Often times when we hear the word RANSOM, our minds flashback to the days when the wrath of the Niger Delta Militants fell on the cheating government, and ruthless politicians embraced the occasion to feed their aspirations, making kidnapping the order of the day in our dear country. Back then, the commonest of all words was RANSOM.

But you see, kidnapping is just one of the ways of holding people to ransom. There are a couple more ways, ranging from blackmail to setup, to dirty deal gone wrong, and all whatnot. Even little Junior held his dad to ransom when he heard him flirting with a neighbor and threatened to tell mom except he stopped objecting to his habit of consuming excessive chocolates. From that time, mom was the only one complaining of Junior’s abuse of chocolate. Lol.

The case was no different with the SAINT before his white hands turned BLOOD RED. Unlike Junior’s dad, he couldn’t imagine being put on a leash like a common PET DOG. But in an effort to safeguard his sainthood after a couple of misconducts, he deprived a man’s body of his spirit and deprived the man’s spirit of a soothing eternal future.

It started out like an innocent indulgence in guilty pleasures which saw the saint trading secrets with THE OTHER SOUL. Their union commemorated the scripture that speaks of “two people walking together agreeably.” It was nice until another scripture came into play; the scripture that says “a kingdom divided against itself will fall.”

They say people agree to disagree, and breakup to makeup. But with the saint, it’s a one-way traffic; no disagreements, no breakups. I wish the other soul consulted oracles for a possible sound counsel before breaking out from the shadows into the open with the saint’s secrets ON FULL DISPLAY. That was an inexcusable blunder; or a mistake, as you may like to put it.

The shadows became the saint’s abode, for he dared not step into the open, as the world awaited his entrance with triggers and arrows in readiness to shoot him down the moment he surfaced. They had judged and passed him a death sentence after learning of his secrets from the other soul, the worst of them being that he made an attempt at summoning demons from hell to the detriment of HIS OWN SOUL, and that of THE OTHER SOUL whose head had by now been graced with the hero’s crown.

Vile creatures of the dark became the saint’s unwelcome companions. They tormented him daily and wished they could snap life out of him and prey on his soul for all eternity. Whenever the saint recalled the peace and glory of the good old days and took his thought to his present state, he cursed the day he met THE OTHER SOUL.

It soon began to seem to him like the other soul’s SHAME and ASHES were traded for his GLORY and BEAUTY, and he vowed to never let the history of ESAU and JACOB repeat itself. It’s already bad enough that he failed to equally prevent the repetition of ADAM and EVE’s history. But he was bent on making sure that the other soul does not GLORY in his SHAME; at least not any further.

So he sent word out to the other soul, asking for a secret meeting at the shores of the Atlantic Ocean where he planned to drown them both and end it all. To his greatest amazement, he found that the other soul had not really bared his secrets. The other soul said this to him;

“I only told the world you asked if I’d be interested in joining you to explore the shadows. I told said I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to. But before I could either give my consent or decline, you held me by the hand and led me into the shadows. I told the world the truth…”

“Half-truth, you mean to say,” the saint cut in aggressively. Did you tell them that you inversely beckoned on me to take you down that path? Did you make known to them your yearning for the experience of exploring the shadows alongside a saint?”

“I was only hoping on your light to direct my path,” the other soul logically declared.

“In the shadows?” the saint reasonably questioned.

“You could have declined, you know…” the other soul attacked.

“And why did you beckon on me to take you down that path if you hoped on me to decline?” the saint reasonably questioned again.

“Like I said, I was only hoping for your light to direct my path,” the other soul held fast to a favorable position on the offensive. “Enough of this argument already. The past remains unchangeable. But we can do something about the present and the future.”

“And how do you propose to restore my sainthood which you selfishly trampled upon? I’m sure you also didn’t mention to the world that we had not started exploring the shadows when you lost guts and cowardly retreated into the open, leaving me to bear the consequences alone. What happened to owning up to your actions?”

“Enough of this verbal attack!” the other soul retorted. I’m not the obvious culprit here. So why don’t we see how to redeem your sainthood and let bygones be bygones!”

The saint was irritated by that audacious attitude. But he kept his cool and asked; “what do you propose?”

“I’ll go to the world again and declare the truth,” the other soul replied. “I’ll tell them I was lured into the shadows by an unknown force, only for me to meet you there and freak out. But you calmed me down and innocently asked if I’d be interested in exploring the shadows with you. But I wrongly concluded you had something to do with the force and meant me no good, thus retreating into the open with accusing fingers pointed at you. I’ll tell them I’ve realized that the same force lured you there and got you so caught up in it’s web that you unconsciously entertained the idea of coming up with that unlikely proposition.”

“That’s not the truth!” the saint challenged.

“The truth will do us no good! So I’d advice we stick to the plan and get this over with!” the other soul retaliated.

There was not much the saint could do. He was the disadvantaged one. So he obliged, and the plan was set in motion. It worked out for them. His sainthood was restored, but the other soul was viewed as more of a hero than the saint, even though the reverse was really the case.

How we view ourselves is of little consequence. But how others perceive us is important. The saint’s name was rallying cry that should never have been temporarily dented by the other soul, and now, it was PAYBACK TIME. Even though his sainthood had been restored, the other soul often communicated to him via body language that his restored and acclaimed sainthood can be demoralized in a moment if he as much as tried to reign supreme overall like in past times.

The saint was somewhat held to ransom by the other soul, and that was not something he could bear for one more moment, not to mention his whole life. So he set up a meeting again with the other soul at the same shore they met previously. The other soul obliged, thinking it was some sort of “operation appease the gods.”

Well, to cut the long story short, the other soul was tied to objects that owed their loyalty to the force of gravity and cast into the Atlantic Ocean, thus serving as a meal for sea creatures. The other soul’s loss became a mystery to all, and it was assumed that certain forces may be responsible for the loss, having lured and preyed on the soul.

Consequently, the saint was off the other soul’s leash and was nothing short of what he had always been; A SAINT OF SAINTS. However, for the very first time, his sainthood became really questionable to nature, for he had become BLOODSTAINED. But nobody knew.

It’s unwise to hold a man to ransom. But if you must, take some time to consider every possible outcome. Even a saint’s heart can be DECEITFUL and DESPERATELY WICKED like the bible says. You don’t want to get caught up in the web of the heart’s DECEIT and WICKEDNESS. I rest my case!!!