SACRED_OATHS

Author: Samuel Frederick

Episode 22: BLACK OUT.

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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 about my journey, not even Mimi. I had left at the break of dawn when she was still sleeping, risking my papers for that morning and putting my examinations for the entire semester at stake.

I felt weak and sluggish, coupled with the body pains, dizziness and the pang of headache inflicting me terribly, due to my lack of sleep during the night. Akosuaʼs words kept on ringing in my head like a bell.

“Sister wake up!” I heard a womanʼs voice beside me, as she tapped my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see the passengers alighting from the bus one after the other; then I realized I had fallen asleep in the process of thinking.

I thanked the lady who woke me as we both alighted from the bus together, realizing we had just arrived at Lagos at long last; and then I took a cab to the area that Akosua had described for me, and when we arrived there, I took another cab to the hospital my father was admitted.

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

“Sister!” Akosua screamed with joy when she laid eyes on me. I saw my aunt and two other relatives seated as well. Akosua rushed to me and embraced me tightly, burying her head in my chest as she sobbed. I also hugged her with my eyes closed, stroking her back gently.

Moments like this are meant to be treasured. Moments like this seemed like forever and ever more. Forever, indeed, was how I truly felt at that moment; to hug and hold her forever, but I had to let go. We had to let go.

I drew back and placed my palms on her cheeks, wiping off the tears that slid down 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 father's unconscious body lying on the sick bed. He was a pale shadow of his former self, like he'd lost so much weight so far.

"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 by the cardiac arrest yesterday." He replied, sounding sober.

I took another look at the shadow-like body of my father before me and bowed my head, troubled to see him in such pitiful condition.

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

“How?” My aunt intervened.

“What did the doctor say?” I clarified.

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

"Just tell me!" I persisted curiously.

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

“And…?” I urged her to go on. “And what, ma?”

“And,” she continued, “weʼve been asked to deposit a sum of five hundred thousand Naira for the full treatment. But so far, weʼve been able to raise only three hundred thousand Naira.” She stopped, took a deep breath, and continued: “Me and your uncles have decided to take a loan to balance it up.”

“No!” I objected. “No, no, no.”

“Pardon?” My aunt asked, confused.

“No, there’ll be no need for that.” I clarified, reaching for my handbag. I took two envelopes from it and handed them to my aunt. She looked at my uncles, at the envelopes and then back at me.

“What’s this?”

“Those envelopes contain the balance we need.” I said, flashing a smile to her. “It’s a total of N250,000.”

My aunt’s eyes widened, as my uncles shot me a surprised look.

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

“I’ll explain later.” I tried to give an excuse. “What matters now is dad’s health.”

“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 for Uncle Kofi who didn’t seem convinced at all.

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

“Kofi, leave the young lady alone!” My aunt intervened on my behalf. “Stop interrogating her.”

“We should see the doctor,” Akosua chipped in, “now that we have the balance.”

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

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Two hours.

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

During that time, I had gotten several phone calls from Mimi, Boma and Oluchi—all of which I never picked up. I knew they were obviously concerned about me, but I couldn’t reveal my location to them yet, because they had their own problems too, and I didn’t want to add to it, especially now that we had exams going on and everyone needed to focus.

Besides, if I’d informed them about my journey, Boma and his friends would’ve probably wanted to follow me, claiming that I needed protection from their rivals or something like that.

More calls kept coming in, forcing me to switch off my phone.

Later on, after so much tension on our necks, the doctor finally came out, accompanied by a nurse behind him.

“The operation was successful.”

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

Akosua screamed loudly, as we embraced each other, enveloped with joy. Then we both squeezed our relatives in a tight, long-lasting hug.

"Can we see him now, doctor?" My aunt demanded eventually.

"No, not now." The doctor answered. "He still needs some rest. Iʼll advise you all 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 her and called Uncle Ken to follow him to his office.

About five hours later, my father still hadn't regained consciousness. It was getting late already so my aunt urged me to return home—back to Ilorin—because of my exams. As much as I resisted the idea, she persuaded me until I gave in.

I had to bid them farewell with a promise to return during the weekend. And then, with a heavy heart, I left the hospital.

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Three hours.

It took me exactly three hours to get back to Ilorin. I had contemplated on switching my phone back on or not, so I could inform Mimi that I was alright and on my way back home, but I had discarded the thought eventually.

I crossed a certain pedestrian bridge and I 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 stopped in my tracks and turned around, thinking he was a roadside beggar or a stranded kid.

“Aunty please help me!” He exclaimed in tears, holding very tightly onto my jeans. I was moved to ask him, “What happened?”

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

“Where is she?” I demanded at once, filled with compassion for him. He pointed at a narrow path and said, “There!”

Without thinking twice, I told him to lead the way and we walked across the narrow path which led us to a desolate street. We were still walking when I asked, “Haven't we gotten there yet?”

To my surprise, the teenage kid started laughing. He turned around and faced me with a crooked smile.

The next thing I knew, I felt something very hard hit me on my head from behind. I fell down instantly and collapsed.