As she was taking some mild and yet shaky steps with Gabriel who had complied to the order, they were halfway to the throne when she felt some electric humming in her chest region, she looked forward with eyes wide open towards the entity in the throne but he smiled all knowingly, just then she felt some jolts and inaudible noises from behind then she looked back and awakens to another reality!
As she gradually open her eyes, she tried to move but was unfit to, looks like a paralysis, she tried to move but was gently restrained by the doctor's hand. Her eyes were wide open now, she felt sore in the mouth and some flu in her nose, she swallowed hard, turned to the right side of the bed and saw her mother and father griping her hands and sitting close to her bed, half leaning, she was barely nineteen!
the drip infused in her arm was loud enough to be heard because of the tranquillity in the room, only broken by the mother's leap of joy but still with tears in her eyes. Her throat coagulated from crying excessively, she was high on fever, they pleaded with her to take a rest but she remained adamant in her profuse weeping, lamenting that she's her only hope.
she tried reaching out to hug her on the bed but was further restrained by the nurses who took her and the husband out of the room to the hospital guest room where her their other kids we're. Only then did she expel the obscurity and started seeing things she never saw before, the state of the art ultramodern facility that epitomized the incredible architecture of the twenty first century! the electronic screen in the wall which boldly displayed; "COVID 19 IS REAL, TAKE ALL PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES AGAINST IT OR YOU'LL LOOSE YOURSELF OR LOVED ONE TO THIS DEMONIC SOCIAL AND CATASTROPHIC EPIDERMIC". She drew a deep breathe and just then she got struck by the guilt of neglect she'd melted out on her other kids due to her misery, she drew closer held the last of her kids, the pleasingly plump male poodle and whispered into his ear;
"how are you doing jerry? you don't need to explain, I understand and its fine to feel a little angry with Mommy" he shrugged and replied "mommy don't cry", just then she realized her free flowing tears again and wiped her face dry with her waste wrapper.
meanwhile back in the ward that trin was still struggling to breathe fine, that's how she's fondly called by everyone as an acronym for 'trinity' her full name yet she systematically hid her surprise when she was told by Gabriel that heaven was called 'trinity empire'. just as she was trying to put her thoughts together, she passed out again and the room went up on heat, the doctors and nurses were running on and off to revive her but her heart and pulse was gone. The mom on hearing the noise and seeing nurses trooping in and out the room tried to go in but came in to meet the doctor unplugging his stethoscope from the girls body in a retirement mode. out of bizarre inquisitiveness, the woman seized the doctor by the collar of his lab suit and asked " what happened to my baby?" but the doctor held her gently, pulling her hands off his coat and gave the speech nobody wants to hear: "Am very sorry ma'am, we tried all we could but she couldn't make it, take and accept this reality with a brave heart and am sure you'll pull through", her hands slowly went off the doctor's coat as she rushed and started beating trin in a mad fury in an attempt to wake her up but as much as she'd hate to admit it, it was the sad reality! she resigned into a shaky somber as the husband from behind held her tightly and muttered some consolation while she tried to free herself, one time looking at trin laying lifelessly and another staring to the hospitals glass ceilings as if in an attempt to question God who she believes resides above her!
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she found herself on the same spot she left herself before elohim as if she nodded off standing, what just happened to her, only mystery holds the answer to that!
