THE PLAYLIST CHAPTER NINE

Femi and Sandra sat together in the waiting room, cold and comfortless. They looked constantly towards the emergency room where Bimbo was wheeled into.

Sandra’s phone beeped and she picked the incoming call. She stood from her seat and walked farther away from the waiting area.

“Hello, boss.”

“Bimbo cut her hand with a blade. The doctors are trying to get her to come around.”

“I’m at the hospital with her brother. It seems it was done just before I got there.”

“Yes ma. Ok, ma,” she said and the call ended.

She returned to her seat and faced Femi, “Our boss asked that I do not bother to come to her place today since Bimbo has no one else.”

“Oh my, I forgot to call the pastor still,” Femi blew air from his mouth at his forgetfulness. “I think I’ll just send an SMS instead.”

He pressed on the ‘send’ icon and pocketed his phone on seeing the door to the waiting room open. The tired-looking doctor walked towards them.

“You are here for Bimbo, right?” she asked, and both them nodded expectantly.

“Follow me,” she turned and walked them to her office.

“It was a good thing that she was quickly rushed to the hospital after the attempt,” she told them after they were all seated.

Sandra sent silent praises up to God at the doctor’s statement.

“However, she’s going to take a lot of time to recuperate. Have you contacted her parents?”

Sandra looked at Femi. Neither answered the question.

“Does she not have any parents?” she looked at both of them for answers, yet, neither of them spoke.

“I understand that you are just friends with her. but, her life is in danger. She escaped this one that looks like suicide. That’s why I’m asking if you’ve contacted her parents so that they can secure her life and give her maximum emotional support. And I strongly advise that they file a police complaint and let them do their job when she has enough strength to tell them all that she saw”

“How sure are you that this was not suicide?” Sandra, always the curious one, asked.

The doctor sat up and clasped her hand together in front of her. “Young lady, I’m a Christian. While I was in that emergency room, I prayed as we battled for this girl’s life. It was then that I knew that she did not attempt to kill herself,” she said matter-of-factly.

Sandra did not look convinced while Femi tried to take it all in.

“If you’re doubtful, I’d advise that you contact her parents immediately so that investigations can be conducted to know the miscreants that are after her life,” she concluded.

“I know her parents, but can the hospital keep her safe till they are contacted?” Femi asked.

“We’ll do our best to keep strange people from getting close to her. In the meantime, it will do her good if you pray for divine protection.

“How much did the hospital bills amount to?” Sandra asked, trying to turn the discussion in another direction, as she didn’t fully subscribe to what the doctor had said.,

“Someone sent money into the hospital account with instructions concerning Bimbo. You have nothing to worry about,” the doctor said, smiling at them.

This further confused Sandra and Femi. They speculated as they walked out of the hospital. While Femi had been worrying about how much money he would have to sacrifice from his savings, especially now that he had no job, Sandra had been thinking of ways to get her parents to pay. But now, their worry was centred on knowing who paid the bills.

“I was about to see my father in the morning before I lost my job. I guess it’s time I went,” Femi told Sandra who looked oddly at him.

“He’s my father all the same. It seems like he knows more than he was saying yesterday. He could even know the person who paid the bills. Maybe investigations can start from there. You don’t have to come with me anyways” he told her after seeing her expression and walked away from her.

Sandra could not get over her sentiments about Bimbo’s step-father nor watch Femi leave. Moreover, she had been the one to ask for his arrest. She had also submitted Bimbo’s phone for the investigation, and she had to see the outcome of all she had done. She called Femi’s name and asked him to wait. From there, they proceeded to the police station.

The duo was surprised when they met Mr. Adegoke speaking to a man who sat in a car outside the police station.

Mr. Ademola smiled briefly on sighting them. He turned to the man.

“Wait for me. I’ll be back soon,” he told him and then walked towards the stupefied duo.

“Don’t tell me you already bribed your way out of prison?” Sandra asked, already boiling with anger.

“Bimbo, you need to start seeing things from a different perspective. Not everything is the way it looks. You need to see the police concerning this case before assuming anything.” Sandra barged into the police station without waiting for him to finish talking.

“Daddy, I also don’t know what to think right now. My brain is…” Femi sighed for loss of words.

“I understand you. I’m just glad that Bimbo made it alive from that ordeal. I knew about their plan. That’s what brought me to Ibadan in the first place. Then, I got put in prison because neither Bimbo, you nor her fiery friend believed a word I said. I knew Bimbo would be apprehensive, yet I had to try to protect her,” Mr Adegoke said.

“Please, I don’t understand you still. It’s been years and I don’t know whoever ‘they’ is. Neither did I know of your relationship with Bimbo. You can’t expect me to understand you that easily.” Femi said calmly.

His dad nodded. “Alright, I’ll tell you. I used to be involved in rituals just like you know. I met Bimbo’s mum and dated her, and that was how I got to know Bimbo. Bimbo also got to know that I carried out human rituals. I had to keep her silent by taking her to the shrine to do a bit of what we did. I made her pound a baby.” He paused and looked into the skies in regret for his past actions.

“Back then, I thought that that way, she was never going to tell anybody that I did human rituals. That way, she’d become a part of us and if she told, she’d be numbered amongst us. I threatened her that if she ever did tell, we’d send pictures of her pounding the baby to such authority. Do you understand?” he asked before he continued.

“She couldn’t look me in the eye for four years after that, but only two of those years were meant to be spent in fear because Jesus came into my heart two years after the incident.

Due to my refusal to participate in future cult activities, my former colleagues decided to start killing those they knew to be my family. My second wife was killed, but I refused to budge. Two years later, that’s this year, Bimbo’s sister was also killed mysteriously. Bimbo left home because she thought that I was the one killing them.”

Femi listened attentively and hoped that all he had heard was true.

“Then, a month ago, they told me that they were going to kill Bimbo. I couldn’t help it since they were going to kill another person because of me. I prayed more fervently for Bimbo since then. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was the picture they sent me. It was of Bimbo pounding that baby. That was when I left Ogun state in search of Bimbo.

“But Bimbo committed suicide. How can you explain that?”

“It’s simple – this life is spiritual. They can send a physical person from Ogun state through the spirit realm to do the deed here in Ibadan. Or, they can simply send a spirit to command her to commit suicide. I understand how it’s done.”

Read the previous chapter here