(Continued from part 1; click on the link to read part 1; https://www.nikeshwrites.com/2025/11/offending-gods-1.html)
After our youthful days in the village, life split us apart. We all got separated and went to face the real world. As much as I tried to keep in touch with them through WhatsApp and texting, I couldn’t just cheat nature. Life had split us apart, and that was it. So I let things be.
Yesterday I drove down to the hospital to see Bisi my girlfriend. She had been diagnosed of low blood pressure few days back. So I had to leave work a bit earlier to always be by her side. I didn’t want to lose her; I loved her with my whole life.
While sitting in the waiting room. I saw someone walk in. He seemed to be limping and was supported by a hospital staff. Despite the fact that he was limping, something about him looked familiar; his stature. It was someone I’d known long time ago. So when he sat and raised his face, I confirmed that it was Fola. My Fola. The chill guy who was part of the Five wise men back then in our village, Agbani.
On recognizing ourselves, we embraced each other and wept. It was indeed a reunion. Who would have believed that I would see any of my childhood friends again? I hugged him and held him tight.
While we discussed, I asked him why he was limping and he told me that he had fallen from a height while at work and it permanently affected his legs. Then I asked him the reason for his visit to the hospital. He was quiet for a while before he finally spoke.
“Mathew it’s the snake”
“Which snake?” I asked, a bit confused.
“That snake we killed; that snake we cut into two” he said.
At least it was only one snake incident that we had as a group and it was the one which Dike cut the serpent into two. The one that saw me disappear and appear inside my father’s house.
“The one Dike Cut into two?” I asked
“Yes, Mathew” he said “the one which you ran home and left us”
“Ah! How does that relate to you being here?”
I asked as tension and anxiety began building up inside me.
“I and you are the only ones alive.” He dropped the bombshell.
For a moment the world seemed to rotate at a high speed before my eyes. It sounded like ding dong in my ear. But then he continued.
“I thought I was the only one left until I saw you today.”
“Fola what do you mean?” I asked as I drew closer to him and held him by his hands which were shaking.
“We’ve offended the gods; Papa Emeka was right that night when he talked about the snakes. We’ve offended the gods and we’re being punished” he said. Then he brought out his mobile device and showed me the pictures of the Dike, Ike, and John. They had all grown and were looking bigger and stronger. “I’d been in touch with them since we all got separated. You’re the only one whom we lost contact with”
I only mopped at him in silence. As he spoke.
“Ike died three years ago. Dike also left two years ago. John was bitten to death by a snake in his apartment just last year. And since last month I’ve been very sick”
I froze. What was happening? It looked like a dream but hell no it wasn’t. I smelt truth and honesty in what he was saying. He cut in again.
“Before each person died, he met the next person, so our meeting today isn’t coincidental” he dropped another bombshell.
I nearly urinated in my trousers. What kind of dreadful reunion was this? I manned up and decided to take things easy. It was a whole lot to swallow in, but I just had to comport myself because we were sitting in public.
“Mr Fola, the doctor wants to see you” a nurse said as she walked up to him and helped him to stand.
“We’ve offended the gods of the land, it’s time for me to obey the call of the gods, that’s why I’m sick” he said to me as he limped to the office. After that, there was silence. Just silence.
I was still in a state of shock when a nurse tapped me. “Mr Mathew, she’s awake now, you can come into the patient’s room”.
I told her to wait as I ran into the doctor’s office; the one which Fola had limped into.
“Fola, Fola, where do you live? Can I have your contact and address? We should meet outside the hospital” I said with heavy short breaths. The female doctor only watched the both of us in confusion as he wrote down his number and address on a piece of paper and handed it over to me.
“Do you live in this state?” I asked.
He shook his head and told me that he had come all the way from cross-river, to the hospital because someone had referred him there. He had been told that the doctors there were the best in treating illnesses similar to his own. It was a mental illness which he didn’t want to disclose further, to me. But just like he had hinted, it was probably related to the snake issue.
I thanked him and promised to reach out at night. Then I quickly left to see Bisi my girlfriend.
After giving her the food I brought for her and staying for about an hour, I left. I went to check if Fola was still around but he was no longer within the premises of the hospital as confirmed by the nurse who had helped him into the doctor’s office.
That night I called Fola. His phone rang but he didn’t pick. So I sent him a text message.
“Hello Fola, I’ve been trying your line. I do hope you’re great? I wish you a speedy recovery, Just believe Fola, nothing will happen to you” I said in bid to motivate him and myself too.
But he didn’t respond to any; the missed calls, the test message. Fola didn’t respond.
The next morning I left the house in search of Fola. I traced the hotel where he was lodging in, with the address he had given me the previous day. It was room 226.
One of the hotel attendants, a female, offered to show me the exact room which I was looking for because the building was designed in a complex way. On arriving the door to the room, we saw traces of blood coming out from under the door. She shouted in shock and ran back to the balcony to call for help. I knocked and knocked, wondering in great fear what must have happened to Fola, but he didn’t open up.
When the hotel security finally forced the door open with some tools, we saw Fola in a pool of blood and a snake beside him. Yes, a snake. A green snake.
I’d never been this scared in my in life before and I never ceased to wonder how a snake found its way into a hotel room which was located in the middle floor of a hotel. My hands trembled and my feet went numb.
The hotel guests had already started crowding the walkway because the female hotel attendant wouldn’t stop screaming “God of Mercy! Oh Dear God of Mercy!”
No one was allowed to go inside. So I stood and watched the corpse, and the snake lying beside him, until the police arrived.
When the police came, they sealed off the room with a caution tape, as they commenced investigation to gather information on such horrible scene. I watched as the one of them pulled out a paper which was stuck between the hands of Fola. It was a tiny peace of paper, folded neatly between his hands. The policeman stood up and unfolded it. Then he read it aloud.
“Mathew you’re next” he said. Then he turned to us who stood outside the room.
“Who is Mathew?”