REDEEMED!

Hi guys! I began a new series on my blog- thespiritpen.com! I would like to share it here with us!

Anticipate! Participate! Be blessed!

Synopsis:
Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day,
Day I will never forget,
After I'd wandered in darkness away,
Jesus my Savior, I met;
Oh, what a tender, compassionate friend,
He met the needs of my heart,
Shadows dispelling with joy I am telling,
He made all the darkness depart.

Heaven came and glory filled my soul...

What comes to your mind when you hear that song?

Can you relive that beautiful joy of being redeemed and blood washed?

Well then, I suppose you can relate with Roland Oluwatomiwa 'Skinny' Kalejaiye as he handles a microphone for the first time in his adult life before an auditorium of believers.

REDEEMED!

Meet Skinny- writer by day, alcoholic by night, and things he'd rather not be for his dad at odd times in between. With enough family problems to reclaim the land lost to the Atlantic, and a devouring fear of becoming a mirror image of the person he hates more than anything in the world; his life had taken a downward spiral, that is until he met a strange doctor, with the most unlikeliest character and belief in the city of Lagos...

The first in the Crack of Heaven trilogy, you simply, honestly, do not want to miss this massive, mind-blowing, Spirit-inspired, power-packed and soul-lifting series.


Cc: Lalasticlala, lolaspen, TemidayoRiches, Peculiar2020, ScientistGood01, Clemency24, TripleOne, Honymix, Genuisepoxy, glo03, Aymee, Adekemi01, Fumsin, TheEdenPlace20, Eunice112, Faithfulwrites2, Ruthina1, Beccawumi, Debbyboboye, trophygracie, Fayodamilola, Omeizadeborah, ShalomA, Oluwamarytalabi, nueltosin1, treasuretaiwo, Botapreneur, ASHSALT, Olajhidey22, PRE4, Zara20, Missmossy, Peculiarinspiro, Adunjesuara, Tinycoloredmira, Folanubi148, Bukoladauda, Daretobeone, DebbP, Multivite, Specialneedsedu, PeterSuccess1, QueenMoyinoluwa, Gracebupo, dunayodawodu, aved29, tunjilomo, Zara20, Gleanwithgrace, Samproteins, Kazeemyetunde, 25ace, Missmossy, Creditalerts

Following. You can also follow my story 'Entrapped'.

SpiritPen:
REDEEMED!

Hi guys! I began a new series on my blog- thespiritpen.com! I would like to share it here with us!

Anticipate! Participate! Be blessed!

Synopsis:
Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day,
Day I will never forget,
After I'd wandered in darkness away,
Jesus my Savior, I met;
Oh, what a tender, compassionate friend,
He met the needs of my heart,
Shadows dispelling with joy I am telling,
He made all the darkness depart.

Heaven came and glory filled my soul...

What comes to your mind when you hear that song?

Can you relive that beautiful joy of being redeemed and blood washed?

Well then, I suppose you can relate with Roland Oluwatomiwa 'Skinny' Kalejaiye as he handles a microphone for the first time in his adult life before an auditorium of believers.

REDEEMED!

Meet Skinny- writer by day, alcoholic by night, and things he'd rather not be for his dad at odd times in between. With enough family problems to reclaim the land lost to the Atlantic, and a devouring fear of becoming a mirror image of the person he hates more than anything in the world; his life had taken a downward spiral, that is until he met a strange doctor, with the most unlikeliest character and belief in the city of Lagos...

The first in the Crack of Heaven trilogy, you simply, honestly, do not want to miss this massive, mind-blowing, Spirit-inspired, power-packed and soul-lifting series.


Cc: Lalasticlala, lolaspen, TemidayoRiches, Peculiar2020, ScientistGood01, Clemency24, TripleOne, Honymix, Genuisepoxy, glo03, Aymee, Adekemi01, Fumsin, TheEdenPlace20, Eunice112, Faithfulwrites2, Ruthina1, Beccawumi, Debbyboboye, trophygracie, Fayodamilola, Omeizadeborah, ShalomA, Oluwamarytalabi, nueltosin1, treasuretaiwo, Botapreneur, ASHSALT, Olajhidey22, PRE4, Zara20, Missmossy, Peculiarinspiro, Adunjesuara, Tinycoloredmira, Folanubi148, Bukoladauda, Daretobeone, DebbP, Multivite, Specialneedsedu, PeterSuccess1, QueenMoyinoluwa, Gracebupo, dunayodawodu, aved29, tunjilomo, Zara20, Gleanwithgrace, Samproteins, Kazeemyetunde, 25ace, Missmossy, Creditalerts

REDEEEMED- Episode 1

'Oshey! Baddest!' The crowd in my living-room-turned-party-den hollered as I filled six small glasses halfway with the chilled content from a cocktail shaker..

