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Two days after Bola’s provision store caught fire, something heartbreaking happened again. That morning, around 2:30 am, Bola was in her room sleeping when she suddenly heard Omotola, her oldest daughter, screaming. When Bola rushed to Omotola’s room, she was shocked to see that her daughter was just screaming for no reason.

“Omotola, what is wrong with you? Are you alright?” Bola asked, but Omotola did not respond.

Instead, Omotola began to laugh and take off her clothes in a way that indicated that she was mad.

“Seun, what is wrong with your sister?” Bola asked in a panic.

“Mama, I don’t know. I was sleeping when I heard her screaming, and then she began to talk to herself,” Seun answered in a teary voice.

“Oh God, please come to my aid. Why are all these things happening to me?” Bola cried.

“Mama, we cannot leave her like this; if not, she will wake up the whole neighbourhood,” Seun said.

“Ah! So what do we do now? Even if we try to lock her inside the room, she will still make noise, and we cannot keep her like this until morning,” Bola said.

“We can take her to the herbalist. He will know what to do with her,” Seun said.

“Ah! Take her to Baba’s house by this time in the morning?” Bola asked.

“Yes, mama, there is nothing else we can do. I will go and call Uncle Kunle so he can help us carry her there,” Seun said before running out of their house. She didn’t even wait for Bola to respond.

“God, who did I offend? What did I do to deserve this? Is this how my children’s life will be ruined?” Bola cried.

While Bola was crying, Seun returned with one of their neighbours, Kunle, a man in his early 30s who lived two houses away.

“Ah! Mama Seun, what happened to her?” Kunle asked in shock when he saw Omotola jumping and talking to herself.

“I don’t know, o. I woke up to see her like this,” Bola answered in a teary voice. “”Please help me. We want to take her to the herbalist’s house,” she added.

Immediately Bola said that she needed Kunle’s help, Kunle found a way to tie Omotola’s hands and carried her on his back to the herbalist’s house.

A few minutes after Kunle, Omotola, and Seun left their house, they arrived at the herbalist’s house. Luckily for them, the man attended to them after Bola nearly broke down his door with her loud bangs.

Since the herbalist was specially skilled in handling cases like madness, especially in the early stage, he performed a ritual for Omotola that helped her stay calm.

“Mama Seun, your daughter is asleep now,” the herbalist said to Bola as soon as he came out of the room he housed sick people.

“Ah! Thank God. Please, can I go and see her now?” Bola asked.

“No, not at all. Let her sleep for now; you will see her by tomorrow morning,” the herbalist said.

“Okay, thank you very much, Baba. I don’t know what I would have done without you,” Bola said in a teary voice.

“Ehmm! Bola, I heard about your store. I’m sorry about everything you lost,” the herbalist said.

“Hmmm! Baba, thank you. God understands best,” Bola answered in a sad tone.

“Bola, I wanted to ask you this question: Are you sure you haven’t offended anyone?” the herbalist asked.

“No, Baba, God knows I have not offended anyone. I don’t know why all these horrible things are happening to me,” Bola cried.

“Do not cry here, Bola. If you say you have not offended anybody, why are all these things happening? It cannot be a coincidence that your youngest daughter was afflicted with a sleep spell, your store caught fire and burned to the ground, and now your oldest daughter has been afflicted with madness,” the herbalist said.

“Baba, I don’t understand, either. If I tell you what I have been through in the past few days, you will pity me. If I were the only one who had these problems, I wouldn’t be worried, but my daughters are affected, too,” Bola said.

“Do not worry, my daughter. If you are truly innocent like you have said, then the gods will vindicate you,” the herbalist said. “You can go home and rest, then come back by morning to see your daughter,” he added.

“No, Baba. Please let me stay here until dawn. If I go back to that house, I’m afraid something terrible might happen again,” Bola said.

“Okay, there’s no problem. You can stay here. In case you feel sleepy, you can sleep on that couch there,” the herbalist said, pointing to a couch.

“Thank you, Baba,” Bola said.

After the herbalist went inside his room, Bola began to cry. While she was speaking to him, she had been holding back her tears because she knew he wouldn’t let her cry.

“Who did I offend, please? Since I was born, I have never plotted evil for anybody or anyone’s child. Why would all these happen to me?” Bola soliloquized.

When the herbalist left Bola, he thought she would fall asleep immediately, but she didn’t. Bola stayed up for almost two hours crying before she finally fell asleep.

Shortly after Bola slept off on the herbalist’s couch, she had a strange dream. In that dream, it seemed like she walked into an empty house with many rooms. And in one of the rooms, she saw a woman aggressively hitting her oldest daughter, Omotola.

“Stop it! What are you doing? What did she do that you want to kill her?” Bola yelled at the woman, but the woman did not stop hitting Omotola. Coincidentally, while the woman was hitting Omotola, Omotola was screaming, and her scream sounded exactly like what Bola had heard before Omotola ran mad.

“I said, stop it,” Bola yelled as she forcefully took the cane from the woman’s hand. Bola did not even see the woman’s face because she wore a big red cloak that concealed her face.

“How dare you?” The woman screamed. Immediately the woman spoke, Bola recognized her voice, and it was no other than Iya Shakirat.

“Iya Shakirat?” Bola called her name in shock, “So, you are the one behind this wickedness?” Bola yelled at her.

“I told you you will not go unpunished for declining our offer. In fact, you have not seen anything yet. By the time I am done with you and the daughters you keep bragging about, you will run to us and beg us to accept you,” Iya Shakirat said.

