HEAL

Chapter Four

                  
(unedited)

     He was back in his figurative home, he calls the State his figurative home because it was where he and his mother moved to after fleeing from their hometown because save for the fact that it is written in his identity card that he is a citizen of that state, there was nothing else that tied him to the place.
    Most of his teenage years had been spent trying to find a place to belong and being identified with a big family or at least have someone he can call a family besides his mother.
     He constantly struggles to detach himself from anything that might flag him off as someone that came from a lower tribe and was always trying in vain to fit perfectly into the social spheres of that place.
    His mother never answers his question about why they left his hometown and she banned him from reaching out to any of his family members that resided there, but there was a time he called one of his Uncles after stealing his phone number from his mother phone. The man ended the call immediately he told him who he was and who his mother was and few minutes later he sent a one sentence text message that reads;” curse you infidels.”  
     He eventually stopped the wild chase of finding a place to belong because time finally taught him that a home is where people you care about and cares about you in return is.
His mother is his home.
     And about his mother, she wouldn’t stop complaining how lean and frail he had become. She was so disturbed seeing him that way and couldn't wait to take him to the Man who according to her is an expert in treating people with his kind of problem.
    He wanted to ask what she meant by the ‘kind of problem’ but decided to let it go. He was desperate to find a cure, and that is if even a cure existed for what was happening to him.
   He found it a bit surprising that his mother who is a firm believer on the effectiveness in medicine and hospital although uneducated would lead him to a spiritual healer, but fate has proven to be a twisted thing, and so, there they were, in search for a cure from what they both didn't believe in.
    They reached the Cleric's small house and they found a group of young boys seated outside on a mat, all in a white thobe that has turned brown with age, they laid some books on their lap and they were chanting something in loud voices.
   One of the boys jogged to them and requested what they want.
"Where is your Alfa? “His mother asked the bony boy.
"Follow me and I will lead you to him “The boy said with an exaggerated humility.
   They followed the boy down a narrow corridor till he waited by the last door. A voice came out of from the room “Who is there?"
  His mother opened her mouth to say something but the boy was fast. “There are two, one man and a woman, they want to see you."
   “Tell him that it is Mama Hassan “His mother whispered to the boy.
   "It's Mama Hassan”. The boy said.
    "Oh! it's you”. He said with a tone of familiarity, “come in the door is not locked."
   They boy left them and they entered the room which like the building was also small. piles of books, stacks of plates and a couple of other things that was hard to recognize littered the space where furniture’s were supposed to be.
"Welcome, this must be your son, you look so alike?” The man who is a taller and older version of the boys outside and of course a whiter thobe referred to his mother.
"Yes”. His mother nudged him to greet the cleric.
   Finding no other appropriate method of greeting him, he nodded and opened his mouth but nothing really came out from his mouth and so he sat down on the rough floor.
   The cleric seemed to approve his unusual greeting because he nodded back at him as he sat down.
   "So, What I have concluded from what your mother explained to me four days ago is that an evil Jinn is attacking you and it is on a mission to ruin you totally."
    The man gave a long pause and looked at him, apparently he was expecting some kind of reaction from him.
   His mother gave a small shriek and that was the only thing the cleric got because Hassan wasn't ready to give the Man the satisfaction of his statement having any kind of effect on him, so he stared back at him.
    A Jinn was attacking him? Of course before they came to the Man, he had been expecting something fetish like foretelling something like a relative or an envious friend being the cause of his problems. But a Jinn? that was the most ridiculous assumption.
     He stayed calm notwithstanding and watched the man put what looked like crushed dried leaves in a blackened plate. He moved to his side and said “I will get the Jinn out today and destroy its evil forces."
    The Man got so close to him that his cheeks was almost touching his head. The plate with its content was still in the Cleric's hand and he lighted the crushed leaves, the leaves gave out a smoke with an unfamiliar smell that immediately fill up the room.
    His attention was not on the burning leaves at but on the cleric, he was critically staring at him, searching for any dubious act that would sell him out.
   The cleric moved the plate closer to his face and the smell consumed him, he felt suffocated and he started trembling, his heart was violently pounding against his chest as it always does after he wakes up after a nightmare.
   Although all these were familiar, it was more intense this time with the influence of the smell of the leaves.
    He hated it all, he hated how his mother sat pitifully on the floor, he hated the cleric, he hated how he was helpless himself, he hated himself.
  "Why are you disturbing me, leave me alone! Go away."
He spoke in a voice he didn't recognize as his.
   The cleric moved the burning leaves closer to his face and he found himself screaming. “GO AWAY! GO AWAY"
   The cleric smiled to himself, he was enjoying the way things were going. He moved the plate away and raised his head up. Hassan wasn't sure what the Cleric was reciting to his ears, the cleric was speaking very fast, one moment it sounded like he was singing and another moment it sounded like he was speaking a particular language. But he was loud, so loud that his voice was hurting his ears, it was hurting his entire body, it felt as if melted hot iron was dripping right from the cleric mouth into his ears and down his whole body and setting it on fire.
Another scream went out from his mouth.
    The cleric's voice went louder and he didn't pause in his recitations.
    He needs to act fast, he was in pain, he need to beg the cleric, to reach a compromise with him. 
"STOP! PLEASE STOP IT"
   Hassan was collapsing and losing it, although he was weak and in pain, it felt like he was in a corner of the small room and watching everything from there, watching the cleric performing *exorcism* on him and watching his mother crying. He imagined stretching out his hand to reach to his mother and tell her to stop crying, that all this was fake.
   The Cleric was unrelenting in his recitation and with his eyes still on his mother he fainted.
***
  He woke up and looked all around him, he was still in the Cleric's house and his mother was over him, using a wet cloth to massage his body.
   His mother upon seeing him awake dropped the cloth and helped him sit up.
"How are you feeling Son?"
"I am better Mama"
He wasn't lying, although he still felt weak but he was a tad bit better.
"Let me call Alfa."
His mother rushed out of the room.
    He bowed his head and tried to remember what had happened, he remembered a strange voice that came out of his mouth, he remembered screaming, he remembered the cleric reciting something in his ears and he remembered fainting, but it all felt like a dream, like the nightmare he had been having. Maybe everything was a dream after all.
"Am I dreaming?", that was the first thing he asked his mother as she entered, the Cleric tailing behind her.
  "You are not dreaming, this is real, I have chased the stubborn Jinn out of your body." The cleric answered smiling.
   She knelt in front of the Cleric as a form of appreciation while gripping Hassan’s hand firmly who stood there awkwardly wishing that someone could just slap him out from this nonsense.
   Through his cloudy eyes, he saw his mother squeeze some Naira notes into the Cleric's hand before she leads him out.
   That night he had a peaceful sleep devoid of nightmares.
     The Cleric might be right after all; maybe it was a jinn attack.