In this country, a boss should always be bald and have a big belly. My uncle isn’t bald, he hasn’t got a big belly, and you don’t realise, the first time you see him, that he is the actual boss of a big office in the centre of town.His youthful, modest appearance does well to hide his unusual affluence. He gives out fat envelopes to Pastor Ezekiel because he believes God is the source of his good fortune. But he knows nothing. Only spirit-companions like me understand everything.

In his past life, he was a poor fisherman on the coast of what is known now as Congo. He died saving some drowning children. His selfless act meant he gained three more cycles of a happy life, during which he will live rich and joyful, before eventually falling into the Eternal Abyss. Unable to prosper even with his rebirth, I was sent to be his divine guide.I killed my parents when I was an infant, causing them to sleep off while I set the house on fire and was made to move in with the only kin I had left, my father’s brother. It has been nine years now and my spiritual presence in his life has caused his fortune [goodhead] to rise beyond expectations.

But there is a problem. He is getting married today and the first time I met his wife-to-be, I sensed a strange aura in her. There was fire burning bright in her eyes. Her skin looked too translucent, like a thin mask. When she spoke, I heard a silent echo in her voice. I could not fathom it until today. She is an emere sent by the Darksphere – a coven of sadistic spirits of dead witches bent on darkening bright destinies. She is going to turn his goodhead around for worse and I have to stop him from getting married to her without outing myself. The punishment for a spirit-companion like me who fails to protect his subject is eternal damnation.

I have the perfect plan. Emere are known to be immune to fire, even when in human form. As we are all seated in the church while they say their vows. I bring out a lighter from my pocket. I am going to light her up and when everyone sees that she does not burn, they will know she is not human. As I throw the lighter at her, everything goes into slow motion. As if by telekinetic ability, she directs the lighter at him while it is midair and it lights him up immediately. His whole body burns to a crisp within seconds as if he had been drenched in petrol beforehand.

Everyone rushes towards him but he’s dead. She charges at me, screams “What have you done?” but I hear her spirit-voice saying “You have lost. I didn’t have to do anything. You killed him yourself.” An unearthly laughter roars out of her eyes.

I killed my subject.

WRITTEN BY: RED PRIEST