This is the story of an event that happened in a catholic school in Nigeria, events which I witnessed and was a part of, and which have never been resolved till date. Names have been changed, but the tale is true, and told as I remember it.
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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
4:00pm
I picked my novel and headed towards the senior classroom block. I had wanted to talk to Igwe Stephen, but my thoughts were still swirling around what Augustine and Sho-sho had told me. Honestly, at this point, I wasn’t 100% sure I believed them yet. In fact, as I thought about it more and more, the more incredible it seemed. If this had really happened, the effects were going to be massive. Unimaginable.
The class was empty, as I knew it would be. I dumped my book on my wooden desk, but instead of sitting, went to stand by the windows. St George’s stood on one of the hills of ancient Ibadan, and the windows of the senior classroom block had a sweet view of that part of the city. It was mostly brown roofs and busy roads and sky, but it was peaceful nonetheless.
Visions! How? Why?
I mentally began to go over the apparitions and visions in the history of the Church. Almost immediately, the apparitions of Fatima came to mind. In 1917, three children in the Spanish village of Fatima had claimed to see an apparition of a beautiful lady while tending their flock in the countryside. It was one of the most popular apparitions of the Blessed Virgin, one whose similarities to the visions of Augustine and Sho-sho weren’t lost on me. Especially the fact that multiple persons had seen it, and the ‘lady’ was involved.
I went to my seat, also wooden, and sat. If there was a vision being seen by various persons, there must be a special reason, or message to be passed –visions weren’t things that happened at random.
Just then, I realised it might not be as random as I thought. Today was the first of two pretty important days in the church –the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, June 11th and 12th every year. And not just that, the church had celebrated Corpus Christi, the exaltation of the Holy Eucharist –the actual body of Christ –only five days ago, on the Sunday of that very week. Coincidence, or the workings of a divine hand?
And there was still the last alternative –the visions might be supernatural alright, just not from the good supernatural? What if it was a trick from the devil? But how could I tell? What if I dismissed it and it turned out to be an actual divine message?
I shook my head. No, it wouldn’t matter. If it was a real message, it would come out into the light one way or the other, regardless of what I, or anyone else did. It was too early to speculate and come to a conclusion. I knew how the church worked –thousands and thousands of hours were spent analysing each claim of a vision or apparition, or any miracle whatsoever before a verdict was given. If this got as far, it wouldn’t be any different. It wasn’t my place to decide. Whatever would be, would be.
6:15pm
I didn’t talk to Igwe that day. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the class, reading my novel and working on some articles for the press club, until it was time to wash up and go for dinner. Dinner was beans porridge, and I usually took mine with Garri after the school’s official Friday night activity, together with my classmate and former bunk-mate, Kingsley, so we compiled ours into a bowl and stored it up in Kingsley’s locker. The only other activity for the night was chapel and night prayers, which were usually shortest on Friday nights.
While we went about all these, I couldn’t help but notice how normal everything was. Most of the school had not yet heard of the event, although I saw Sho-sho and some others huddling up.
I spent my free night doing various things, so many that I can no longer what they were. There were no more mentions of the visions by anyone, and one of my last thoughts before I went to sleep was that the whole event was probably already fading away like many others in the school.
I couldn't be more wrong.
