The entire hall was empty, but that did not change a thing. Samuel continued to clean the tiled floors of G&B, a telecommunication company in Nigeria. The marketing floor always looked the most chaotic, and Samuel’s response every time he pushed in his mop and bucket was to shake his head.
He continued cleaning, nodding his head as Common Person blasted through one good ear of his earphones. A rattle behind the shelf behind him had him standing up straight, ignoring the slight protest of his back. He stretched after a quick glance behind him and continued on cleaning. Then a shadow zapped past him, so fast he almost did not see it.
“Na rat be that?” He questioned out loud, looking towards the area the thing disappeared to. After a few seconds, he shrugged and continued on with his job, turning off the lights after he was done. The marketing floor was always his last stop. Gbenga and Lawrence, the other janitors handled the rest. The building was five stories high and smacked right in the heart of the city. It was a little past 8pm, Samuel continued to whistle as he walked down the street.
When Samuel got to the turn, he realised something that sent chills down his spine. There wasn’t a single soul in sight. He didn’t even see Baba, the security guard. Samuel paused, and took a good look around. His heart pounded against his ribcage as the worst he feared seemed to come to reality.
The Rapture!
“Oh God no. Jesus no! Where is everybody?”
Memories of doctrines and teachings flooded his mind, his knees turned to jelly and he held onto a pole for balance. His palms turned sweaty and his breath left his lungs. Then Samuel turned and he saw it. Despite the darkness, the mysterious fog that seemed to have gotten thicker by the minute, Samuel saw the being standing a few feet away, with two horns sitting proudly on its head.
“Blood of Jesus!” He cried, but for some reason he was paralyzed. He couldn’t move. His mind shouted for him to run but his body remained disobedient. Like a dream, Samuel watched this being walk towards him, getting bigger as it approached, a mass of solid muscles and blazing eyes.
“Ah!” Samuel choked, his body falling freely to the ground as he gazed into the eyes of death.
“Hello Samuel. As the agreement with your great-grandpa, I have come for what is mine. Your soul”.
Tears streamed down Samuel’s face, his lungs ceased as the stories of his grandpa’s sins replayed in his mind. Told by his aunt who was believed to be mad. She had shouted at the top of her lungs that their great grandpa had entered a covenant with the devil for the riches he amassed in his time. On his tenth birthday, his aunt had drawn him aside and implored him to run to the church. She begged him until his father overheard and banned her from coming anywhere close.
Samuel cried loudly as regret flooded him. Should he have listened to his aunt? She said no male child saw their twenty-fifth year. He was only twenty-four. Was he going to hell?
“Please. Have mercy. I don’t want to die.”
The devil smiled, liquid fire poured out from his nostrils, “That was the deal, boy.”
Samuel felt his breath leaving him, his heart constricted and his eyes rolled back to the back of his head. Just as he began to fall deeper into unconsciousness, he jerked back. His eyes opened to find people staring down at him. The street that was empty wasn’t empty at all. Was it all a dream? Hallucinations?
“Help him up.”
“Get water. Let’s pour water on his head.”
Samuel remained confused even as Baba came into his line of sight with a chair and bottle of water. He couldn’t speak, his mind was muddled. He was sipping on the rest of the water in the bottle when he saw it. The retreating horns and smoky fog. He froze, the voice in his head telling him it was time to find Aunty Barbara.
