ZIM'S DIARY- BY SUNDAY ZIM

Koffi, once a respected market chairman and supervisor had a life that seemed as stout as the wooden stalls he once oversaw. 

However, beneath his jovial exterior,a cauldron of secrets and contradictions simmered.

His metamorphosis into a cultist,marked by a descent into the shadows, was as astounding as it was tragic.

Physically, Koffi's frame had begun to wither,his once robust build now gaunt and frail,his asthma accompanied by sleeping sickness had grown more aggressive, forcing him to lug an inhaler everywhere. The puffs of medication providing fleeting and brief relief,but the disease remained a menacing specter,always lurking, waiting to strike.

Despite his physical frailty, Koffi's appetites remained robust.

He had roving and lustful eyes,his infidelities were the stuff of whispers among the market women.

His wife,a pillar of strength and dignity, remained oblivious to his sins.

The facade of his marriage,like the crumbling market kiosks,a rot that would eventually consume him.

As his involvement with the cult deepened, his behaviour grew increasingly erratic,he would vanish for hours,only to return groggy like a man possessed by a demon,his inhaler,once a trusted minion now seemed a fertile bulwark against the darkness that devoured him.

He went for a security briefing and was exposed to extreme cold,his end became sudden and inevitable, his asthma chose a sweltering market day to unleash its full fury.

That frowning day, he came back by 12am at the crack of dawn, struggled to the gas cooker to heat his soul but the cold had clogged his tired and crumpled lungs,his inhaler useless against the creeping suffocation.

He staggered and fell into his car, losing his breath and gasping for air.

In that grave moment, he fiddled with his car key to go see his physician.

His lungs closing in. He faded away like a lazy shadow into oblivion and like the dancing vapour leaving the lid of a heated kettle.

Koffi, the lustful is gone!

A tale of my town.

©️ SUNDAY ZIM 

- Nigeria