Ageshin Died At Birth

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But a few hours after his death, he was back up, crying, alive.

No one asides his mother and F'igbofungbo knew about what happened- the events which led to little Ageshin coming back to life.

When Adebimpe delivered him in her room all by herself, after ten years of inability to conceive, it was the most beautiful pain she had ever experienced, it was ethereal, she cried and laughed at the same time. Her prayers had been answered.

Ageshin had cried too for the first few minutes, then he cried less, and less, till he stopped. At first, it seemed he was just sleeping, he had to be, but then, minutes passed and he did not move.

When it became obvious that her boy was no longer breathing, her smiles disappeared, she didn't have the time to cry, crying showed weakness, Adebimpe just grabbed the dead boy and flashed out, still bleeding.

Heartbeats later, she heaved to a stop at F'igbofungbo's shrine. Nothing was going to take her boy. Nothing!

F'igbofungbo was the town's spiritual healer, capable of healing the rarest ailments, once, he had even returned a dying man whom every other healer had condemned, back to full health .

He was waiting at the door.

"Help me F'igbofungbo! My boy, it is my boy! He stopped moving, please help me."

After moments, carefully studying her and the boy in her arms, he spoke,

"he has gone far, let him be."

"Never, never! Bring him back, pull him back now baba!"

"let him be."

He said calmly.

"I say no!!!" She howled.

"Okay, he will come back, but...a price has to be paid. Starting from you.”

"No but, no but, I will do anything F'igbofungbo, I am willing, just let my boy live."


About two hours later, Adebimpe was singing out of the shrine, she was laughing again, Ageshin wriggled in her arms as she hurried along. Behind her, F'igbofungbo looked on, worried, for the first time, he was afraid of what he had done. He screamed after her,

"do not forget, till 50. If he can pass that, he will no longer need it."


Ageshin grew fast, during his first birthday celebration, Adebimpe didn't invite anyone. She was the only guest.

That morning, she woke up, made him kneel and showered prayers on him. When she was done, she brought a chair out to the open and sat on it. Again, she placed little Ageshin before herself and celebrated with him.

At night, an intense ache hit her body, it was so fierce it paralysed her there on the bed. It got better in the morning though, and completely disappeared over the following days. It was expected, F'igbofungbo had said it would happen.

After the incident, Adebimpe began aging a little faster, it wasn't obvious, but it was happening. And she knew it.

When Ageshin clocked 2, she performed the same ritual. She woke up to shower prayers on him, after which she brought out two chairs. This time around, she invited only her closest friend, Ada to celebrate with her. She sat on one chair and Ada sat on the other. Again, she brought little Ageshin forward and they celebrated with him.

That night, the pain struck again. This time, it struck Ada too. Her family didn't know why she had suddenly gone limp after yelling from her sleep, but they didn't care for long, because she became normal after a few days.

Only Adebimpe understood what was going on.

Ageshin must celebrate his birthday every year, and there was a strict instruction concerning the number of people who could be present. Their number must be the same as his age, so that at ten years, ten people must be present. Not more, not less. In order to achieve this, Adebimpe always sent out strict invitations to chosen people, she would then arrange just the same amount of chairs outside.

These people were life buffers for Ageshin. Whenever they arrived to celebrate with him, a part of their time on earth would be taken and deposited on Ageshin. In order for him to stay alive, it must be done yearly.

In the visitors, the stolen time would translate as pain which eventually disappeared. They would then begin to age a little faster than usual. If a particular person kept coming yearly, they would age twice faster. But Adebimpe made sure this did not happen too often, no one deserved to have all their years stolen, so she always made new friends and invited new faces every year.

Soon, she started finding it difficult to keep up, and began re-inviting folks. Her consolation was how the rituals wouldn't last forever; her son just needed to become 50 years old, then he'd be free. Moreover, not much of these people's time was getting stolen.

However, through it all, she was always available, she didn't have to, but she decided to always keep a chair for herself amidst other visitors. It affected and weakened her severely. By the time she clocked 60, she was looking 80 year-old, not just that, she was gravely sick and wasted too.

When Ageshin clocked 15, he began having dreams of strange people handing black sacks over to him, there was always anger on their faces, sometimes, it was tears.

When Ageshin clocked 18, Adebimpe invited 17 people to dine and wine. There were 18 chairs outside, extra people were denied entrance and sent back home.

That night, in 17 homes across the town, different men and women cried out in agony from their sleep. They would later go numb for days as part of their time in life got taken for Ageshin.

That night, for the first time, Adebimpe through her pains sat her son down and told him the story of his life. How he had died, how she had made the deal that pulled him back. She was meticulous, sincere and convincing.

Ageshin was a very intelligent young man, at 18, he had the mind of a 30 year-old man, so he understood all his mother said, he had seen enough of the spiritual sides of life not to believe, besides, the reoccurring dream of angry people donating black bags to him couldn't have been for nothing, it all made sense now. However, he wasn't going to have it, he didn't want to live like that, he didn't want to survive feeding on other people's time.

When he clocked 20, twenty chairs and 19 visitors were waiting for him in the open. But he was nowhere to be found, he had run.

After a long time of futile waiting, the 19 visitors returned to their homes. The following day, Ageshin came down with a serious ailment. Within hours, he became a shadow of himself, the pain was excruciating- the pain of 20 people ravaged him continuously, he soon began begging for death, it did not come, it would take three days for it to come, then he begged for life.

Life came in the re-invited folks and their celebrations. Somehow, his mother found unsuspecting 19 people to come around again.

It was magical- his quick recovery and subsequent glow. There and then, Ageshin accepted his fate and began willing to lift his cross. He would have to keep the ritual up.

At 25 years, weak and frail, Adebimpe was out on the field, doing what she knew best, she positioned the 25th chair as the visitors began arriving with their spouses and kids, at the 25th person, the gates closed.

That night, like it had happened for the past 24 times Adebimpe was hit hard on her bed, but unlike before, she failed to survive this, she died grunting.

The following years were the toughest of Ageshin's life. He wanted to give up at some point, but he realised he had to keep living, he had to do it for his mother, she had sacrificed a lot, he had to just live.

And live, he did.

Soon, he began enjoying life. He appreciated life more. Every day, and every year, he thanked his mother for not giving up on him.

Ageshin got married at 30 and kept up the ritual. He gave birth to 3 kids and kept up the ritual. His birthdays parties were always strictly by invitation, with a fixed number of people. No one knew why, whenever his wife asked,

"why can't we have more people? We can take care of them, can't we?"

He would reply,

"we need to learn to be strict even with our celebrations, money doesn't grow on trees my love."

He always made sure none of his family members were on the ground or seated, rather, they would be in the sitting room, or kitchen, cooking, or outside the state on holidays.

Ageshin was going to clock the big 50 in a few days when the unthinkable happened.

A global pandemic struck. A deadly virus arose.

Everything happened too quickly, before he knew what was happening, movement got restricted, next, people got stopped from going to work.

The final straw was a day to his birthday, the government announced an absolute ban on gatherings of more than 5 persons.

At first, it felt like a dream, then it became a reality on the D-day, 50 chairs sat empty on an open field.



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