” Kolade come back, Kola! Kola!” The Pastor called after Kolade who was heading towards a very deep and wide pit full of all forms of wild animals and sharp objects but Kola refused to look back.
“Kola, that path leads to destruction. Come back let’s settle this amicably. You are not the first to fall neither will you be the last. Come back to me Kolade…” He pleaded .
“You can tell that to other young people who are willing to listen you, as for me, I have chosen this path and will face whatever comes out of it.
Why should I face the shame and disgrace? Let me be!” Kolade responded in anger as he kept moving forward as the pastor kept running after him and soon arrived at the edge of it. He looked back at the Pastor with a determined face and said,
“Don’t bother calling me back, my mind is already made up. Good bye!” He said and jumped into the pit and in few seconds,the pastor who was already on his knees crying and begging him heard his loud screams.
“Kola! Kola! Kola!!!!!!” The Pastor screamed out of his dream still calling Kola’s name and his wife who was sleeping close to him jumped up from the bed,
“Daddy, daddy!” She called, and rushed to hold her husband who was sweating profusely.
“What is the problem?” She asked fearfully as the Pastor held his chest, breathing heavily and looked up at the wall clock and it was 3:10am.
“Kola is in trouble, I had a terrible dream about Kolade. Get me my phone” he said panting hard and his wife rushed over to the study table and handed him his phone. He searched through his phone for Kola’s number and dialed it but it didn’t go through.
He kept dialling it for the up tenth time but MTN kept repeating that the number was not reachable.
He dropped the phone and became restless as he related the dream to his wife who became afraid.
“Let us join our hands and faith together and pray for him” the Pastor said and they went down on their knees hand in hand and began to pray fervently for Kola. The Pastor couldn’t sleep again as he kept trying the number over and over again with a troubled heart.
He called his family together for devotion earlier than usual and once it was 5:30, he dashed out of his house to Kola’s apartment but found it under lock and key. He knocked on the next door neighbor’s door and after a while, a young man opened the door.
“Good morning my dear, am sorry to disturb your sleep this early…” the Pastor said in a hurry and the man with sleepy eyes nodded his head in response.
“Please, am looking for Kolade, the young man living here” the Pastor said pointing towards Kola’s door post.
“Oh Pastor Kola you mean ?” The neighbor asked rhetorically robbing his eyes roughly then continued.
“I don’t think he slept at home yesterday o, I guess he went to one of his usual church night programs..” He explained.
“But did you see him yesterday evening? ” the Pastor queried, convinced that Kola didn’t go to any church program.
“I came back very late into the night yesterday, but I saw him in the morning before leaving for work” he replied looking around.
“Oga, just wait for him, pastor Kola will soon come back. It’s around this time that he usually comes back from night programs” he said and brought out a plastic chair for the Pastor.
“Oga, sit here and wait for him” he said while handing him the chair.
“Thank you very much” the Pastor said as he collected the chair and sat down. He sat there close to two hours as all the neighbours came out of their rooms to do their morning chores.
Kolade’s neighbour became very worried too when he finished dressing up for work and still Kola was not back. He picked his phone and started calling Kola’s number repeatedly but it was switched off.
“Iya beji !” He called on a woman living opposite,
“Shebi you see pastor Kola yesterday ?” He asked his pregnant neighbor in pidgin English.
“Ah! I see am carry big big bag enter taxi yesterday evening o. I come dey ask am whether he dey pack comot? him come tell me say him dey come. Me dey suspect say Pastor don pack o, abi he tell you?” she replied back in pidgin.
“No na, pastor no fit pack comot and not tell me. Maybe he don do small travel shaa” Kola’s neighbor replied arguably, then turned to the Pastor who was also listening to their conversation.
“Sir, from what this my neighbor is saying, I think Pastor Kola traveled yesterday. Though, it’s strange that he didn’t tell me he was travelling since we usually inform each other when ever we wants to travel.” He said in finality and the Pastor thanked him for his efforts, stood up and left still wondering where Kola must had traveled to.
He arrived his house and demanded for Kola’s parents number from Sade and she provided it. He called them and introduced himself as Kola’s parents, then slyly asked them if Kola arrived home safely yesterday but the mother stated that they didn’t see Kola.
The pastor’s call in turn raised tension in Kola’s family as they began to call his number which was switched off.
Kolade actually changed his number which everyone had and bought a new sim card then disposed the old one before he embarked on his trip.
The only person he called with his new number was his friend living in Onitsha whose place he planned to stay for a while before getting his own accommodation.
The Pastor and Kola’s family members kept calling his number all through that day but couldn’t reach him…
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