Desperate Times Season 1 – Part 3

I panicked and quickly got off the bed. Pastor Phil slowly walked towards me, his eyes were red and
scary, and he was sweating and fuming. Let me just say he was different from the man I had met
earlier.
I tried to convince myself that I was dreaming but that didn’t chase my fear away. I tried to cry for
help, but pastor quickly held my mouth so tightly that I could hardly breathe. He pushed me to the
edge of the bed and forced himself on me.
Yes I was raped by the man I thought was a faithful servant of God. The very same man who had
earlier on spent the entire supper time preaching about the Jesus Christ. He even had the guts to
stand next to me whispering in my ears that I shouldn’t worry about anything and that everything
would be fine.
Fine? How? The bastard had robbed me of my innocence against my will, everything was just and
nightmare to me, and he tell me everything would be fine?
Pastor Phil threatened to kill me if I dare said a word to Ron about the rape. I hated that man with all
my heart. I wished I had powers to kill him with my bare hands. I cried but my voice couldn’t come
out. I was hurt from deep within.
DESPERATE TIMES, yes, I was in that situation because I had left the village out of desperation to
change my life for the better. I had to remain silent about the rape out of desperation because I
feared for my life that so called pastor would kill me had I told anyone about it. I was also scared
that Ron might not believe me. Phil later on left me alone in my room. I stayed up the whole night,
sobbing and regretting ever meeting that evil man Phil.
In the morning, Ron came out of his room and found me cleaning the house. His smile brightened
my day. He greeted me with his usual lovely voice, I nearly broke into tears and my heart wanted to
tell him about the rape, but remembered the death threat so I held my peace.
Ron made breakfast while I was cleaning, he served and Phil also came to join us on the breakfast
table. I had to endure the pain of seeing him in front of me because I didn’t want Ron to suspect
anything, if it wasn’t for that, I would have left that table the moment Phil sat there.
After breakfast, Ron told me to get ready for church. He said Pastor Phil’s church conference was
starting that Thursday afternoon, so we had to go and attend as family. Well it’s not like I had a
choice, so I agreed to attend Phil’s church service.
Ron bought me new clothes to wear for church, I loved them, and they suited me perfectly well. In
the afternoon Ron drove us to church, the venue was a few streets away from his house, but the fact
that I was sitting in the same car as my rapist, made it feel like the longest journey of my life.
When I arrived at the venue, I realised that Ron was a mini-god to his church members. People
screamed with joy when they saw him. Ron and I were ushered to sit in the front comfortable chairs,
just because we came together with the “pastor” made us special too.
I looked at Phil with anger and hatred the entire service. People applauded him as he preached, but I
didn’t hear anything good that came out of his mouth. All I could see was a rapist, lair, pretender
and killer in him.
The moment he said it was offering time, the whole church went to throw money on the alter,
within a few minutes the whole alter was covered with money like useless papers at a dumping site.
I wondered where people got that kind of money considering the way economy was bad in
Chedombo. But to be honest, men like Phil had ways of making people let go of their last servings all
in the name of “giving to God”
After offering time Ron and two other men picked the money and packed it in some shiny silver
bags. After that Phil called for people with any kind of problem to take a big offering and line up for
prayer. Almost three quarters of the church congregants went to kneel before Phil to get prayed for
and give their special offering. Again after that, Ron and those same two men collected the money.
When the service was over, Ron told me to go and wait for them in the car. I set there alone for
about 30 minutes, or more, I watched almost everyone leaving the venue, then I saw Ron and Phil
coming holding those silver bags with offering money. They jumped into the car and we left.
On our way home, Ron parked by a certain food outlet and bought some take-away for supper.
When we got home, we ate together and again after supper, Pastor Phil led us in prayer, but this
time around every word in his prayer was just an echo in my ears.
After prayer I went to my room, I left Ron and Phil alone in the lounge, talking. A couple of minutes
later, nature called and I had no choice but to get out of my room to use the toilet. When I opened
the door, I saw yet another surprise, this one left me confused indeed. I saw Ron and Phil
celebrating, throwing that offering money in the air, popping champagne and sprinkling it all over
the place.
I thought Ron was a straight man, a genuine businessman like he told me, but now this? Does this
mean he is in the same doggy business with Phil? Does this mean Ron is also a killer and rapist like
Phil? Does this mean I am staying in the same house as criminals? I asked myself those and many
other questions that I can’t remember by now, but couldn’t get answers to any of them.
I didn’t like neither a bit of what I had just seen, nor did I want to be part of it, but I was desperate, I
didn’t have anywhere to go, or anyone that I knew in Munzviru for that matter. I almost peed myself
when Phil saw me looking at them through a partially opened door. He was angry when he realised
that I was watching them. He dropped a champagne glass that he was holding and walked towards
me with his face twice as scary as it was when he raped me.