For those who are eternal

12

"I warned you," I said.

Emilia's pulse was faint and she was losing a lot of blood.

"Could you help me please?" For the first time since we reunited, He talked to me.

"The last time I helped you, I was ignored," I crossed my arms.

"I'm sorry about that," I apologized, "I can't let her die like this."

I sighed and touched Emilia's forehead. Emilia's wounds closed and her pulse became normal but I felt that sting again. This time it seriously hurt.

"Thank you," he said.

"It's fine," I replied before disappearing.

Being a phantom had its perks and one of them was to teleport to wherever Samael would be. This time he was somewhere in a hospital in Lagos.

I watched as people gathered around a woman in labour who was trying to push but lacked the strength to do so.

Samael stood there watching, smiling even, as prayers were made in the waiting room for the success of the delivery.

"Who should I save?" Samael asked.

"Pardon?" I raised my brow.

"Mother or child, who should I save?" He repeated.

"Spare them," I said.

He looked at me, the smile not fading then turned to the woman in labour.

He touched her stomach and she stopped moving. The nurses and doctor tried to resuscitate her to no avail.

"Why did you..." I was cut short as he raised a finger to his lips.

"Shh," he hushed, "This is the best part."

I followed him and we watched the doctor break the news to the woman's husband; both child and mother were gone.

I saw the man breakdown into wailing.

A woman who seemed to be the mother of the deceased rolled on the floor, "Oti pa ooo! Femi ti pa Omotola mi!!!!"

"He has killed her oh! Femi has killed my Omotola," Samael translated as he chuckled, "You know, my favourite part is watching them blame God for this."

"You're sick," I wanted to throw up.

"Am I now?" he rubbed his eyes, "What is it?"

"I'm feeling pains," I said as I touched my arm, "I thought phantoms don't feel pain?"

"Ah, I forgot to mention," he said as he stroked his chin, "You're trading."

"Trading?"

"I don't know the details myself but basically for healing Emilia, whatever part you heal will be taken from you," he yawned a bit and turned to the old woman who was still crying, "For instance, because you healed her hip, yours is supposed to be damaged. Of course, the process isn't instant."

I touched my hip, the pain was there but I could still walk, "It doesn't make sense. How am I uhm... trading when I'm already dead? There's nothing to trade."

Samael sighed, then snapped his fingers. Instantly, the scenery changed. We were in the middle of a city I'd never seen before. It seemed like someone was being paraded; he looked badly injured but was forced to carry the cross. People jeered at him, some spat, some threw stones. 

"I believe you know who that is?" He pointed.

"Jesus?" I raised a brow.

"Correct," he gave me a thumbs up, "so he is without sin, and hasn't committed any at all nor does he intend to. But, he is about to trade."

I wanted to ask how we got into this time period but I just swallowed my words.

"Now he is pure, like your hip, but when he dies, he is going to take on the sins of over a billion people in the past and the future, so how does he trade?" he asked.

"He becomes incarnate of sin?" I reply.

"Exactly, so because of the weight of the sin, he is going to spend two days and two nights in hell atoning for all of it." Samael snickered when Jesus fell on his face again.

"Isn't two days is short for all the sins to be traded?" I couldn't help asking.

"It's a very long time. Time isn't measured the same way in the afterlife," Samael explained, "Take for instance; A day on Jupiter compared to earth is just 9hours, for Pluto it's 6days, for Mercury 58 days and surprisingly for Venus it's 116days." He paused and his eyes darted about as if confirming the answer, "The reason why God can see the end from the beginning is that time is irrelevant to him. A day in heaven could be 2 years on earth, for hell, it's longer."

"So that's why I can trade even when I'm dead?" I still couldn't quite understand it myself.

"Yes just avoid trading if Emilia or Kwame is at the point of death," he said.

I flinched.

He raised a brow, "You did, didn't you?"

God, I hope I'm not in trouble.