Someone was tapping her incessantly, disrupting the most peaceful sleep she had had in years. She tossed and turned, shaking her legs in protest. She pulled the duvet over her head and let out a satisfied sigh when the tapping stopped.

“Fikayomi!”

She let out a groan, rubbing her sleepy eyes under the duvet.

“Oluwafirefunmi, did our village people send you to me? I want to sleep now.”

Her words came out muffled. Her duvet was yanked off her body and Fire jumped on the bed in glee.

What was wrong with this one?

She voiced out her thoughts and her sister hit her on the arm lightly, a huge grin gracing her face. She sat up grumbling incoherently.

“What?” she asked annoyed. The happy grin on Fire’s face widened and she hoped her cheeks did not burst from too much stretching.

“Fikayo,” she slapped her thighs covered by the duvet and shifted on the bed. “You wouldn’t believe it, heck I can’t even believe it even though I heard you loud and clear!” She slapped her hands together in wonder. “Mama, you were speaking in tongues in your sleep!” she shouted.

Fikayo rubbed her eyes as a yawn escaped her mouth.

“Ehn?” she uttered in disbelief. She had only accepted Christ yesterday. How on earth could she have been speaking in tongues? She thought that was a special gift reserved for highly spiritual people and pastors.

“You’re lying. I only just received Christ yesterday so-“

Fire cut her off with a deafening squeal. She covered both ears with her hands, pouting at Fire.

“You what? Fikayo, you mean you’re blood washed, saved, redeemed, restored, forgiven-“

Now, it was her turn to cut her off.

“Biko, e don do.”

Fire ignored her, jumping on her and almost squeezing the life out of her.

“I love you, Fiks. You can’t imagine my joy. I’ve been praying for this for the longest time.” She squealed again.

“Fire, I still need to breathe,” she whined. She released her from her tight grip and pressed her lips to her left cheek repeatedly, making loud kissing sounds.

“You will breathe my darling! Ah! Tee must hear this. Oh my God!”

“Tee? Who’s Tee?” she furrowed her brows in thought.

“Tolu now. We’ve been praying for you so I have to tell him this good news. Oh my God, oh my God!”

“So you mean I was speaking in tongues in my sleep?” she questioned, still in disbelief.

“Yes!” Fire clapped, rising from the bed.

“You were speaking in tongues quietly while sleeping my dear.  Wow! You’re already having wonderful encounters. I’m so excited, happy, flabbergasted, short of words, thankful, grateful-“

“Fire o. Otito o,” she giggled. She was happy but it seemed Fire was happier.

“You have to tell me how it happened, mama. Every freaking thing!” she gushed, returning to her former position. After the narration, they held hands and prayed together.

***
“I’m going for a prayer meeting not a party, Fire!” she complained, as her sister dabbed the eye shadow brush on a purple eye shadow. She raised the brush to her face but Fikayo quickly raised her hand to block her eye.

“Fikayo, wo, I’m not cut out for your wahala. Remove your hand now.”

She didn’t heed, laughing. “I don’t want eye shadow. I didn’t even want makeup sef.” She hissed and Fire slapped her hand, then held onto it, pulling it down.

“Aw that was painful. Sha don’t use purple, maybe blush or baby pink.”
Fire nodded and did as told. She had already drawn her brows. All that was left was the foundation routine. They finished up in less than twenty minutes and she got dressed in a light blue off shoulder jump suit. She wore her loop earrings as usual, her neck void of jewellery.

“I’m kinda nervous,” she said when fully dressed.

“Don’t be. There’s no need to or do you want me to accompany you?”

She shook her head vehemently. “Ehn ehn, no. I’m good on my own. I just don’t know...what if I-“

“Take a deep breath, okay?”

She nodded, a solemn look plastered on her face. “Do you think mummy will change her mind about letting me go?”

Her and her mother had barely spoken to each other in the past one week since the big incident. She had made it a point of duty to greet her every morning and help with chores. No word had been spoken about what had happened and she wasn’t sure how to feel about it. She wanted her mother to hear her story, to believe her. But she resigned that it might never happen.

“Nah,” Fire shrugged. “I doubt jor. Nothing do you.”

Her mother was seated on the three-seater sofa when they walked into the sitting room, a frown plastered on her face as usual.

“Mummy, I’m about to leave, ma,” she informed the woman whose eyes were trained on the TV.

She nodded. “Alright, Fikayo. Come back before 2 pm.” The program was scheduled for ten am and it was few minutes to the time. She expected the program to be over before two.

“Okay, ma.”

Fire walked her to the gate, waited with her till she found an okada before going back inside.


***
With endless love
All my fear is swept away
In everything, I will trust in you

A teenage girl dressed in blue skinny jeans and a black T-shirt with “Lit for Christ” printed on it sang at the front of the small audience. Her eyes were closed and her left hand lifted up while the right one held the microphone steady. The song was not familiar to her but was being projected on the projector screen in the front. Her seat was right in the middle. By the time the song was repeated the third time, she knew the tune already and sang along, reading the lyrics from the screen. After the worship session, a guy wearing the same t-shirt as the girl from earlier came up to lead prayers. He spoke in tongues and so did the people sitting around her. She felt clueless and didn’t even know what or how to pray. She shut her eyes and listened to the flow of incoherent words.

