“Are you okay Doctor?” the nurse asked, looking concerned.
“Sorry for the alarm,” I replied, “I actually know him. He’s good friends with a friend of mine.”
“Ah! What a pity!” the nurse exclaimed, shaking her head, “please take heart,” she said,
giving me a pat on the back.
I still couldn’t believe I was staring down at a lifeless Chuks covered in blood, the same
person I had spoken to at the wedding yesterday. He must’ve been involved in the accident
while on his way to the airport. Poor guy! I’m sure he never imagined he had only 24 hours
more to live.
I was really worried about Oby—hearing about this would totally break her heart. Chuks was
the one who brought sunshine and happiness back to her life after her fiancé ended their
7-year relationship to be with another man. They had known each other for about 6 months
but according to Oby, they had been the best 6 months of her life.
The elderly taxi driver eventually didn’t make it too, he died while my colleagues tried to
resuscitate him. It was a really sad day for me.
The hospital was already making arrangements to reach out to any of the recently called
contacts on the victims’ phones to inform them of their deaths but I offered to take up the
responsibility of doing that. I knew Oby would be one of the people listed in Chuks’ recent
calls and I wanted to break the news to her the right way and at the right time.
I was able to reach Chuks’ father on the phone. It wasn’t right to break bad news over the
phone so I asked him to come over to the hospital as a matter of urgency.
I would’ve loved to wait until the next day after work to go over to Oby’s to tell her but I knew
she would be worried and start panicking if she didn’t hear from Chuks before the day was
over. I couldn’t leave the hospital because I was on duty ’til the next morning, so I called her
and told her to stop by at the hospital to pick up my ATM card and help withdraw some cash
I needed urgently. I know I suck at lying, I already told you that earlier. I just couldn’t come up
with a better lie in such a short time. Luckily she obliged and said she’d be on her way once
she left the hotel.
By the time she reached the hospital, she had already tried calling Chuks a couple of times
and was starting to get worried.
“I don’t know what’s up with Chuks’ phone, it’s been switched off for a while now and he’s
supposed to have landed over 3 hours ago,” she said to me when we were finally in my
consulting room.
“That’s strange,” I said trying my best to sound surprised, “maybe it’s a network problem,” I added.
“But by now he should’ve at least tried to reach me,” she argued.
“You’re right,” I nodded. Almost immediately, my phone rang. It was Charly letting me know
she had just arrived at the hospital. I had told her about the unfortunate incident earlier over
the phone and asked her to help me break the news to Oby. She joined us in the room a few minutes later.
READ ALSO : Old Enough Yet Unmarried – Episode 20
Oby had tried calling Chuks 5 times more before Charly joined us and I was
seriously beginning to wonder if this was a task Charly and I alone could handle.
After exchanging pleasantries she sat beside Oby and watched her dial on her phone like
she was stuck in the middle of the third mainland bridge at 12 midnight looking for a lift
home. I don’t think she realised there were two other human beings in the room with her.
Who knows? Maybe we had suddenly become invisible.
“We need to talk,” Charly said, snatching her phone from her with a serious look on her face.
Trust her to cut the chase.
“About what?” Oby asked, “can’t it wait, I’m trying to reach Chuks!” she said, trying to snatch
her phone back from Charly.
“It’s about Chuks,” Charly replied.
“Chuks? What about him?” Oby asked, looking confused. “Did he call you?”
“Calm down,” Charly said, holding her hands. I got up and walked over to the other side of
the table and started rubbing her shoulders. I wanted to calm her down as much as possible
but it seemed to make her more anxious.
“What is it?” she said, pulling away from Charly and I.
“Chuks is gone,” Charly replied.
“Gone?” she asked looking at Charly like she was crazy. “Of course, I know he’s gone, that’s
why I’ve been trying to reach him,” she explained.
“No sweety,” Charly interrupted. “Chuks is gone forever, he’s not coming back,” she said
softly.
“What do you mean he’s not coming back?” Oby said getting up from her chair looking like
she was ready to punch Charly.
“Please calm down,” I said, guiding her to sit back down. “What Charly said is actually true,
you need to be strong,” I said, squeezing her shoulders.
“Are you both crazy?” she said getting up again, “have you lost your minds?”
“He died this morning on his way to the airport, he was involved in an accident,” I explained.
“You’re lying!” Oby said, shaking her head. “There was no accident announced on the news!”
Obviously, denial was beginning to set in, was she seriously expecting every accident that
happened in town to be on the news? Besides it’s not like she even followed the news, all
she did was watch movies and listen to music.
It took a while for Charly and I to convince her that Chuks was dead. It was like trying to
convince a little child that Santa Claus wasn’t real. It wasn’t until she was taken to the
mortuary to see his corpse that she finally accepted he was truly dead. She cried her eyes
out, she kept slapping the face of the poor corpse like that would resurrect it and we had to
pull her back and take her out.
It was such an emotional scene that I never want to remember, no sane person would have
witnessed it without shedding a tear. I tried my best to hold my tears back but they kept
coming down. I quickly wiped them off my face because we had to be strong for Oby and I
had to constantly remind myself that it wasn’t a crying competition.
Charly offered to stay over at Oby’s place till she was okay enough to stay on her own which,
judging from what I had witnessed, was going to be a while.
The rest of my day went by slowly as usual and it was a crying fest at the hospital that
day—different family members of the deceased men kept trooping into the hospital in small
groups, wailing and causing scenes.
I was so happy when it was closing time on Monday and I could finally leave the hospital. I
needed a breath of fresh air… I didn’t want to go straight home because there was no Yemi
to go home to and I hadn’t really gotten used to the fact that she was no longer my flatmate,
so I decided to go to the cinema to see a movie by myself. I know some people think that’s
just sad but I really don’t see the big deal. If I want to see a movie and there’s no one to go
with, I simply just go by myself. The ticket attendant looked at me funny when I requested
one movie ticket, “Are you watching it alone?” she asked.
“No, I’m watching with my invisible twin,” I felt like replying, like duh! Did she see me
standing with anyone else? Maybe the person who circulated the memo that watching
movies alone in the cinema was an abomination forgot to send my own copy because I
definitely didn’t get it.
I had a good laugh watching the movie, and stuffing myself with shawarma, popcorn and
soda. Oh yes! I ate all that alone, don’t you know what it means to be pregnant?
For the record, it’s normal to have an increased appetite during pregnancy because of the
hormonal changes going on in the body. However, that is not an excuse to eat like an
elephant as I was doing. Pregnant women should eat more of healthy foods and less of junk
food. I really hoped I could practise what I just preached…
I was already making my way out of the cinema when Jumai’s call came through. “What’s
up?” I said when I picked up the phone.
“You won’t believe the showdown that’s going down in Yemi’s place right now,” she began.
“What’s happening? Please gist me!” I begged.
“Hmm! There’s a woman in the house refusing to let Yemi in, she claims she gave the house
to Bayo and has come to claim her property back,” she explained.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I exclaimed. “Where’s Bayo?” I asked.
“He’s not back from work and his phones are currently switched off. I suspect the strange
woman must’ve called him when she got here and he’s switched it off on purpose,” she
added. “Please come, we need back up!” she pleaded.
“I’ll be right there,” I said, hanging up and rushing to the car park.
I honestly didn’t know what they expected me to do when I got there, I guess I had just been
upgraded from being Tess the nosy friend to Super Tess the defender of the helpless.
As I drove down to Yemi’s place, I could not help but think the nightmare had only just begun
for her…
Find out what happens next….