A FLAME GOES OUT – A story by Precious Emmanuel The father peers at the sheet of paper in disbelief. On it is written, in his son’s chaotic scrawl, the words “I stare down into the abyss. Satan welcomes me with open arms. I walk into his wide embrace. Where has God been all this while?” As he reads the verse over and over again, the words bouncing around in his skull like a table tennis ball, the disbelief changes very swiftly into anger. He stomps to his room and selects a thick, black, sturdy leather belt. Small, decorative metal balls are embedded in the leather. Demola would see. That boy would see. Writing this kind of rubbish in his house. An SS2 boy. He would see today. Whatever was making him do nonsense like this would jump out today. “Demola!” No answer. This boy. He had always been stubborn,…