just then, elohim spoke up; "I saw them jolting you with their lifesaving equipment and I decided to give them a moment of hope, though it is disrespectful to nod out on me but I granted you the luxury but you we're too dumb to utilize it" he went on to say; "the fact that you made it through these gates is because you believed in me and because of your morality and not spirituality because I think your mortality took the better half of you, but you listened to the voice of your conscience, he'll take you to the various parts of this empire (he said pointing at Gabriel), show you around and take you to azrael to send you back because your time is not yet up" he then added "now you've seen all these; you have the time not to right your wrongs but to start doing good and counsel others to start living right became its always good to be good"
just then he majestically swept his robes and left in royal grandeur. Gabriel who's seemed more tensed relaxed himself and smiled to her saying "now the Prometheus bolder have been rolled off", though what he said was inaudible but the room who happened to have been absent minded all hyped into a thunderous laughter, alpha laughed too! then he got up in a gentle manner came close to face her and bent to her height and held her shoulders, he then said " you're so privileged to witness all this and have to go back, I don't know what it is with my father but his perception is directly proportional to infinity so the best we can do is comply and see what he saw in you gradually unfold! As you can see here, you have limited time to tour around here and return to your heartbroken mother because they've taken your body home and are contemplating branding you with a red hot iron on your wrist so that such unfortunate events won't repeat themselves again, in the sense of you coming back to them again in her next pregnancy, you're familiar with your Ibo (ogbanje) ritual right?" she nodded and she was restless and sweating though the room was cool, after that the alpha left with omega who said nothing but follow swiftly. Trin then asked Gabriel why omega said nothing, and he replied "you don't want to hear him talk, he said nothing because he has nothing against you, he was behind the program that scanned your hand at entrance and he's read all about you and found you not innocent but pardonable"
she was then taken to the twelve other gates she skipped earlier and she was told by her escort that those gates represent the twelve sons of Jacob and the one hundred and forty four thousand Israelites who are pure and will be the first to be raptured!
just as they were about to take another step she heard terribly but distant screams and when she asked him about it he told her "those are tormented souls in hell, dominated by Satan the devil, Leviathan the jaws of hell, asmodeus, Beelzebub, belphegor, mammon and lucifer the prodigal son! they're gonna be there for eternity like you've been told, I was the one who inspired that gospel in the mind of your pastor the last day you went to church on first of April 2012, I was sent by elohim the blessed yaweh though". she breathed down a huge sigh just before Gabriel asked her if she'd like a visit to hell but she simply replied " no thanks, I've seen enough, just take me back to my family!".
Gabriel held her hand again but this time her eyes were open to behold her particles accelerate and float off to space at a daredevil speed. They were completely erased from the scene and a whooshing sound brought them to who she believed was Azrael in a room barely lit with red light. his appearance was terrifying, for a moment she thought that such a creature with His hood and long sickle deserved a furnished duplex in hell and she thought to herself that she wasn't going anywhere with this fellow consciously, but Gabriel gripped her hand twice signaling her to cut her wandering thoughts which were audible to the entity in front of them, and he said to the creature, "Azrael, duty calls" took his hands off trin and waved her goodbye, then she felt a tingling sensation on her forehead and she passed out!
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she woke up in a dark room unlike the reality she witnessed before, she thought to herself as she was about to start crying, "let it not be that am in that monster's cupboard" she touched around to see if she felt anything and to her utmost surprise, she felt some wooden furniture just like a cupboard all around her, she started to weep aloud, striking and kicking at the furniture she was in and she then heard a murmur from outside the board above her, she decided to ignore it and hit harder, that was when the compartment got opened and she realized she was in a coffin, with every face staring at down at her in the grave she's been dug she felt dizzy. some people took to their heels but the mother dived into the coffin and embraced her tightly pulling her off the coffin, the father (Mr Simeon) came inside the pit as well and held them together for a while and regained his composure and started working on getting them out, meanwhile the whole environment has gone loud and dusty because of the harmattan period disturbed by the upsurge, the siblings (kaima, destiny and Brian) ran over on hearing the joyous jubilation and knelt at the edge of the grave smiling and crying at the same time and their tears of blissful ecstasy dripping freely into the grave and at their parents body, trin was sobbing profusely, Mr Simeon then pulled his wife grace by the hand and said "let go of her and let's get her out before she suffocates again" and she replied "let me be, I can't get enough of her" he went on to nudge her here and there till she finally obliged and trin was pulled out of the pit, taken inside and before the sympathizers could all disperse she was taken to the shower and washed clean. Many of the villagers who ran away started coming back one after another to confirm the miraculous resurrection though they were in their devious minds still nursing the rumors they've heard earlier on about trin being leukemic or possessed by evil spirits but only grace have always believed otherwise because she was of western decent, she hailed from Houston, Texas, USA but love drew her to the east and that's Nigeria in the Ibo tribe!
