Sarah had drifted off to an exhausted sleep, in spite of herself, while praying to God for help in that godforsaken place. She was totally worn-out, both in body and soul. She lay there, supine, looking like a wraith, like a sumptuous meal that had been burned to a cinder. She had planned to wait there until she deemed it safe to return to her hostel, but it seemed her tired body had different plans for her.
Then out of nowhere someone pounced on her and seized her blouse. With one heave he ripped it apart with beast-like force. Before she knew what hit her, he grabbed her skirt and pulled it down swiftly. Then he proceeded to her panties and tore it like a piece of paper. It all happened in the blink of an eye. She realised with something of a shock that the person was already naked and sexually ready for her. She kicked and cussed and shouted but the monster was just too strong for her.
'No! Don't! Please don't do it! No! No! Please! I beg you! Pleeeaase! Let me go! Somebody help me!'
She kept shouting, pleading, struggling, fighting, slapping, but the monster kept doggedly on. He was all over her, and was as strong as a fox. Sarah initially thought it was one of those debauched Uniben students who went about sowing their wild oats but as she punched his arm and it felt like steel, she knew that it was the devil that was on her.
He pinned her hands to the ground and each separate muscle of his body stood out proudly and gleamed with sweat. He thrust down into her savagely, his buttocks bunching and pounding with the force of a great black battering ram. She rolled her head from side to side as a high-pitched incoherent cry was torn from her straining throat. Then she fell silent and watched him helplessly. She was weak, too weak to keep shouting and struggling. She felt beaten and pathetic, with no fight left in her. It appeared that no help would come, despite her shouting that had reached high decibels. She had no idea what the time was. Maybe it was midnight or even the early hours of a new day— she could not tell. She noticed that he was a young man of about 22 or 23, and she could not credit the strength that he had. She kept a stiff upper lip as fresh paroxysms of pain swept through her and exploded in her brain. Something trickled down his head and dropped at the corner of her mouth. She spat it out immediately and gagged on its metallic taste. Blood. He had been wounded. How? Had he been bludgeoned by the cult members and had lost his mind? Confusion mingle with pain and she felt herself drifting into unconsciousness.
At that moment, the boy reared back like a flaring cobra and let out a loud cry. His voice was racked with all the feral agony of a passion too fierce to be borne in silence. There was something torturing him on the inside, for he groaned like someone in severe agony and did not appear to be enjoying the exercise. Then he paused and become still and stiff like the biblical Pillar of Salt. Dazed and frightened, he released her and jumped out of her.
The boy placed both hands on his head and fell on his knees when he saw Sarah lying there and staring pitiably at him. Blood from his head injury trickled over his face, half-blinding him.
"Oh Mother Mary," he lamented. "What have I done? What have I done? What have I done!" he kept repeating.
At that instance the moon tore through dark clouds, and there was sufficient moonlight for him to see her face.
"Oh, Jesus God!' He exclaimed. 'What have I done? What have I done?"
His tears flowed freely like an excited river, and his regret was great, and palpable.
He wailed even more when he discovered that the girl was Sarah. He knew her. They were in the same Faculty. He was the governor of Life Sciences and she was the public relations officer. She knew about his problem. She was the only one he had summoned enough courage to tell about his unusual predicament, for he was sure that no one else would believe him. He had told her that he was under a curse— a curse placed on him by Linda, a girl he kissed during Fresher's Welcome in first year. Linda girl wanted something more from him that night and when he declined, she put her clothes back on and told him that he was dead meat. She told him he would regret ever putting her in the mood and not satisfying her. She then uttered something in a strange language and left.
From that moment on, a demon would come every fortnight to torment him at exactly midnight. The first time it happened, he inflicted severe injuries on himself, stabbing himself with a knife. He was lucky to survive that as some students risked life and limb and carried him to University of Benin Teaching Hospital in the dead of night. He was discharged weeks later and, fearing that his friends would find out and that his reputation would be destroyed, he relocated far away in the depth of Ekosodin, and there he lived alone in a self-con. He knew when the demon would come and he took evasive action by always tying himself up with a strong rope. He would tie his legs together first and then wind his mattress several times with the other end of the rope. Then he would gag himself and tie his own hands like slave. That way, the demon would only torment him on the inside without his inflicting bodily injuries on his own self. Whenever the demon came, he would roll from side to side in his room, taking his mattress up and down with him. The demon usually left after an hour and he then would untie himself and cry till daybreak. This happened every fortnight.
He had searched for the girl all over Uniben but couldn't find her. When he asked a friend, he was told that the girl had dropped out of school after bagging 7 F's in the 100 level first semester exams . So, he had been living with this curse for three long years.
Now he was in his final year and currently the best graduating student in view in the department of accounting, in the faculty, and probably in the whole of Uniben. How he was able to punch above his weight despite the demonic attacks was something that baffled even him. His intimidating GPA of 4.98 had been bruited about all over the faculty and beyond.
Sarah knew all this. Boma had been her role model since her 100 level days, and when he told her about his problem, she felt so sad and promised to fast and pray for him. And she kept her promise. She made him believe that the power of God could break the curse of Satan. Dennis was just completely exhausted that fateful day after a football match at Sports Complex and had forgotten to tie himself up. Now he had been driven by the demon to rape his friend. her.
Still naked and weeping, with one hand covering his genitals, he drew near Sarah, his eyes deliberately focused on her face, and said with a quavering voice:
"I... I... I'm terribly sorry, Sarah," he stuttered, "It's that spirit again. It's that spirit again!"
He was choked with emotion. "I never meant for any of this to happen. I know I'll regret this for the rest of my life. Right now death is what I deserve. I deserve to die! I can't live with this guilt. I can't. I can't!"
Sarah lay motionless. She had just experienced what her mum suffered many years ago. A feeling of weakness and resignation overwhelmed her and she found herself weeping softly and helplessly. She felt herself teetering on the very brink of unconsciousness. This was the saddest day of her life. So much for one day. So much pain and misery. All her life had been a mess, and when she thought she had taken back control, now this. She turned away from him and hugged herself right there on the ground. She shivered. The wind blew softly, invading every pore of her skin, filling her with cold that almost froze her heart. She bit her lower lip and whimpered in untold agony.
Boma got up and bolted away. He came back minutes later with a T-shirt and a pair of trousers in his hand. He had put on his pyjamas, but his face was still covered with blood that had congealed.
A week later, some students found Boma's body dangling from the ceiling fan in his room, his tongue sticking out, her eyes bulging pathetically. The events that followed after that led Sarah to the guy who would be the answer to all the problems she was facing in Uniben. Geoffrey.