'Go Skinny! Go Skinny! Go Skinny!' They chanted as I gulped down glass after glass with only a deep breath between each. The delicious flavour of the daring cocktail burst on my taste buds but that pleasure was soon followed with an intense burning sensation as my insides caught fire, but the chants kept me going asI had a reputation to keep up.

I had many nicknames, depending on the crowd or the show I was pulling off. Today, it's Skinny, because here with me are the closest guys I roll with in this hood. A bunch of them have known me since Uni and since I've always been skinny and lanky, they'd dubbed me that name.

Tomorrow, it might be CJ, short for Cullen Jones, one of the best black swimmers of all time. That's if I was pulling this off in a club where they all knew me as the guy who could swim in alcohol and not drown under the influence.

As I downed the last cup, I could barely pry open my tightly-shut eyes. I felt the room turn upside down and then downside up over and over, despite the fact that my eyes were shut and the whole of my insides protested. My head swam in a sea of oblivion and felt as though it would split into two.

Before I could say Jack Robinson, I got a regurgitative feeling and I knew I was about to lose the alcohol, every meal I've had that day alongside my intestines in a heave of vomit.

The fish had outdone himself this time! What was it that I'd mixed again?

I pushed my protesting body in the general direction of the bathroom, and hit way too many bodies, objects and walls on the short trip there.

I heard a couple of chuckles too. Maybe from those who were not too drunk and wasted to discover that the guy they'd just been hailing was on his way to regurgitative hell.

Crazy fellas!

I had barely gotten to the toilet than my body give in and I heaved out the first stream of vomit!

'What the-' A hard baritone bellowed! But my stomach heaved again and my heave drowned out the curse word he must have let out.

‘Eew! What on earth! A female voice followed with a very pissed groan.

My eyes were yet to cooperate, so I couldn't understand the reason the stupid bloke and his girl had to scream my splitting head off. Because of their outburst, my already-banging head felt like a bomb that was about to detonate. I wanted to die!

It was after all not my fault that they were playing "seven minutes in heaven" when my body reacted to the abominable cocktail that had visited it. Besides, last I checked, this was my flipping house!

Just as my body was about to give way and collapse on the slippery and foul smelling floor, my body heaved again and I wretched out another stream of vomit, feeling worse than before, if that was even possible.

Rough hands pushed me off as I heard the door shut noisily, but this time my head simply couldn't withstand the assault of the noise. Even with my eyes shut, I felt a thick fogginess take over and I gladly welcomed it.

I would take it any day over this feeling of near-death!

**********************

My eyes pried open, and I shut them immediately with a groan. Why did I have to pass out facing the window of all places?!

Between my hangover and the impossible brightness streaming through the window, my head felt like it would combust into smithereens! Hangover was a ruthless jerk!

I tried turning my body away from the direction of the brightness, but the crick in my neck made it impossible. I let out a croak that didn't sound anything like my voice at the sensation of the pain and wondered how on earth I was supposed to get up and out of the stinky bathroom if I couldn't move my neck or feel any of my limbs for that matter!

Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door and before I could answer, I heard the creak as it opened, grating on my sensitive nerves and threatening to blow up my hung-over head. I made a mental note to tell the maintenance guy to lubricate it soon. The sound of the creaking door was closely followed by a squeal and a shocked shout of, 'Holy Tobias!'

Mrs Ike, my cleaning lady! Just what time was it? She never came in till well into the afternoon. Did that mean it was afternoon already? It probably meant I had passed out in this uncomfortable position for almost half of a the day. Little wonder I couldn't feel my body! But by the way, was Tobias supposed to be a holy somebody?

Morning, Mrs Ike!' I croaked with my eyes still tightly shut as I tried to crack a smile to ease the woman's apparent shock. I didn't get a reply for some seconds and I wondered if she'd bolted on seeing me. I didn't hear any footsteps though and I could tell the door was still open.

Wait! How did I drink myself into this temporary blindness?! Look at me trying to figure out my surroundings like a man who had lost the use of his sight organs!

'Mrs Ike!' I called out more forcefully, my voice half-cleared now and considered firing the woman for putting me through the trouble as the muscles in my head and nerves protested at the effort.

Yet, no reply.

What the heck?! How long did she need to get out of her stupor? It wasn't like I wasn't decent or anything like that! Or was I?!

