Two strange things happened that day, and everything seemed like a dream because such things are only seen in stories and movies.
Eric was 17 years old when his grandpa died at the age of 73. They all wept because he was dear to them and they were really going to miss him... especially the way he treats them (his grandchildren) with his kind of soup, which he calls "Kitom Soup."
The burial day came, and they all dressed up in "all white" native attire to give him their last respect, they weren't crying anymore because it was more like a celebration of a life well spent, they were all happy and anticipating the merriment of the day.
Around 9:00 am, sirens started blabbering, and it was the arrival of the Grandpa's remains from the mortuary. They stepped him down and took him to one of the rooms in the house while the traditional rites were being done outside before he'd laid to mother earth.
"Eric!" Eric's dad called his name. He ran towards him and said, "Daddy, I'm here."
"It seems I forgot my wallet in the room where we kept Grandpa's corpse, please go and get it for me. I hope you're not scared?" He said as he looked Eric in the face, waiting to see if he was scared or not.
"How can I be scared? I'm not like my other siblings that have refused to see Grandpa's corpse," he said while displaying a brave face.
He ran to the room, and to his surprise, he met Grandpa sitting in the coffin instead of lying down, "Daaaddyyyy!" He screamed loudly as he rushed out of the room.
He ran with full speed to where his dad was, and his dad was very surprised to see him in such a state, panting as if he had just finished a 400-meter race.
"What is it; what's pursuing you?" His dad asked as he quickly hugged him.
Eric was still panting and couldn't say anything yet.
His dad reached out to a table close to him and collected one of the bottles of water and gave him something to drink to regain his breath.
"So can you tell me now, beside, where's the wallet I asked you to bring, or didn't you find it there?" He said to him after seeing that Eric's panting has reduced from the water he took.
"Grandpa is aliveI found him awake, he was sitting instead of lying down in the coffin," Eric finally said.
"It's not possible, I guess that was an illusion." His dad said as he got up and called his wife (Eric's mother) to take Eric to where she's sitting.
After Eric and his mother had left, he decided to go to the room to get the wallet himself since Eric had failed.
As he entered the building, he sighted the door containing the corpse open, and he concluded that maybe Eric didn't close it with the force he used to run out of the room.
He got closer to the door, and just as he was about to enter the room, he saw the biggest scene of his lif...it was his dad sitting in the coffin instead of lying down. He almost ran away, but he displayed bravery and stood at the door to ponder what was happening to his dad's corpse. After 5 minutes of contemplating whether to go inside or go out and announce what's happening to his family members, he decided to go in and examine the situation himself.
With fear, he got close to the corpse, moved around him, and he found out that all the attachments on the body, like cotton wool on the nostrils, mouth, and ear, were intact.
"What could make him sit down instead of lying down?" He questioned the situation but couldn't get an answer.
He then summoned the courage to use his hands to bend him down, but the corpse refused. He tried severally, but no way.
That was the moment he went outside to secretly inform some of the elders on what was happening to his dad's corpse.
All of them went in, saw the situation, and marveled.
They quickly sent for the pastor who's supposed to do the interment, and he arrived in about 30 minutes.
They told him the situation and directed him to the room. He got there, prayed and sprinkled anointing oil, but the corpse still refused to be loosened. He performed more of the religious rituals for another hour, but the result still remained the same.
"To be sincere, I don't know what's wrong or why he refused to be loosened," the pastor said with a tiring voice.
They all decided to go and rest in the parlor while they think of another way to remedy the situation, and as they were heading to the parlor, they met four elderly men dressed in a red occultic robe heading to the room.
"Who are you and where do you think you're going?" Eric's father obstructed them.
"Do you want your dad to be laid to rest or not? If you want that, leave the way," the first man on the line among the four men answered while trying to move further, and he got blocked again by Eric's father.
"You haven't answered my question, and with what authority do you to alter such things?" Eric's father spoke in a more angry tone.
"Well, I know you're not aware, your late father is a member of our fraternity, and it's our right to lay him down to rest by ourselves, that's why he has refused to be allowed to rest" The man that seems to be the leader among the occultic people said.
Eric's father wanted to go and lock the door against them but the pastor tapped him, calmed him down, and begged him to allow them to do their thing because it seems they're the only ones with the solution to the problem.
Eric's father succumbed to what the pastor said, he opened the door for them, they entered, performed their rituals, and the corpse was bent to lying state within 30 minutes.
The occultic people left after the man was laid to rest on Mother Earth.
Thanks for reading🥰