Pain, sharp piercing pain that filled every inch of his being were the only things Deji felt in his last moments.
He was dying in a very cruel way, being strangled from behind while being stabbed repeatedly all over his chest and deep down inside he knew this all his fault, he had been careless.
Deji was a pretty average person from a very normal family being an african things were hard but not so much as he had every opportunity he needed to succeed generously provided to him by his parents.
He was never exceptional but was actually able to make through the university level even stumbling on an international scholarship for his masters.
Everything would take a turn when he decided to start his own church after years of frustration he accumulated seeing his peers become wealthy by either going into crime, politics or by becoming a pastor in a pentecostal church.
Deji believed that there was a God out there somewhere but not in christianity or even any religion for that matter so while he started his church and seemed passionate about it his aim was to make money.
His church, The Heavenly Revival Church actually got popular really quick and Deji would soon find himself a very wealthy man in his late twenties. He even received a bit of internet clout for being "The Gen-Z preacher" or "The youngest preacher", perhaps being a twenty six year old and being the general overseer of one of the fastest rising prosperity gospel churches was his blessing and his curse.
Early into the rise of the church whistleblowers had started to appear but no one took them seriously as they were mostly either from other religions or were atheists. Deji himself was very careful not to do or say anything outrageous initially.
The fame and wealth eventually got to him, and he made the mistake of believing his own lies.
It was easy to bury the r*pe cases, it was easy to hide the money laundering, it was easy to cover the human trafficking, the online fraud even the involvements with politics. What brought him down was his own delusions.
His church kept attracting shady characters and when one of the most out spoken and famous members of his church was investigated for allegations of child molestation it was the fact that he went and made a rant on a sunday service broadcast to millions globally that made allegations against him begin to gain popularity
The situation was still salvageable and many of his close confidants really tried to help often urging him to accept some of the allegations and settle out of court when possible, but the man himself was far gone, drunk on power. At this point he genuinely thought he was blessed by God and that he would get out of this by playing into the role of a martyr. He actually thought that he could rile people up by claiming to be a falsely accused righteous man.
Delusions are different from the harshness of reality.
Seeing the suicidal path Deji had chosen to take, the people around him quietly cut their ties and soon the fall from grace happened.
He was sentenced to life in prisonment on multiple charges but somehow died before the cases finished judgement. During that detention period when his case was ongoing someone had called for his assasination in prison, maybe someone trying to silence him, maybe someone related to one of his many victims it really didn't matter now.
As his body hit the floor his vision began to blurr, his memories had already started to replay in his head and somewhat poetically, he began to cry tears of joy. Deji knew he was going to some sort of hell, but he was greatful to have lived, though this beautiful moment was cut short when an angry foot landed on his face.
For the thirty two year old, the world went dark.
But Deji still felt his conciousness...
Deji could feel like he was alive but he couldn't feel anything so he thought he was just in a coma.
For what felt like the longest time he was alone in a dark world, with nothing but his thoughts.
During this time he began to reflect, not on his actions but the consequences of them. What would happen to his wife and kids, how would his five year old son react to finding out his father was a horrible person, would the law protect his wealth or át least make a provision for his family?
To be honest he wasn't too bothered about his wife and son, she was a foreigner from the country were he recieved his masters scholarship. An average person but a citizen of a first world country.
Besides them there wasn't much he could care for, he didn't even feel remorseful and had just accepted that he was a monster. He even had the vague feeling that he might do the same again if given the same opportunity.
But now that he thought about it he was just selfish. He had never saw himself as the same specie with the people who came into his congregation. He could care less about the victims of his crimes, and telling himself that he was just a bad person was not enough.
The truth is that YOU choose to be bad, the truth is that selfishness has its limits, the truth is that-
*Thump*
"A heartbeat? No, this feeling, its all around me.
What is happening to my body?"
*Thump*
A crushing feeling went through his entire being. Deji still couldn't feel anything, anything except the crushing feeling and this feeling was becoming more rhythmic.
His whole being tremored, with each wave of the crushing feeling. This went on for a short while until Deji was finally able to feel his body.
He stretched out his limbs and tried reaching out for his face but he couldn't control his arms and his legs barely budged, so he quickly opened his eyes for the first time in what felt like an eternity.
First, his vision was blurry, but then...