Oaths - Season 1 - Episode 22

6 years ago

Oaths - Season 1 - Episode 22

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First thing the following morning, I took off from Ilorin to Lagos, making sure my whereabouts were concealed. I hadn’t told or informed anyone of my departure, not even Mimi. I had left at the break of dawn while she slept, putting at risk my papers for that morning and my exam for the entire semester at stake.

I felt weak and sluggish, together with the body pains, dizziness and the panging thud of headache inflicting me terribly, due to my lack of proper rest and sleep during the night.
Akosuaʼs words still rang in my head like a bell.
• • •

“Sister wake up!” I heard a voice say beside me, tapping me on my shoulder. I slowly opened my eyes to see the passengers mounting down off the bus one by one. I then realized I had fallen asleep during my thoughts.
I thanked the lady who woke me as we mounted off together, realizing we had just arrived at Lagos at long last. I then took a cab heading for the area described to me by Akosua, where I took another cab headed for L.U.T.H, the hospital my father was admitted into.

I alighted directly in front of the hospital and stopped by a nearby store to get some items before rushing inside.

“Sister!” Akosua screamed as she la!d eyes on me and the nurse who ushered me in. I saw my aunt and two other relatives seated also. She rushed towards me and embraced me with a tight grip, burying her head into my chest as she sobbed. I hugged her too with my eyes closed, stroking her back gently.

Moments like this were to be treasured. Moments like this seemed like forever. Forever! That was how I felt at that moment; to hug and hold her forever, but I had to let go. We had to let go.

I pulled out of the hug and placed my hands on her cheeks, wiping the drops of tears from her face.

“Everything would be okay. Itʼs fine,” I assured her with a smile, trying to get a hold of myself as well.

When the tension had calmed a bit, I moved closer to my aunt and wrapped her in a warm embrace. She hugged back tightly without saying anything. Then I edged closer to my uncles and hugged them both.

Turning around, my gaze fell on my dad’s lifeless body lying in the life machine. He looked pale and lifeless than usual.

“How is he?” I asked, referring to no one in particular.

“Calm down. He is only unconscious for now,” Uncle Ken answered.

“For how long?”

“Since he got struck with the cardiac arrest yesterday,” he replied, sounding sober.

I took another look at the unconscious body of my father lying in front of me and bowed my head, feeling a tear drop escape my eye.

“So what is the next step?” I summoned courage to ask, raising my head up.

“How?” my aunt intervened.

“What did the doctor say?” I repeated.

“Oh, my dear,” she sulked soberly, “Iʼm afraid it is not as easy as you think.”

“Just tell me!” I persisted.

“Well, your father needs to be operated on. He needs to undergo surgery and…”

“And…?” I urged her to go on.

“And,” she continued, “weʼve been asked to deposit a sum of five hundred thousand Naira for the full treatment. But so far, weʼve only been able to raise N300 thousand,” she stopped, and continued, “I and your uncles have decided to take a loan to balance it up.”
“No,” I interrupted.

“Pardon?” My aunt asked, confused.

“No, there’ll be no need for that,” I finalized, reaching for my handbag and took out two envelopes. I handed it over to her as she looked to and fro at my uncles, at the envelopes and then back to me.

“What’s this?”

“Those envelopes contain the balance,” I simply said, “It’s a total of N250,000.”

My auntʼs eyes bulged, as well as my uncles shot me a quick glare.

“How come?” Uncle Ken asked, obviously shocked.

“I’ll explain later,” I tried to give an excuse.

“No, explain it now!” Uncle Kofi, my other uncle, demanded.

I heaved a sigh and said, “Itʼs from my savings.”

With that, their minds calmed down a bit, except from Uncle Kofi who didn’t seem convinced.

“Are you sure?” He asked, staring at me suspiciously.

“Kofi, leave the girl!” my aunt intervened.

“We should see the doctor,” Akosua cut in, “now that we have the complete amount.”

“Yes, let’s see the doctor.” My aunt agreed.

• • • • •
Two hours.

It’s been two hours since we settled the bill and waited patiently at the reception passageway for the doctorʼs report.

During that time, I had gotten a series of phone calls from both Mimi, Boma and Oluchi alike, all of which I never picked up. I knew they were obviously concerned about my whereabout, but I couldn’t disclose my location to them yet. So, I switched off my phone.

Later on, after much tension on our necks, the doctor finally came out, accompanied by a nurse by his side.

“The operation was successful.”

That was all he said. That was all he had to say to make us jump in excitement.

Akosua screamed out loud, hugging tight to me as I held back tighter too, enveloped with joy. Then we sq££zed our aunt in a hug, followed by my uncles.

“Can we see him now, doctor?” my aunt demanded.

“No, not now,” the doctor answered, “he still needs to regain consciousness. I advice you give him time to recover,” he finalized. My aunt nodded in agreement.

“Is he going to be okay?” Akosua questioned, uncertainty in her tone.

“He’ll be fine.” The doctor assured and called Uncle Ken to follow him to his office.
They both left together, leaving us behind.

• • •

About five hours later, my father hadn’t still regained consciousness. It was getting late already and my aunt urged me to return home, back to Ilorin, due to my exams. As much as I tried to resist, she kept on urging me harder till I was left at a blank point with no choice.

I had to bid them farewell with a promise to come over during the weekend again.

• • •
Three hours.

It took me three hours journey to get back to Ilorin. I had contemplated whether to switch on my phone or not, so as to inform Mimi I was alright and on my way home, but I had disregarded the thought several times.

I crossed a certain pedestrian bridge and was about to take a route which led to my area when a kid stopped me.

“Aunty!” he called out as he ran after me. I halted and turned back, thinking it was probably one of those less privileged who needed aid.

“Aunty please help me!” he gasped in tears, holding tightly onto my jean. I was moved to ask him, “What happened?”

“It’s my sister! She fell into a gutter on our way back and she’s stuck, she can’t move!” He cried.

“Where is she?” I demanded instantly, filled with compassion. He pointed towards a narrow path and said, “There!”

Without thinking twice, I told him to lead the way and we walked across the narrow path that led to a deserted, lonely street. We were still walking when I asked, “Haven’t we gotten there?”

To my surprise, the teenage kid began laughing. He turned and faced me with a smile.
The next thing I knew, I felt something hard hit me on my head from behind. I blacked out, collapsed.