when they're done eating later that night, trin called together her family and narrated her out of body ordeal to them, the kids we're terrified and were instructed to go to bed because the next day was a Monday and they've got to go to school.
trin ended her story with the father saying "that's a mouthful, you've been through a whole lot trin dear and you're a living testimony to our faith" grace chipped in "baby...(she breaks down in tears and trin rushed over to her and held her close while Mr Simeon held her hand) trin baby, i.. i tried to endure but I couldn't, please forgive me for that brand on your wrist, can you pls forgive my savagery and barbaric act instigated on me by these Neanderthals that poisoned my mind when they know I was emotionally shattered and could do anything, thank you for coming back to me baby and pls find a place in your heart to forgive me!" with that been said, she resumed her sobbing and they held her more in a consoling attempt, then trin cleared the mucus in her throat and spoke while crying also "I have nothing against you mom, I was being unfilial and selfish thinking I can die on you both, I could've just held on some more, and waking up only to give you false hope and die then was none of my in tensions as I made you to understand through the story I just told you, now mom..,(she draws her nose in) I accept the saying that it is better safe than sorry. I thought that the whole covid 19 talk was a hoax, little did I know that it could change my life in the dimensions that it did" they hugged themselves even tighter and after the emotional expressions, Mr Simeon made them to understand that they're all going in for the covid test the next morning and they pray for the best outcome or they're gonna be quarantined along with the rest. After which they gathered together again in prayer and little Brian started the praying session by pleading "dear God, I am particularly grateful to to you today (he stammered a little bit out of tension) for making us worthy enough to be in your presence, daddy told me that were totally undeserving of your grace without Christ so I thank you Jesus for being our savior, I thank you lord for this miracle that took place in our lives today, you said in your word that it is not your wish for any of us to perish and you kept your eternal and unbreakable word today, thank you so much God.
also God forgive us all our transgressions been as rotten to the core as we are , forgive our thoughts, words and actions and don't hold us accountable to them because we won't be able to justify ourselves in Jesu's name I pray. (and they echoed amen in unison).
he said, " God please provide us with our daily needs and make our uncertain futures work according to your perfect plans for us cause we know you have our best interest at heart and am grateful for your priceless attention and consideration of this senile family despite your glory, thank you yaweh for having us today in jesus' mighty name I've prayed!" they all echoed amen! once again and raised a round of applause for Brian, (this prayer was crafted by the father as a recitation prayer Brian was going to say in church the next Sunday since Mr Simeon was the district pastor and Brian who was only handed the script less than nine hours earlier tabled it to God, they couldn't be more proud of him)
Mr Simeon then closed the prayer for the day and they retired to their rooms but grace kept wake beside trin's bed to watch her till she slept off as she was afraid of sleeping off through the pearly gates of no gates again. before she could get done with the little thoughts on her mind, she found herself on the quarantine centre with some sick looking people all around her peeping into her face, she was feeling very uncomfortable and tried to move herself away from them when she woke up! she realized it was one o'clock in the night and that it was all a fear instigated nightmare, she realized that her mom has slept off on the sofa beside her, she got up and adjusted her position so she won't experience body pains and covered her with a blanket and then kissed her in the forehead and whispered to her ears "I love you mom, sweet dreams" and grace smiled a little bit as of she heard those words in her slumber! trin then turned the light off and went to her bed, opened the drawer close to her, got her phone and pressed the minimize icon, tapped her facebook only to see her burial pictures on her timeline and some condolence remarks on her inbox, she immediately shut the phone off, sobbed for about two minutes after and wiped her tears, half grateful to the ultimate reality for sparing her life and downcast at the social and psychological impact of the ordeal that just transpired in her life but she said to herself "its all for the best" and before the gecko in her ceiling could get done swallowing the cockroach, she'd dozed off already!