“Over my dead body,” Bola yelled back,” did you hear me, Iya Shakirat? I said over my dead body. Before you kill me or my children, I will kill you,” Bola barked, and then she began to flog Iya Shakirat with the same cane she was using to hit Omotola.

“Please stop. You don’t know what you’re doing,” Iya Shakirat begged and screamed, but Bola did not stop flogging her. In fact, while Bola was flogging Iya Shakirat, the cane mysteriously doubled, and immediately it doubled; Iya Shakirat’s screams got louder.

Almost immediately, Bola woke up and sat on the couch.

“Could it be that Iya Shakirat is responsible for Omotola’s madness? Why would that woman be so wicked? I didn’t do anything to her. Is it by force to join their stupid coven? I have told her several times that I am not interested, so why is she trying to ruin my life? There’s no problem; I know what to do,” Bola soliloquized, and then she went back to sleep.

Later that morning, the herbalist came out of his room to talk to Bola.

“Mama Seun, how are you doing? I have good news for you. Your daughter will be waking up today,” the herbalist said.

“Ah! Thank you very much, Baba,” Bola said excitedly, ” God will not allow me to mourn any of my children,” she added.

“You will not,” the herbalist answered.

“That reminds me, Baba. I had a dream this morning, and I want to tell you what I saw,” Bola said before explaining her dream to the herbalist.

“Are you sure it was Iya Shakirat you saw?” The herbalist asked.

“Yes, Baba. I am very sure she was the one,” Bola answered.

“And you said you flogged her with the same cane she was using to flog your daughter?” the herbalist asked.

“Yes, Baba, I did. I was furious when I saw that she was the one,” Bola said.

“If that’s the case, then the affliction has been reversed. I do not know what is wrong with Iya Shakirat in this village. I have warned her several times to stop her wicked acts, but she will not listen,” the herbalist said.

“Baba, I told her many times that I do not want to become a witch. I thought that they would leave me alone,” Bola said.

“Don’t worry. Very soon, you will hear that the affliction has been reversed,” the herbalist said, ” let me go inside and check on your daughters. I know the gods will make you walk out of here with both of them today,” the herbalist added before leaving.

The truth was that when the herbalist told Bola that the madness had been reversed to Iya Shakirat, she didn’t totally believe him because she thought she only had a mere dream.

While Bola was waiting for the herbalist to return with positive feedback concerning her daughters, something very shocking happened. Suddenly, Bola heard the voices of some villagers from outside the herbalist’s house, and when she went outside to see what was happening, she saw something that sent shivers down her spine. 

Bola saw Iya Shakirat running naked around the village, while some villagers were trying to catch her. From the way Iya Shakirat acted, it was apparent that she had run mad. Also, there were visible cane marks on her arms and back, and as soon as Bola saw them, she knew what had happened.

In the crowd of people trying to catch Iya Shakirat, Bola saw the other three witches running helter-skelter, too. From their facial expressions, Bola could tell that the witches were afraid and didn’t understand what had happened to their friend.

“What’s happening?” Bola heard the herbalist’s voice from behind her. The herbalist heard the noise, too, and he came out to see what was happening outside.

“Baba, it’s Iya Shakirat. She has run mad, and some of the villagers are trying to catch her. I cannot believe this is really happening,” Bola said.

“You better believe it because that was what she wanted for your daughter, but thanks to the gods, it has been reversed,” the herbalist said.

“Ah! So, some dreams are not mere dreams,” Bola said in shock.

“Of course not, Bola. Dreams are not as ordinary as you think they are. There are mediums of showing you things the physical eyes cannot see,” the herbalist said.

“Baba, how are they? Is Simi awake? Is Omotola back to her senses?” Bola asked.

” Yes, Omotola is fine now. She will be with us shortly. I have ordered one of my boys to prepare a concoction for her. She will drink some of it here, and you will take the rest of it home. Every day, you must ensure that she drinks the concoction every morning and evening until she finishes the whole bottle,” the herbalist said, ” As for Simi, you have nothing to be worried about. Like I said earlier, you will be leaving with both of your daughters today,” he added.

“Thank you, Baba. Words cannot express how relieved I am. I can’t imagine any of my children living like this for the rest of their lives,” Bola said.

“Don’t thank me. Thank the gods for their mercies,” the herbalist said.

About two hours after Bola had that conversation with the herbalist, Omotola came out of the room and hugged her mother tightly.

“Mama, what happened? Why did we come here?” Omotola asked.

“Don’t worry, my darling daughter; all that is in the past now. What really matters is that you’re fine now,” Bola said.

“What of Simi? Is she awake?” Omotola asked.

“No, not yet. But she will soon be awake,” Bola said as she hugged her daughter again.

A few hours after Omotola regained Sanity, Simi woke up. When Simi woke up, Omotola and Bola were so happy. In fact, that evening, when Bola and her daughters returned home, she cooked a very delicious meal for them.

At that moment, Bola did not care if her provision store had been burned to the ground; all that mattered to her was that her daughters were hale and hearty.

Because she didn’t want either Omotola or Simi to live with the horrible memories of what had happened to them, she made them promise to never speak about it again, and they listened.

As for Iya Shakirat, one week after she ran mad, she passed away in a horrible way. The villager who found her dead body, found it on top of a tall tree, and no one could explain how she got up there. After Iya Shakirat ran mad and died, the other witches never bothered Bola and her family again.

Some months after Bola’s store caught fire, Bola opened a new provision store. This time, the store was bigger, and she continued to work hard on her farms until she was able to send her three daughters to the university, just as she had always wanted, and they all lived happily ever after.

The end.

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