05/17/2023
Kaguya tracked me down at the hospital and came “to visit”. I didn't want to talk to him so I pretended to sleep and he watched me sleep.
Things between us were different since that night of betting. His once comfortable presence was now unwelcomed, replaced by a type of coldness that I couldn't recognize.
I was grateful that he didn't try to talk. He stood in front of me, just watching me as if I would escape the minute he turned his back.
Gambling is haram (forbidden) for a reason, it’s the devil’s trickery. I wished I had never got involved with it.
The awkwardness between Kaguya and I stretched on and on, at one point I sighed heavily (as a sleeping person would), but it sounded fake, we both knew I was not asleep.
“Wali Kyeyune!!!” A loud voice called after me from far across the room. I was stunned, I almost stood up from my bed.
Wide-eyed I watched as a man who looked like the character Morpheus, from the matrix, sauntered into the room, walked straight to me, and perched a leather-clad boot on the metal railing on the side of my bed.
He paused, “You are Wali Keyune, are you not?”
I managed a vigorous nod.
“You like money Wali? Oh, that rhymes nicely” Morpheus boomed.
I wasn't sure if that was a serious question.
I didn't know how to answer. I had no idea who this person was or what was happening. I risked a peek over at Kaguya but he remained frozen like a soldier on guard.
“I’m talking to you,” Morpheus said impatiently.
I licked my cracked lips and a pathetic croak escaped me.
Morpheus sat on my bed and leveled his stare at me. He looked me straight in the eyes like he was looking into my soul and at that moment I knew who he was and why he had come.
My mind reached for forgotten prayers to God for protection.
“This doesn't have to be hard son, in fact, I have a gift for you!!.” His face was so close to mine that I smelled his spicy breath.
He grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and spoke directly into my ear. “You will be going to America after all. Tonight you will fly to Las Vegas, where you will await further instruction, understand?”
I promptly nodded.
He let go of the scruff of my neck and slapped my head very hard. In the short seconds that it took to recover from the dizzy spell, he and Kayunga were gone. Vanished as if they’d never been there at all.
I looked down at the cheap plaster that encased my broken left leg from hip to ankle. I was trapped, I wanted to run away but I couldn’t, moreover they would find me anywhere.
I mumbled my prayers again, begging God to forgive me, begging Allah to rescue me from whatever trouble I was in.
I prayed and prayed until too exhausted, I fell asleep.
“Time to go Wali” a voice coaxed.
When I woke from my nightmare-ridden sleep, the cast on my broken leg was gone, it had somehow been removed and my leg was completely healed.
I didn’t bother to question how that sudden miracle came to be because I knew how– the devil!
A slender, well-dressed man that I didn’t know was at my bedside. He handed me a towel, clean underwear, and toiletries then he followed me to the hospital bathroom where I cleaned myself up.
I was given a tailored navy-blue suit with a crisp white dress shirt and matching trousers, and a pair of immaculately shined leather shoes.
Once dressed, Slenderman wrapped a heavy gold watch around my wrist and put an equally heavy gold chain around my neck.
“Time to board your flight, sir,” he said.
From my first novel: WALI https://www.wattpad.com/user/MayaYB5
