Dancing With The Masquerade

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: TO NEW BEGINNINGS

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TO NEW BEGINNINGS

I watched Cergio take Lota's hand in one of his, while he placed his other hand on her forehead. He looked at me.

"It's going to be fine. Seek him out earnestly and he'll hear your call." He said, and I nodded in understanding. I looked at my family members, who seemed a little confused. With my eyes, I pleaded with them to go along with everything. This was only for their good-for our good.

He closed his eyes and began praying. I closed mine, joined my hands together, cleared my mind of any doubt or every other thought, and replied amen to his every prayer. The more intense it got, the harder I prayed and pleaded in my heart for Him to listen.

Something distracted me, a sound or perhaps a feeling. Slowly, I opened my eyes, then gently turned my head to the side. There it was, the same masquerade that has tormented me for as long as I could remember. An evil and demonic embodiment at the beck and call of an evil god. Looking at it, I felt anger, not the type that was ready to explode and destroy anything that came in its path, but the calm, fed up type. The type of anger that has built up out of tiredness, forging a spirit ready to battle its demons and put an end to it once and for all.

It was in a corner and I watched it dance, moving its body without so much as taking a step closer. I knew I was the only one seeing this. Normally, I would panic, but that wasn't the case anymore. Rather, I believed it was here because it knew its end was near and probably thought its presence would scare me to put an end to the prayers. Too bad, the Kasie of yesterday is no longer the Kasie of today.

Quietly, I turned away from it and looked at the others. They had their eyes shut; I was more than glad to see they were taking part in this liberation. Then I shut my eyes and continued with the prayer. Not just with my heart, but now with my lips. I prayed against every hold the deity might believe it has on us and asked for it to be broken and for us to receive our liberation, for Lota not to die, for Him to prove that I'd been wrong all these years to stay away from Him. I wasn't sure how long but the prayer lasted a while and there were times I heard him quote verses from the bible, all to make his point and I said amen to all of it and so did the others.

"Mum." Lota's voice caused us to open our eyes. There she was, eyes open, moving from one person to the other, with confusion clear in them. I released a sigh of relief before lifting my eyes to Cergio, who did the same; there was a smile on his face, same as mine. I turned my head to the corner I'd seen the masquerade, and it had disappeared. It was nowhere to be seen. I watched mum embrace Lota as tightly as she could, a joyful smile on her face and tears of joy gathered in her eyes.

"Thank you." She said to Cergio, and he looked from her to the others, then back to her.

"No, thank God." He said, still wearing a smile.

"So... is it gone? Are we free?" Junior asked and everyone's eyes fixated on Cergio, mostly to receive a suitable reply.

"For now, I believe so." Cergio said, and they released a sigh filled with equal part relief and worry.

"The enemy never truly goes away. It hides or runs away when it realises its host is no longer a vessel fit for its inhabitation. Therefore, when you come to Christ and accept that your body is the temple of God, it has no choice but to leave because the power of God is greater." He explained, and I was glad to see they were listening.

"For a long time, this household has lived in darkness and fear but God is here and he's calling every one of you back to his path because he loves you all and wouldn't want to see any of you perish... Ephesians 6 verse 11 says: 'put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.' Therefore, please, do not give the enemy a chance to crawl back into your lives."