Heck! Was I stripped?! I tried to recollect the events of the night that led to me passing out on the bathroom floor and gave up on the effort, as it threatened to split my head in two.

Oh, dear! I hoped I wasn't indecent. I hoped I did not scar the poor woman. I just hoped she could at least imagine it was her son, who I knew was just a couple of years my junior.

As I wondered what next to do that wouldn't actually make me pass out again out of pain, two pairs of footsteps ran towards me and before I could figure out which was whose, a voice that belonged to my gateman exclaimed, 'Ah! <em>Oga</em>!<em> I no know say na here you dey since oo. I for don come inside tey tey.</em>'

Could the human being be any louder?! My head protested so hard that I was determined to fire the crazy guy the moment I regained full use of my faculties and muscles.

*********************

Dear reader,

Thanks for reading Episode 1 of the series- REDEEMED. You can click the link below to continue reading subsequent episodes:
http://thespiritpen.com/redeemed-a-series-episode-1/

Yours truly,
The Girl with the Winning Smile,
Spirit Pen!

SpiritPen:


REDEEEMED- Episode 1

'Oshey! Baddest!' The crowd in my living-room-turned-party-den hollered as I filled six small glasses halfway with the chilled content from a cocktail shaker..

'Go Skinny! Go Skinny! Go Skinny!' They chanted as I gulped down glass after glass with only a deep breath between each. The delicious flavour of the daring cocktail burst on my taste buds but that pleasure was soon followed with an intense burning sensation as my insides caught fire, but the chants kept me going asI had a reputation to keep up.

I had many nicknames, depending on the crowd or the show I was pulling off. Today, it's Skinny, because here with me are the closest guys I roll with in this hood. A bunch of them have known me since Uni and since I've always been skinny and lanky, they'd dubbed me that name.

Tomorrow, it might be CJ, short for Cullen Jones, one of the best black swimmers of all time. That's if I was pulling this off in a club where they all knew me as the guy who could swim in alcohol and not drown under the influence.

As I downed the last cup, I could barely pry open my tightly-shut eyes. I felt the room turn upside down and then downside up over and over, despite the fact that my eyes were shut and the whole of my insides protested. My head swam in a sea of oblivion and felt as though it would split into two.

Before I could say Jack Robinson, I got a regurgitative feeling and I knew I was about to lose the alcohol, every meal I've had that day alongside my intestines in a heave of vomit.

The fish had outdone himself this time! What was it that I'd mixed again?

I pushed my protesting body in the general direction of the bathroom, and hit way too many bodies, objects and walls on the short trip there.

I heard a couple of chuckles too. Maybe from those who were not too drunk and wasted to discover that the guy they'd just been hailing was on his way to regurgitative hell.

Crazy fellas!

I had barely gotten to the toilet than my body give in and I heaved out the first stream of vomit!

'What the-' A hard baritone bellowed! But my stomach heaved again and my heave drowned out the curse word he must have let out.

‘Eew! What on earth! A female voice followed with a very pissed groan.

My eyes were yet to cooperate, so I couldn't understand the reason the stupid bloke and his girl had to scream my splitting head off. Because of their outburst, my already-banging head felt like a bomb that was about to detonate. I wanted to die!

It was after all not my fault that they were playing "seven minutes in heaven" when my body reacted to the abominable cocktail that had visited it. Besides, last I checked, this was my flipping house!

Just as my body was about to give way and collapse on the slippery and foul smelling floor, my body heaved again and I wretched out another stream of vomit, feeling worse than before, if that was even possible.

Rough hands pushed me off as I heard the door shut noisily, but this time my head simply couldn't withstand the assault of the noise. Even with my eyes shut, I felt a thick fogginess take over and I gladly welcomed it.

I would take it any day over this feeling of near-death!

**********************

My eyes pried open, and I shut them immediately with a groan. Why did I have to pass out facing the window of all places?!

Between my hangover and the impossible brightness streaming through the window, my head felt like it would combust into smithereens! Hangover was a ruthless jerk!

I tried turning my body away from the direction of the brightness, but the crick in my neck made it impossible. I let out a croak that didn't sound anything like my voice at the sensation of the pain and wondered how on earth I was supposed to get up and out of the stinky bathroom if I couldn't move my neck or feel any of my limbs for that matter!

Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door and before I could answer, I heard the creak as it opened, grating on my sensitive nerves and threatening to blow up my hung-over head. I made a mental note to tell the maintenance guy to lubricate it soon. The sound of the creaking door was closely followed by a squeal and a shocked shout of, 'Holy Tobias!'

