The Death of Vivek Oji(20)

“They are bastards!” he spat. “You think it’s all right to treat someone as if they’re an animal? In the name of their useless deliverance? Mba, wait. They called it an exorcism. Because, apparently, I have a demon in me, did you know? They had to beat it out.” He lifted up his shirt, revealing a swath of dark red welts on his side.

She gasped and stood up from her chair to go to him, but Vivek dropped the shirt and held out his hand, warning her away. “Don’t touch me,” he said. “And stop trying to fix me. Just stop. It’s enough.”

After that, Vivek locked himself in his room and didn’t come out for the rest of the night. With trembling hands, Kavita picked up the phone and dialed Ekene’s landline, rage biting inside her. She didn’t understand. How could Mary have allowed them to do that to her son, to Mary’s own nephew? “What is wrong with you?” she shouted when her sister-in-law picked up. “Ehn? Are you mad or what?”

“Kavita, g?n? mere?” Mary replied, sounding confused. “I’ve been trying to reach you all afternoon. Did Vivek reach safely?”

“‘Did Vivek reach safely?’” Kavita repeated, mocking her voice. “Yes, he just got here—and he showed me what those bush people at your church did to him!”

“What?”

“My friend, stop pretending. I saw the welts on his body. You allowed them to flog him?”

“Kavita, I’ve been trying to reach you from since to tell you what happened. It’s not him they were flogging, ?gh?tala? It was the demon inside him.”

Kavita stopped in shock. Mary couldn’t be serious. “What did you just say?” she asked, hoping she’d heard wrong.

“The demon inside him,” Mary repeated. “Yes o, that’s what Pastor said. The boy is possessed by a very, very wicked spirit, a strong demon. It’s what has been causing all of this, the long-hair thing, the wasting away of his physical body. Supernatural forces are feeding on him—on your child! Pastor said we must cut his hair because they are drawing their power from it, like the locks of Samson. This is one of the sources of their strength. But when one of the deacons approached him with scissors, the demon started to fight back!”

Kavita listened in mounting disbelief. Surely this couldn’t be the same Mary she’d known all these years? Impossible. She’d always been religious, but this was something different, something that smelled like rotten meat or madness.

“It wasn’t your son,” Mary continued blithely. “Pastor was saying it, and even everyone in the congregation, we could see it as well. It was the demon fighting to not lose its power. They tried to hold him, but he had the strength of many men. That’s how you know it was the demon. No mortal man could have thrown off all the ushers who were trying to hold him. Eh hehn, so then Pastor said we must subdue the demon at all costs, and so we were praying and binding and casting it, and he brought out his cane to lash it, because you must lash it with holy fire and his own is like the staff of Moses—”

“Stop, stop, stop.” Kavita pressed her fingers to her forehead. “You’re telling me you allowed this pastor to beat my son while you stood there and watched?”

“Kavita, you’re not hearing me. That was not your son.” Mary was starting to sound irritated. “Should I just relax while the devil is using my nephew? I was praying with them, na! Praying for his deliverance, for his spirit to be purged of the evil overtaking it, but I’m telling you, the thing was too strong. He threw off the hands of the people holding him and he ran out of the church, piam! We tried to look for him at the house but he had already collected his things and left. That’s why I’ve been trying to reach you, to make sure that he arrived home safely—because the deliverance was not complete. You and Chika must bring him back, ehn? Pastor says it is very crucial that we finish the deliverance, now that the demon knows we have exposed it. Time is of the essence.”

Kavita pulled the receiver away from her face and stared at it as if its black plastic would help any of this make sense. As she put it slowly back to her ear, Mary’s voice poured out again.

“Tomorrow if possible. Are you there? Are you hearing me?”

Kavita struggled to find the words. It felt like there was a stone in the back of her throat; she wanted to reach her fingers in, pull it out, and use it to bash in Mary’s head, over and over. The feeling surprised her. “Don’t come near my son again,” she managed to choke out.

“Ehn? What did you say?”

“Don’t ever come near my son again,” Kavita repeated, her words clearer this time, sharper. She heard Mary’s intake of breath as if the woman was standing behind her, but she would not stop. “You and your pastor are crazy. You stay away from my family, you hear? Otherwise I swear, I will show you pepper!” Kavita’s hands were trembling again.

“Ah-ahn. You’re talking like this to me? A whole me?”

“Before nko? Is there another Mary who went to church to go and abuse my son?”

“As I’m trying to help you and your son, this is how you want to treat me, ehn, Kavita? Out of the goodness of my heart I asked Pastor to help him, and this is how you’re behaving? Do you know how many people beg Pastor to come and lay his hands on them? I even made extra offering on Vivek’s behalf. Only to be rewarded with this your ingratitude.” Mary sucked her teeth. “Why am I even wasting my time with you people?”