THE CONFESSION

Anger courses through me as I look at the ugly monster holding my friends hostage. Its bulky frame obstructed my view of them but I could still hear their anguished pleas for help.

"Let them go now!" I say out loud, in Yoruba. I believe it is best to use the language it communicates in.

"Wait, Naomi, you can communicate with it?" a shocked Oscar asks me.

I glance towards him and take in his disbelieving expression.

With a heavy sigh, I hand Dart over to him and say, "Trust me, let me handle this."

He nods once and looks at me as if to say, "Be careful."

"What exactly do you want with us?" I say to the glob.

"We already have what we want. All that is left is to obliterate nuisances like your kind so we can take full control of the earth, starting of course from the African superpower, Nigeria. After all, your people are so pliable," Sly says, snickering.

I sense in my spirit that I should be wary of what I say to this being. After all, I am confronting a demon which is God-knows-how-many-millenia old.

If only I had that Apocrypha book at hand. Well, the Word I had stored up in my heart so far would have to suffice.

I need backup. If my friends have a clue of what's going on beneath the surface, they can switch camps and help me fight. I have to tell them.

These are not my thoughts so I am not surprised that the glob can't read that off my mind.

In English, I say to my friends, "Guys, I know what I'm about to tell you right now may sound bizarre, but if you've ever doubted the existence of God, now is a perfect time to discard it. We are not fighting against flesh and blood. On three, I want you to shout after me the one name that is the only way out of this predicament we have found ourselves in."

I see expressions of panic and realization sweep across their faces.

The glob stays still. Angrily, it growls into my mind in a pitch so loud that I wince against the migraine that's now forming at the front of my skull.
"Don't you dare! I'll kill you all myself."

I shove the fear that creeps up my spine and pray silently, "Lord, help me. I want to get out of this prison alive and intact, with my friends. I'm obeying your instructions. Don't let it fail."

I raise my fisted hand and begin to signal to my friends in hopes that they won't doubt me.

I lift my first finger. One.

The glob shudders and continues to scream obscenities in my mind, but makes no effort to come at me.

My second finger goes up. Two.

The glob charges at my friends he held hostage. Oscar shifts forward, but I hold him back with my free hand.

I know it's causing them mental torment. I can feel and hear its sinister cackle in my mind.

Jadiel, Owen and Cordelia are crying so hard that mucus and tears are rolling down their faces.

I raise my trembling third finger and close my eyes. I feel Oscar's familiar presence beside me and he holds my left hand to assure me.

Here goes.

"Jesus!" I shout with all my lungs.

I am relieved when I hear the different shades of voices of my friends echoing the name after me. It's a cacophony of hope, a cry for help.

"Jesus!"

The glob shrieks. It shakes so violently, jerking from side to side as though something wants to tear it apart from the inside. Sly explodes in a mess that splatters green goop all over our bodies.

My friends who were dangling close to the wall by invisible chains plop to the floor abruptly. The slimy goop on us dissipates into thin air.

Oscar and I rush to them and help them up.

"Are you all okay?" I ask as I hug them all.

Jadiel looks stupified, Owen sniffs and Cordelia is still trembling.

"I could hear it. This is like one of the voices that plays in my head whenever I feel like ending it all," Jadiel says in a daze.

"Jadiel, there's a lot to unravel about you," I say, placing my hands on my waist.

"Yes, but I believe now. I've stumbled across that name, Jesus, before but I'm only just getting to understand the power. That was a close call. Thanks, Naomi," she says, smiling.

I take in a deep breath and look into the eyes of each of my friends one by one.
"Oscar, I have been praying that you would regain your faith. Owen, you too. Even you, Cordelia. I never wanted my friends to end in hell. But I was scared to destroy our friendship so I rarely brought it up. I'm sorry."

They all look speechless. I have no idea what they are thinking.

Owen clears his throat, breaking the silence. "Considering what we've experienced so far, I must say, I still have many questions. But my main curiosity is about Jesus. I want to know him. Again."

"Well, I am grateful my skin wasn't scorched beyond repair. That thing, whatever it was, is creepy and evil," Cordelia says. "I only wish I could have recorded our adventure. It would have been a viral video, internet gold!"

I roll my eyes at her. My best friend is vain, but I love her. She surprises me when she says, "Thanks for praying for me, Naomi. I knew there was something different about you. I've been wanting to ask you questions about God but I didn't know if you'd be willing to talk about it."

My smile and tingling tears mix.

Jadiel says, "My grandmother gave me my name. I'm grateful for it now."

Oscar, who has been silent all through, draws near to me and hugs me for the second time today.
This time, he is more tender and makes the hug linger for longer.

"Thank you," Oscar says. "For everything. And I'm sorry I turned my back on God. I was hurt, didn't know how to deal with it, had to find someone to be angry at, figured God was my best bet."

He pauses. "The government is wrong to ban the open practice of Christianity. It's the only thing left that is real."

It's as though everything fades away as he places a kiss on my forehead.

I feel tingles all over me.

"You know," Owen begins, "Oscar has always liked you. You two make quite a pair."

Oscar scolds his brother silently with his hard glare. I look up at him with wide eyes, wondering if Owen is right.

"I know, right? They just hate to admit it. Oscar has been Naomi's idol since forever," Cordelia adds.

I blink at her to keep quiet, wishing the ground would open up to swallow me from this embarrassment.

"Okay, okay, let's get out of this place, lovebirds!" Cordelia says chuckling as she rolls her eyes at us. I blush at her statement.

"Yeah, I think we should," Jadiel says, suddenly switching to serious mode as she glances around the labyrinth.

A slow tremor begins again. Oh, no!

~~~

Author's note: Hello lads and lasses, I am very pleased with how this chapter turned out.

Now that all Naomi's friends are in sync with her faith to a certain level, the rest of this story can go pretty well, yeah?
Hmm, let's see how it goes.

Meanwhile, while we anticipate the completion of this story, we can have the luxury of guessing what they will meet if they eventually escape this basement.
What do you think?

Thanks for reading so far and for eagerly anticipating each chapter. God bless.