The prophesy that tore us apart

It was almost 10 pm when I heard my phone ring. I had retired to bed very early that night. A lot had happened in the week and I just needed some good night sleep. Who could it be? I wondered. After all, the only person who would call at such an hour was not on too good a terms with me. Surprisingly, it was him. In a husky voice I answered the phone and listened to him.

The previous day, he had dropped me off at home and we had planned how we wanted to spend the weekend. It was my birthday that weekend. Being the good cook that he was, he offered to make me lunch. We had been planning that weekend for almost two months; from wanting to travel out of the city to having a party with some few friends. Plans kept changing because in the course of two weeks, we were at each other’s throat and we didn’t even know why we were fighting.

I loved the idea of a lunch date at his place. It would be the perfect atmosphere for us to iron out issues and put our differences to rest and pursue our plans of a future together. I looked forward to the day.

The next morning, I was in high spirits and just couldn’t wait for the week to end. I had earlier placed a request to go on leave for a couple of days; not particularly because of my birthday. After all, until the previous evening, I wasn’t even sure how I wanted to spend the day. Then as I sat behind my desk hoping to get some work done, my phone beeped. It was a message from him. He had cancelled the planned lunch. He said he had to attend to an emergency that day. He said it was a matter of life and death.

Well, I was disappointed but I feigned being ok. What was the emergency? His prophet had called to warn him of an impending danger. He said he was going on a wrong track and messing up his life and that he needed to set himself apart to pray for a week. Who was I to question the prophet and his prophecy?

He killed my joy in less than 24 hours. I pretended to be ok with his idea of staying away to pray but I wondered if that couldn’t wait and why it had to disrupt our plans for the weekend. But I said nothing. I swallowed it like a bitter pill and went about the day trying hard not to think about it.

So when his call came through after 10pm, I was surprised because after that message, there was dead silence between us. He took his time to explain to me what his prophet had said. There were so many questions I wanted to ask him; one being why my birthday plans had to be disrupted because of a prophecy. But I kept quiet. I didn’t want to sound selfish. It’s good to pray. It’s good to seek the face of God but I doubt God was excited about this.

The next day, I tried to assimilate the previous night’s conversation. Hard as I tried, it just didn’t make sense to me. I tried to stay away from him that day. I just wanted to be alone. Just then he sent a message. I chose to ignore him but I knew he wouldn’t stop sending messages. He sent another message and this time I chose to engage him in a conversation. I wanted to tell him how disappointed I was in him but I had to be careful in the way I put it across in order not to sound selfish. I wanted to say it in so many ways but I kept my calm.

He wanted to know why I was ignoring him that day but I made him aware I wasn’t ignoring him. I told him I didn’t want to interrupt his prayer sessions. I didn’t understand the kind of mess he said he was putting himself into and I was hoping I wasn’t part of the mess. I told him I was praying for him too.

The weekend finally came. I hoped he would change his mind. I hoped it was all a joke just to get my reaction to the bizarre prophesy and a serious time for prayer. I kept looking at my watch as the seconds turned into minutes and the minutes turn into hours. He was yet to call me. He had sent a text in the morning to wish me a happy birthday. At least he was thoughtful enough to send a message. I watched anxiously as the day passed by slowly. I hoped beyond hope that he would walk in to surprise me.

But I waited in vain. He never showed up. He didn’t call either. I ended up spending the day in bed; tossing and turning and hoping sleep would carry me away. Try as I did, I couldn’t sleep either. That’s when I took that decision; a decision not to look back. I decided to walk away; to walk away before he did. I chose to walk and I haven't heard from him since.