10/11/2025
EPISODE 7 – THE BROKEN COVENANT
Okeke barely slept for three nights. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Chinedu standing in the corner of the room, staring with empty eyes.
His food lost taste. His laughter died.
The money that once made him proud now felt like blood on his hands.
One morning, he made a decision—he would find help.
He drove to Abakpa, asking questions quietly until someone directed him to a small church known for “strong deliverance.” The place looked old—cracked walls, zinc roof, wooden benches—but the moment he stepped in, something inside him trembled.
A woman was praying at the altar, her voice sharp and heavy with power. When she finished, she looked up at him and said,
“You brought them here with you.”
Okeke froze. “Who?”
“The spirits you fed,” she replied calmly. “They are not from God. They are from the river—hungry and jealous.”
He dropped to his knees. “Mama, I no know wetin I do. I just wan make money.”
She sighed deeply. “You made a covenant. To break it, blood must answer blood.”
He shook his head violently. “No! I no fit kill anybody again!”
She walked closer, touched his forehead, and immediately shivered. Her eyes rolled back, and she began to speak in a strange tone:
"He has been marked. The debt is not complete. If he runs, we will take what is ours."
The air in the church grew cold. The candles flickered.
Mama fell to the ground, gasping for breath.
When she finally sat up, sweat dripping down her face, she whispered,
“Son, they already know you want to break free. They won’t let you go easily. Tonight, don’t be alone.”
But Okeke didn’t listen. He was desperate to be free, tired of fear.
That night, he gathered every charm, candle, and strange item from his apartment—the red beads, the calabash with ashes, even the small clay pot he once buried. He took them outside, poured kerosene, and set them on fire.
As the flames rose, he shouted, “I no belong to una again! I no want una money!”
Then the wind stopped.
Everything went silent.
Suddenly, the fire turned blue, and the pot cracked open on its own. A deep, guttural voice echoed from the darkness:
"Covenant broken, payment due."
The ground shook beneath him. He tried to run, but something invisible threw him to the ground. His ears rang, his body stiffened—and then he saw them: shadows crawling up the walls, whispering his name over and over.
“Okeke… Okeke…”
When he finally managed to move, he sprinted inside and locked the door, trembling. But it was too late—his mirror cracked from the inside, and blood slowly trickled down its surface.
He realized then that he hadn’t broken the covenant.
He had provoked it.