Sacred Oaths

EPISODE 10: IS IT WORTH IT?

#SACRED_OATHS

Author: Samuel Frederick

Episode 10: IS IT WORTH IT?

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His eyes almost bulged out of their sockets the moment I said that. It was probably the least of questions he expected from me, but I didn't care. I needed to know the truth.

"Answer me, are you?" I asked.

"Is this a joke?"

"I'm not joking."

"Then what's this?"

"I just want to know, Boma."

"Then search me and see if you'd find any weapon on me. Cultists are mostly known to have dangerous weapons with them, aren't they?"

"I don't have to search you. I can clearly see the ring and the tattoo you have there."

"Oh. So wearing a ring and having a tattoo now makes me a cultist?" Boma said, shaking his head. "I thought you were smarter than that, though."

"Wait, before you go further, do you care to explain why Simon and Kingsley have that exact ring on their fingers too?" I caught him off guard, and before he could even come up with another clever tactic or fabricate stories for me, I continued speaking:

"Boma, you can pretend for all I care but I want you to know that I know who you truly are. It's of no concern to me whether you've chosen to be a cultist or not. It's not my life, it's yours. But all I am trying to say here is that, this is the second time you've neared death and escaped. You might not be so lucky next time. At least, if not for anything else, just think about your future and your parents' happiness. Take some time out to consider them. Is this how they want you to be? Will they be proud of you for living this reckless lifestyle?" I said exactly what was on my mind without fear and stood up to leave. "Think about it."

I was expecting him to hold me back or try to stop me from leaving, instead, he just smiled and watched me leave.

"Fifi!" He called out to me midway into the hall. I intentionally ignored him and kept on walking ahead. When I got back into the hall, I saw the girls seated at a certain cool spot and joined them.

"So, how was it?" Jovita asked, looking concerned.

"He's much better now." I said.

"Are you sure?"

"Trust me, he is," I assured her with a smile.

We kept on discussing until the celebrant was called on stage. She was asked to come with a friend, so Oluchi accompanied her voluntarily, while Mimi and I stayed back and watched the celebration from our end.

"Fifi, where's your phone, please? Borrow me let me quickly collect something from it." Mimi asked.

I dipped my hand into my purse and realized that my cellphone wasn't there. I remembered I had dropped it with Boma earlier so I rushed back there, but he was gone already, to my utmost dismay. So, I used Mimi's phone to call my number when I got back into the hall.

It dialled two times before he finally picked up on the third ring.

"Hello."

"Hello Boma, it's me Fifi. Where are you?"

"Who is Fifi?"

I was surprised at his rhetorical question.

"What do you mean by that? It's me, the same Fifi you know."

"I don't know any Fifi please. Don't call this number again," he said and terminated the call immediately. I was baffled to the bone.

First of all, Boma hanged up on me—just like that. Secondly, I wouldn't have cared about it if it wasn't for the fact that he had my cellphone with him. Stubbornly, I dialled the number again and it diverted. I dialled again and it reported that Mimi's number had been barred from reaching my number. The last time I tried, it reported switched off. I instantly lost my temper.

I was on the verge of placing another call again when a strange text message came in, saying:

"If you need your phone back, don't bother to call this number. I won't pick up. Let us meet at Paloma Joint by four o'clock tomorrow and I'll give it to you."

"What's wrong?" Mimi asked, staring at me as my gaze still remained on the screen. I showed it to her and she read it too, looking confused as well.

"Are you sure this is actually Boma's doing?"

"Of course. I know it's him. Who else would it be? I left it with him the last time." I said with certainty.

"What if someone else picked it up?" Mimi assumed, acting all defensive. "You never can tell."

"There's no way someone else picked it. I'm sure it was Boma I left it with." I insisted. "I know what I'm saying!"

Mimi took a closer look at the text message and faced me again.

"Don't worry, I'll figure something out tomorrow. In the meantime, just take your mind away from it and enjoy the party. Don't let this disrupt our celebration." She said to me. I took her advice and played it cool, as usual.

At the closure of the fascinating event, we ended up cutting cakes, sharing gifts, wishing wishes, taking photos and singing lovely birthday songs for Jovita. We bathed her with a full bottle of Andre wine and complimented it with a bucket of water. She practically screamed at the top of her voice and ran out of the hall like a frightened baby and everyone cheered and laughed at her.

By the time we got home, I was exhausted to the point that I couldn't even have my regular night shower before heading to bed. I just slept that way with my outfit still on.

To my surprise, Mimi was the first and the least person I expected to have woken me up on this particular Saturday morning. Despite how drunk she was the previous night, she still managed to find time for her so-called God. It baffled me to my core.

"Lord please, touch Fifi's life so that she can know You truly do exist. Let her see Your divine wonders, Your miracle and Your glory manifest upon her life!" She continued praying, completely unaware that I was already awake. I merely hissed and passed her, making sure she heard the sound of my hiss loud and clear. She knew I didn't even believe in those fabricated religious stories that she and her gullible followers had been brainwashed with, and I had warned her times without number not to include my name in her corny prayers anymore, but she always proved stubborn.

When I returned from the bathroom, however, she was already done praying. We exchanged pleasantries and went about our weekly routine. We usually jog on Saturdays before having breakfast, but due to how famished we both were this morning, it had to be postponed.

As we ate together, an idea breezed into my head, pertaining my phone. I told Mimi and she said she had a plan sorted out already. The plan was that, I would go to the designated venue and meet Boma there with her phone, while she must've switched her SIM card into another smaller phone she had. The purpose of her phone was to secretly record everything that Boma and I would say there, in case of security reasons or threats against my life. And Mimi also advised me to retain the text message he had sent the previous night, so that when the need arises, we would use it as evidence against him in court.

In the meantime, all we could do was wish and hope for everything to go according to plan. Apart from that, the major questions are:

Is it even worth it? Risking my life for a common smartphone which contains a lot of important information and personal documents is fully justifiable and very logical, right?

Right?