The devil on the altar episode 8

THE DEVIL ON THE ALTAR 8
Written by: Grace Olayemi

Patricia didn’t travel early so she got to the school towards the evening. After a long and hectic journey she was tired and worn out. Celestina was more than happy to have her friend and roommate back in the school, they chatted and gisted about a lot of things telling each other how they spent their holiday and Celestina was also informing Patricia about the things that she had missed on the campus.

After Paul visited Patricia at home and also helped with the hospital bills, he had been in close contact with Patricia and they talked and chatted almost every day. He also called Patricia to inquire about her journey and he was delighted that she arrived safely.

Monday morning came and Patricia had a lot of catching up to do, she had missed a lot of lectures and had so many notes to copy and a lot of assignments to do. She also had to attend lectures and tutorials and even extra tutorials to catch up with all she had missed. She was always busy here and there with a lot to do and hærdly had time for leisure or social life, in fact she and Celestina mostly saw each other only at nights and sometimes in the morning.

That did not go on for too long before she was able to update all her notes, do all the necessary assignments, see all the lecturers she needed to see and she was then free to start living like a normal student after over two weeks of running around.

Patricia decided to surprise Celestina that day with a sumptuous meal since they had been unable to spend quality time together since she got busy. She had missed all the wonderful time they used to spend together. She went to the market on her way from school; got a few things to prepare her meal and she also bought a very sweet wine to step down the dinner. She arranged the room in a very wonderful way and also lit scented candles everywhere, she was excited as she was doing all that because she knew Celestina would be very happy and pleased. She made Celestina’s favourite and set the table waiting for her lovely roommate to arrive.

Patricia waited and waited, she was getting so impatient and also the food was getting cold. She didn’t want to call her to inquire about her because she didn’t want to raise any suspicion. She waited till around 6pm when she eventually decided to call her.

“Hello, baby girl! Where are you?” She asked Celestina immediately when she picked the call.

“I’m in the church for our departmental meeting or have you forgotten today is Friday?” Celestina replied.

“Oh! I totally forgot. When are you rounding off the meeting?”

“Anytime from now I should be in the hostel because the meeting has ended and I’m almost on my way home and I’ll be coming home with…”

“With whom?” Patricia asked when Celestina suddenly stopped without mentioning the name of the person she was coming with.

“Never mind, it was meant to be a surprise but I have ruined it with my big mouth but anyway watch out for the person.”

“Please now, girlfriend,” Patricia pleaded in a childish voice to convince Celestina to tell her who the person was but Celestina was not cajoled by her voice.

“You will see the person once we arrive,” she said.

“But at least give me a hint, let me know if it is a guy or a lady,” Patricia pleaded.

“No! No! No! I refuse to tell you, so just watch out. Bye for now.” Celestina ended the call even before Patricia could say anything.

Patricia was disappointed with that new arrangement. She didn’t know who their guest was going to be and she was too lazy to clean up all the decorations she made in the room. The food she had made was enough for one extra person so she just decided to leave the decorations so that the guest would also join them in the feast.

Celestina got to the church that evening and Paul asked to see her. He asked after Patricia and also made his intentions of paying them a visit known to Celestina.

“That wouldn’t be a problem sir! I’ll just inform Pat,” Celestina replied after Paul told her his intentions.

“That wouldn’t be necessary, because I want it to be a surprise,” Paul said.
“Ok, I will not inform her.”

After the usher’s meeting, Celestina was waiting for Paul to finish up with what he was doing so they could go to the hostel together when Patricia’s call came in. She almost spilled the beans but was able to control herself.

“Can we go now?” She asked Paul who came out just as she was speaking with Patricia.

“Hmmm! Ladies! You people can’t keep any secret oh!” He said teasing Celestina.

“I’m sorry sir. I was just carried away with the gist and besides, Pat is very nosy she can make anyone reveal anything to her.”

“Hmmm, that’s good at least you guys are friends and good Christians not like other roommates that we settle quarrels between them every day.”

“It is God that has been helping us to cope with each other. We also have our differences but God has given us the wisdom to deal with them.”

They chatted and discussed various things as they walked together to the hostel.

*****
Patricia was pacing to and fro in the room and was looking out of the window whenever she heard any sound. It was like she had been waiting for eternity and she was really hungry. She got tired of standing and moving around aimlessly and she just laid on the bed. It was not up to five minutes after that when she heard a knock on the door, she was startled and rose to open the door. She was quite surprised when she saw that it was Paul. They exchanged pleasantries and he was offered a seat.

“I told you someone was coming and you quickly made all this up,” Celestina said looking at Patricia with a questioning look.

“Well! I prepared this earlier.”

“Really?” Celestina asked again, still looking at Patricia with a lot of questions in her gaze.

“See, I don’t like this kind of eyes you are using to look at me o, as if you don’t believe that I did it for you,” Patricia said, frowning.

“You sisters should calm down now,” Paul said to remind them that he was still seated.

“We are sorry sir,” they chorused.

They offered him water and food and really the meal was delicious that he just kept on praising Patricia for her culinary skills. They chatted, played, gisted and had a nice time together. After some time, Paul bade them farewell and left for his own hostel.

To be continued…