derriere toward the inner door.
I still glided after her, torn with great torture!
Could it be that Korku and Esi had also been having an affair? Was that why she was so bold to approach him in spite of the alleged rape attempt that had made me divorce Korku? Had she claimed rape because I had burst in on them?
Was Korku capable of a beast mode like Tony had been?
Korku – my Korku – the only man I had ever loved!
What was happening, Lord?
Esi climbed the stairs quickly to the second floor and looked at the numbers on the doors, but I had already glided across the ceiling and slipped into Room 50!
And there he was!
My Korku Dogbe!
He was wearing only white boxers as he sat on the bed holding a white rectangular photo in his right hand. His dear handsome face was awash with tears as he wept silently and powerfully! I glided down to his side and looked.
He was holding a photograph of us. It was an old photo we had taken at the beach long before we got married. His arms were around me from behind, and we were facing the camera and laughing happily.
This was one of our favourite photographs.
And as I watched him weeping so dejectedly, so powerfully, so sorrowfully, I knew without a doubt that this was an innocent man!
I had believed that anaconda and hurt this man so completely and in the worse possible way!
And at that moment, I just wanted to die all over again!
Oh, how I wished I could wrap my arms around him and feel his wonderful kisses and experience the power of his passion!
Oh, Kork, my Kork…what have I done to you! What have I done to us, my love, my darling?
I put my arms around him to comfort him, to hold him, to love him, and to feel his pain, but once again, I could not!
This time my soul could not take the pain, the agony and the torture!
And then the knock sounded on the door, insistently and persistently.
He looked at the closed door in his anguish, and he scowled darkly.
“Don’t answer, my love, my darling!” I groaned in anguish. “It is her! She’s coming to finish what I stopped her from doing! Oh, Kork, please, don’t let her in! Don’t let her snare you! If you sleep with her my soul will just shatter to pieces, my love!”
But of course, he could not hear me, no.
He stood up still wearing only his boxers and approached the door even as I screamed and tried to pull him back unsuccessfully.
To be continued
