IF I WERE YOU. (Editing)

FOURTEEN_

        "If I were you, if I were you...." She mimicked the voice of her father. "Nonsense, stupid slogan." A hiss escaped her mouth as she wiped her bathroom floor.
She'd done it again. This time, there was blood. She examined the remnants of the blob, it wasn't crawly or misshapen. It was just a blob filled with fresh blood.

          "But whose blood?"She asked the empty room.

Her finger dipped into it and raised it to her nose, A gag followed and she heaved her stomach content deep into the toilet bowl.

After rinsing her mouth and washing her hands, she washed her face and made sure her bathroom was sparkling clean.
Back on her couch, she studied the scratch marks that ran across her body and neck. She even caught the marks of a whip.
Bruises and marks were recently added to her menu of oppression. She wiped few tears and turned on the television.

Voices were speaking by her window. It was a Sunday gossip about church. But today's gossip wasn't about all the nonsense they did there. It was about a very personal experience.
She left her couch and moved closer to the window. A younger lady's voice was whimpering while narrating her encounter to another shocked lady.

              "You mean all of this happened at church this morning?" The listener asked.

A sniffle escaped the narrator's nose. "It was as if I'd been flogged into reality. I have never experienced anything like that before. You know I used to have a big mole right under my nose. Look, its no longer there."
            "Yes, I'd been looking at your face. I was certain something was off. So the mole just disappeared?"

           "Correct. Just like that!  Even as I speak, my body is still shaking from the effect of today's service."

           "Me, I don't understand. Wasn't it Bishop Glam that preached?"

'Bishop Glam' was the name the members coined for her father Bishop Maitama. At first it wasn't so cool, but when media outlets began referring to him as Bishop Glam, it kinda stuck.'

The other suffered a brief chuckle before responding. "No. It was this old man. Very old you would think he's about to fall off. But when he began to worship, we all witnessed a lion."
Vivian opened her door to get the faces of the ladies but they scampered off trembling. She scoffed. It was always her presence scaring people off.

As she made to shut the door, a hand blocked it. "May I come in?" An smiling old man asked.

She looked at him quizzically. "And who are you?" Vivian's turned to face him.
But her father's voice stopped any other words coming from her mouth.

          "He's with me." Bishop showed his face right above the man's head.
Slowly, she opened her door as a good number of people entered her apartment. She'd never had visitors neither had she had this number of people in her home.

           "Oh...Okay, I am waiting for someone to tell me what's going on here."
            "Won't you at least greet us?" Her mother queried.

Her head snapped towards the direction of her mother's very tiny voice.
         "If you were family, then yes. But since you are not, I'd rather you tell me why you have invaded my home."

Pa Deji watched silently as the interaction between the family went on. He also noted the bitterness in the young woman's voice and the frail way she appeared.

         "This is my father in the Lord. I'd known him for a very long time." Bishop smiled as he fitted himself close to the old man.
Vivian gawked at them angrily. With her shoulders raised and her eyes widened, "So? How's that my business?"