Some minutes later, a guy dressed in the same t-shirt with a denim jacket over it and jean trousers came up to preach. He first read from John 6:40. She didn’t own a bible but luckily, the scripture was projected.

“For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

He taught in a very understandable way, throwing in jokes and relatable stories here and there. Never had she thought she would enjoy a sermon in her life. She was able to comprehend his message and even took some notes on her phone. He instructed them to stand after his session and everyone burst into unknown tongues as he urged them to do. She opened her mouth to speak but felt hesitant, fear holding her back. What made her feel she could also speak in tongues? She had only become born again a week ago. What if she made fun of herself if she tried to? Fire might even have been lying when she said she had heard her speak in tongues in her sleep. She wasn’t deserving of such gift.

***
Ike walked to the front as Abdul rounded off the prayers. He collected the microphone from him and turned to face the small audience.

“Hello everyone! It’s so good to see your beautiful faces today. We are glad you made out time to fellowship with us and hear God’s word. It’s always a good time when we come together to fellowship and dine with the father,” he spoke, his voice oozing confidence. He announced the dates for the next month’s street evangelism, imploring them to pray and study in preparation for the outreach. As he spoke, his eyes roamed the room until they landed on Fikayo’s face. He was shocked to see her but quickly masked it with a neutral expression, drawing his gaze away from her beautiful face. He continued speaking but his eyes kept finding their way back to her. One of those times, she raised her head and met his gaze, flashing him a small smile. His heart picked up pace as he took in the beautiful view before him. He stuttered as he tried to form his words and that brought him back to his senses. He hoped nobody had noticed his distraction.

The meeting finally ended and he kept watching Fikayo. Some people walked up to talk to her and he saw her smile and laugh, a sight he loved seeing. She was so beautiful when she smiled; it brought out her eyes. Many people came around to greet him and discuss one or two things but his eyes kept darting to Fikayo. How did she know about their meetings? Maybe his sisters had told her or something. As the thought lingered on his mind, he saw Kosi and Fikayo laughing. Kosi was showing her something on her phone and Fikayo’s head lowered, looking intently at the screen.

“Baba, you’ve been looking at that girl since,” Abdul, his best friend commented, humour lacing his tone. He raised his index and middle fingers to his eyes and turned them to him. “I gat my eyes on you, man of God.”

He buried his hands in his pockets, ignoring Abdul. Should he go say hi to her? It was best he did so now before she left. He started the walk towards where she sat with Kosi, Abdul laughing at him.

“Guy, stop now.”

“Alright MOG,” he raised both hands in mock salute, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

“Fikayo,” he drawled when he got to them. They both raised their heads and she threw a small smile at him. He wasn’t sure he had seen her smile this much before. “It’s so nice to see you here. What a pleasant surprise.”

Now looking at her face up close, his heart beat sped up again. He should have said hi first, he scolded himself. In fact, he was supposed to ask her how she was doing before saying anything else. God, why was he so nervous?

“Yeah, I found you guys on IG and your page literally changed my life, but that’s a story for another day. Thank you so much for the work that you do. I wish I could tell you how much your ministry has impacted my life in just one week. I’ve practically read all the salvation stories on there,” she said excitedly.

“I have time on my hands to hear the whole story, if you don’t mind telling.”

He really hoped she would agree. He had never really had a proper conversation with her. He told himself he was just interested because it had to do with the ministry but deep down, he knew it wasn’t entirely so.

“Ehn it depends on how long this story time will take o. I want to go home,” Kosi whined, now standing beside him.

He frowned at her. He loved his sister but she could be annoying at times. He wished she wasn’t even here with him. He wanted to have this conversation alone with Fikayo.

The object of his thoughts chuckled and he turned his gaze to her.

“Y’all are cute, for real. Now, I want a little sister.”

“Huh? I can dash you this geh,” he said in feign seriousness.

She gave a short laugh and his heart swelled with pride that she found him funny.

“I still want to hear this story though. Don’t mind Koko. We are not rushing home.”

Kosi pouted at him, looping her arm through his. “Ehn? I need to catch up on my favourite TV shows.” He shook his head in amusement.

“I also have to be on my way home, anyway, so some other time,” came Fikayo’s voice. Her voice was firm and she always sounded confident. It wasn’t tiny or high pitched neither was it deep. It was the perfect blend of softness and firmness, of sunshine and rain storm.

“Alright. I hope you’ll be at our next meeting?”

She nodded. “Sure thing.”

***
Fire’s graduation held on the first Sunday in June. Her mum, Fire and she went together while their father arrived at her school after the convocation ceremony had been over. Fikayo was not sure she liked the school from the little she saw of it but knew she had no choice. It did not even matter to her if she liked Babcock or not, she was just grateful that she wouldn’t be home by September. Her father had refused to pay for a tent where they would sit, eat and celebrate which was a common thing in Nigerian universities during graduation ceremonies. So, after picture taking, Fire ran off to Tolu’s tent and came back with two plastic bag filled with plates of food, drinks and a big slice of cake.

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