Mrs Ike, my cleaning lady! Just what time was it? She never came in till well into the afternoon. Did that mean it was afternoon already? It probably meant I had passed out in this uncomfortable position for almost half of a the day. Little wonder I couldn't feel my body! But by the way, was Tobias supposed to be a holy somebody?

Morning, Mrs Ike!' I croaked with my eyes still tightly shut as I tried to crack a smile to ease the woman's apparent shock. I didn't get a reply for some seconds and I wondered if she'd bolted on seeing me. I didn't hear any footsteps though and I could tell the door was still open.

Wait! How did I drink myself into this temporary blindness?! Look at me trying to figure out my surroundings like a man who had lost the use of his sight organs!

'Mrs Ike!' I called out more forcefully, my voice half-cleared now and considered firing the woman for putting me through the trouble as the muscles in my head and nerves protested at the effort.

Yet, no reply.

What the heck?! How long did she need to get out of her stupor? It wasn't like I wasn't decent or anything like that! Or was I?!

Heck! Was I stripped?! I tried to recollect the events of the night that led to me passing out on the bathroom floor and gave up on the effort, as it threatened to split my head in two.

Oh, dear! I hoped I wasn't indecent. I hoped I did not scar the poor woman. I just hoped she could at least imagine it was her son, who I knew was just a couple of years my junior.

As I wondered what next to do that wouldn't actually make me pass out again out of pain, two pairs of footsteps ran towards me and before I could figure out which was whose, a voice that belonged to my gateman exclaimed, 'Ah! <em>Oga</em>!<em> I no know say na here you dey since oo. I for don come inside tey tey.</em>'

Could the human being be any louder?! My head protested so hard that I was determined to fire the crazy guy the moment I regained full use of my faculties and muscles.

*********************

Dear reader,

Thanks for reading Episode 1 of the series- REDEEMED. You can click the link below to continue reading subsequent episodes:
http://thespiritpen.com/redeemed-a-series-episode-1/

Yours truly,
The Girl with the Winning Smile,
Spirit Pen!

CHAPTER 2
'Mehn! Skinny, last night was mad! But after you downed that cocktail, you just disappeared and no one could find you. Wetin happen?' BJ asked as he sighted me and came over to join me in the club the next night.

I threw one incredulous look at him and shook my head. Alcohol sure does crazy things to people's heads. How could I not remember any of what happened to me last night, like, just how possible was that?'

'BJ, a quick one, yea?'

'Hit me!' My G replied.

'What on earth did I mix last night?' It was his turn to look at me incredulously.

'You seriously don't remember?'

'No, I don't remember a thing!'

'Mad ooo!' The stupid fella laughed.

'Man, you were high!' He croaked as he laughed harder.

That was not possible. I couldn't possibly have been high. I was the guy who always, without fail, had his shit together!

'Impossible!' I scoffed.

'Man, swears, you were legit high! Okay, consider the facts. You did something unthinkable, and now you can't even remember a single detail.' He laughed again.

I was getting irritated. I hated hearing that I didn't have my act together. If there was one thing I prided myself in, it was having my act together, no matter the situation, every flipping time!

'Bro, just tell me what one earth I mixed!' I growled.

'Whoa, whoa! Man, relax!' BJ cooed as he held his hands out as though to relax me. I hated what that implied and the clown knew it!

'Okay, man, I know you’re the boss, but last night you broke your own record. If I knew you didn't know what you were doing, I would have stopped you, honestly!' My eyes furrowed at the seriousness in his expression. That was BJ for you; he was either kidding or serious.

'You broke your own rules man! You flipping downed six glasses of Aunt Roberta! Yesterday ehn, I was half-afraid for you and half-amazed! Kai! You're the man, Skinny!' He said as he shook his head.

'What on earth?!’ I bellowed.

'Easy man! I thought you were taking your game to another level, so I just let you be! Besides, you had a real mob in your house yesterday. I would have legit been mauled had I tried to stop you. Those fools wanted to see you do your thing. I don't think anyone cared what you were mixing. They just wanted to see you mix!' BJ shrugged.

'Guy, are you high?' I asked with a calm I was not feeling at all.

'Man, it wasn't my fault! Sometimes, no one knows what you're going to pull off. You made your own rules man; you are allowed to break them! No fault of mine!'

'So, you mean, I was about to kill myself and you simply thought I was taking my game to the next level. What did I tell you the other day I mixed it when we were alone together? I said the day I take more than three glasses of that mix, e mean say life don tire me and you're here blabbing about level! What stupid level is that?!'

