A month to my death, few weeks before Christmas vacation, after we had just concluded our mock exams for the West African College Exams, we were found chatting in the courtyard, chit-chatting and having the thrills of Christmas; we were in fact in the spirit of the season. This was a month to my death!
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I was called the 'jonser' amongst my mates; a jonser being one who takes fun and frivolities very serious and sometimes at the very expense of class work. This jonser title, I did not like at first but with time, I had come to embrace it, and would sometimes introduce my self as a 'jonser', making statements like: "As a jonser that I am..."
Having discussions on how to spend the Christmas break, people reeled off litanies of parks and eateries to visit and the variety of dishes they had once eaten there. Their dishes had names so strange that the very possibility of my classmates even knowing them would probably be through literature. We all however listened, chuckled and nodded when necessary as we took turns describing the different castles we intended building during the break. I wasn't left out of this jamboree; of course I couldn't be, I was the jonser after all. So once it was my turn to paint my Christmas break, the attention was rapt and all expected me to re-create a painting of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
"I would rather we went swimming, all of us, this Christmas break. It would be fun", I said. They all were suprised so much that seconds of awkward silence passed before Ikenna shrugged and claimed he bought my idea. Obi also supported, followed by Chekwube and then the controversial Tobe. Soon all of us had agreed. Since it was my idea, I was asked to inform the girls about it - that never became a problem because a good number of them agreed.
During the break, we had discussions online about the rendezvous and chose an appropriate hotel and a suitable date. I must mention now that I had never swum in my life, I did not even know that pools had areas of different depths. But the planning was done and there was no going back. This was a week to my death!
On the fateful day I had arrived ealier than everyone except for one classmate, Okpe, a friend, my upper bunk mate. He was 'Igala' - a minority tribe in Nigeria - and would brag about his expertise in swimming.
Do I remember admitting I had never swum before to anyone? No, I didn't, I couldn't! I subscribed to the bragging spirit for it promised me praises and validation. Well it promised more than I ever would know of. With my bragging and the confidence associated with it, I could have passed for a world Olympics swimmer. This was the day I died!
We changed into our swimming trunks after we made payments and proceeded to take our pre-swimming shower. I was still bragging, we kept on bragging and I made sure my voice was more resounding as if to give my words more credence.
We were done bathing and we confidently walked towards one extreme of the pool. Okpe jumped in and for some seconds I did not see him. And there he was seconds after, half way towards the other extreme streamlined like the catfish in my aunt's fish pond and manoeuvering past some rotund ladies who had taking to chatting rather than using the pool for the purpose for which it was meant for.
Instinctively, I jumped in also. Then... I was lost! Yes, for the interim periods of my consciousness I knew I was lost.
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This time not just for some seconds like Okpe but for some minutes that seemed like months that seemed like eternity in somewhere very horrifying- somewhere that took the identity of hell. I was breathless. I needed to breath yet I could not dare breath. It was then that I remembered Fr. Augustine's homily about hell. How agonizing the pain and torture of hell was and then realised I had just entered the gates of hell by walking through the earthly gates of pool water or maybe by jumping into it if to be more exact.
I also remembered the childhood lessons I was taught about hell in Catechism. Brother Ugo, our Catechism teacher would speak of the devil as having the ownership of hell. The devil had two long and pointed horns, Ugo said; a wiggling tail that hung from a black beastly body and which served as a good whip for sinners. Once I remembered how Brother Ugo described the devil's countenance, as having the face of a chimp, the jaws of a dog and eyes reddened from ages of eternal burning, I knew I had seen the devil. He was right in front of me with arms widely stretched, wanting to grab me . I had tried to run but my legs would not touch the ground yet I knew I was sinking. "Oh Jesus, save me, one last chance" I kept trying to recite, amidst the horror and terror of my imminent end until there was nothing to think of again, until I was brought out unconscious from the pool and taken to the Intensive Care Unit of the University Of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku;
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Until I opened my eyes and told my supernatural experience about the reality of hell and God's revelation of it to me. Only till then did I have to think again.