'Guy! I thought you-' BJ was saying, but I cut him short when I felt my phone vibrate in my jeans back pocket.
I held out a finger to him, as I said, 'Hold that thought.'

Every single muscle in my body tightened and knotted as I saw the caller ID. I picked the call and answered with a docility I certainly wasn’t feeling,
‘Hello.'

'Are you awake now?' The voice on the other end sneered. I ground my teeth as I held back a snarly reply, whoever tattled on me was sure going to pay for my efforts. If only I could lay my hands on such person.

'You know, even the most foolish choose their follies wisely.' I allowed a tight smile settle on my lips as my breathing labored. He was trying to get a rise out of me. Futile. I wasn't going to lose my cool no matter what and I know he hated the fact that I kept proving over and over, that this particular apple did not fall so near to his tree.

I loved the fact that I kept taunting him with the fact that I was still a better man than he was and since this self-control was the one thing I had working for me, I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of ripping it off me. Never!

BJ's Adam apple bobbed several times as he watched my rigid reactions. I could tell he had guessed who was on the line.

'A poisonous alcohol mix, a raucous party that hosted the lowliest of earth's scum, and a stupid son, all under the respected name of Kalejaiye. But then what was I expecting of you anyway?' He continued. My breathing got shallower with every single syllable, but I held out! I thought my iPhone would snap considering the way I gripped it for dear life to my ear, fisting my other hand such that I could feel the bite of my fingernails into my palm.

After a short pause, he continued with an exaggerated sigh, even as several retorts I could have thrown back danced around my curse-bank.

'Anyway I expect to see you first thing tomorrow afternoon. 12 noon, the Palace.' With that, the phone beeped signaling the end of the call and I brought my hand down carefully, scared that a muscle would snap if I dropped it carelessly. My muscles protested at the motion and I knew I must have outdone myself with the control thing this time. I almost retorted at him. I was glad I held back!

As I dropped my hand, BJ released a sigh that made me chuckle mirthlessly. The poor guy looked blanched.

I swallowed as I put myself together and asked with a strained smile, 'Dude, how far you? I was the one on the phone, na you dey shake.'

BJ rolled his eyes as he replied, 'Man, I could cut through the tension with a knife, if I had one. He called me this morning, you know?'
My eyebrows shot up.

'Okay, better put, he had his secretary call me.' He corrected.

'Kaka,' I said, nodding. I knew there was no way Otunba could have made the call himself.

'What?' BJ asked with furrowed brows.

'Kaka, that's the name of the secretary.' I clarified.

'Oh! I see. Anyway, thankfully I was busy,' he continued, 'When I returned the call, he said they had gotten hold of you. How did you go AWOL like that?'

I was relaxed now and I leaned back on the chair as I replied, 'That one is boring story! Just save the secretary’s number and ignore it henceforth.'
BJ stared at me like I had sprouted a pair of horns.

'What?' I asked wondering at his reaction.

'I should ignore Otunba's calls?' He asked incredulously. I shrugged.

‘Today, you were busy, tomorrow, you could be at dinner with your girl, the day after, with your family. Anything! Just avoid getting into his web. He won't come at you for ignoring him because his secretary won't dare tell him you didn't pick. Kaka will just find another person to call. So don't think Otunba knows you or even knows that you're a friend of mine. If however, you turn yourself into Kaka's trusted informant, it's only a matter of time before your name starts popping up in their conversations, and once that happens and Otunba commits your name to memory, OYO is your case.'
BJ just stared at me unblinking, like I had morphed into a zombie.

I shook my head at his naivety as I slid my MasterCard towards him and said, standing up, 'The bills are on me. Pin's 8762. Send my card back to me tomorrow. That's for at least caring that I was high yesterday, even if I don't how that mere knowledge helped me, and for being busy this morning, because I doubt you would have been able to withstand Kaka’s interrogation.'

I left the guy with his jaw kissing the floor as I sauntered out of the club. I had to be at the Palace tomorrow. It meant something was fishy, but I learnt a long time ago how to do my homework so I didn’t walk into the lion’s den unarmed. Thus, I had a lot to do tonight. A smirk worked its way into my features and a spring found its way into my steps as I thought of how much fun I was going to have tomorrow!

Could hardly wait!

*********************

Dear reader,

Thanks for reading Episode 1 of the series- REDEEMED. You can click the link below to continue reading subsequent episodes:
thespiritpen.com

Yours truly,
The Girl with the Winning Smile,
Spirit Pen!