“What happened son?” His father cut in giving him a pointed look.
“Leave him alone Steven. Let the boy rest.”
A hard look entered his father’s eyes for about a minute before he leaned back and stared at the ceiling. There was silence in the room for another ten before anyone spoke.
“Where are my friends? Wole and Tunrayo?” He added when he saw the puzzled looks on his parent’s faces.
“Oh Wole and Tunrayo? They have gone home. They followed us to the hospital, but the principal asked them to go home when she arrived.”
“The principal was here?” Chike gasped shocked.
“Yes she was__ I gave her a piece of my mind.” His father replied looking thunderous.
“Why should such a dangerous man be allowed to wander around a secondary school? It’s unthinkable. I am going to ensure she is relieved of her position in that school.”
Chike’s eyes grew wide. He had never heard his father sound so bitter and angry. The man hardly ever spoke, except perhaps to look at you with those stern disapproving eyes.
The door opened as he thought this and nurse Susan walked in carrying a cellophane bag of pills in one hand and a bill in the other. Chike’s father took the bill from her and sauntered out to pay it leaving his wife to look over the drugs they gave chike. They were mostly painkillers and antibiotics.
When Susan had carefully explained how he was supposed to take them, she quickly exited the room leaving mother and son alone.
“Can we go now?” Chike asked giving her an impatient look when she made no attempt to gather their things together.
“We have to wait for your father. As soon as he’s done settling the bill we’ll be off.”
Chike’s face became sullen and his mouth curved into a pout. He turned his back to his mother and faced the wall. Her eyes hardened as she looked at him. On a normal day, she would never have tolerated such behavior from him, but since he had been through such a harrowing experience, she decided to let it slide.
The door opened after five minutes of uncomfortable silence. His father’s bulky frame loomed in the doorway and he nodded at his wife. She sighed turning to face Chike who still had his back to her.
“Its time to go Chike.”
He turned, his sullen face breaking out into a wide smile as he leaped to his feet putting on the red short sleeve shirt his mum brought for him. His torn uniform stuffed into a small duffle bag beside the bed. A bag his mother picked up from the floor.
They exited the hospital complex ten minutes climbing into a black Nissan Murano jeep. His father’s prized possession. No one noticed the blackish green pus seeping from Chike’s shoulder.
Chapter Twelve
4.15pm (Same day)
Wole walked down the long dusty road heading towards home. His eyes were sad and filled with tears. His uniform was dirty and torn in several places with streaks of blood staining the front of his shirt.
He swayed slightly as he walked, moving as if his feet could barely support his body. His eyes were glazed and unfocused with his head held in a straight position as if frozen.
Baba Adora sat in his usual spot with a wooden table in front of him, covered with more than two dozen shoes in various stages of disrepair. He looked up when he heard Wole’s approaching footsteps. The warm smile that sneaked on his face was instantly replaced by a hard frown when he saw Wole’s disheveled appearance.
Dread filled his insides. Whatever had happened to Wole sure was not good. Wole slowly sauntered past seeming oblivious to Baba Adora’s presence.
“What happened to you my child?”
His low but firm voice snapped Wole out of the daze that gripped him. The tears that were brimming in his eyes slowly began to slide down his cheeks. “Chike got hurt.” were his only words before he turned and walked off leaving Baba Adora staring after him.
Collins and Judith got off a bike in front of a decrepit looking single story apartment building. Judith took two steps and paused waiting as Collins paid the bike man. She looked pretty in a deep blue long sleeved blouse tucked into a cute black skirt, which reached a point above her knees.
Collins joined her a few moments later placing an arm on the small of her back. She sighed looking teary as he gently steered her towards the front door. The door opened before they reached it and a mole like man hovered in the entrance.
He wore a long white lab coat reaching his ankles, buttoned all the way down. He had big boots on his feet shaped a bit like wellingtons. His head was large, his nose shaped like a beak and his lips so thin they appeared to be lines.
A bright light illuminated the room behind him. Standing with the light serving as a backdrop made him look like a cross between an angel and a shadowy dwarf like ghost.
“Is she the one?” He asked pointing a bony finger at Judith.
Collins nodded slowly his eyes wary and nervous. He had to admit, the man gave him the creeps. He could only imagine what Judith would be feeling.
“Come on in then and let’s be done with it. Tit.there is so I have so much I still have to do.”
He shuffled back into the building as soon as he finished speaking. The way he walked was even more disturbing than the rest of him. He had a limping shuffle that made him look like a stick trying to walk.
Swallowing nervously, Collins and Judith followed him pausing just outside the door.
“Come in and lets be done with it.” Desmond barked from inside the house. “I still have tons of things to do.”
The sharp scent of disinfectant hit them as they walked into the spartanly furnished room. A television set sat in the center of the room on a grey stand. Its screen and plastic surface so badly scratched that Collins immediately surmised that it was not working.
As if to puncture holes in that line of thought, it came on with a screech startling them. They did not relax until they turned and saw Desmond holding the remote control.
He stood in front of another door. Judith gave the room a somber sweep before following Collins who strode into the next room under the man’s summons. Desmond brought him to a halt by poking a bony finger into his chest.
“You will stay here__” He barked in a voice that brooked no argument. “You__” He continued turning to face Judith. “Will come with me.”
Swallowing Judith walked into the room and Desmond shut the door after them with a loud crash. Relief burst from Collin’s lips as he headed to the sofa to sit down. Its surface was crème leather and very weather beaten. He was on the verge of sinking on it when he spotted several brown stains on the seat cushion. Wrinkling his nose in disgust, he edged to the left side of the sofa and settled down to wait.
Judith stretched out on the cold surface of an aluminum table placed in the center of the inner room. The quack, as she had taken to calling him in her mind,mind loomed a few inches over her face. He did not have much in terms of height, as his upper torso barely made it over the edge of the table.
“Are you comfortable?” He asked. He sounded somewhat sarcastic. As if he knew she was not comfortable, did not really care either way but was just asking out of a sense of false charity.
She nodded, seeing no other recourse. Nodding with satisfaction, he reached for her arm. She shrank away when his cold fingers touched her skin.
His eyes became as hard as pebbles. For a frightening second, Judith was afraid he was going to hit her, or stab her, only just noticing the large syringe held in his hand.
“Hold out your arm__” He spat at her. The fury she saw lurking in his eyes made her want to leap off the table and run away as fast as her legs could carry her. It was the thought of her parent’s disapproving stares that made her lie back and hold out her arm.
“What do you want to give me?” She asked trying to keep the tremor out of her voice and not quite succeeding.
“Something to help you relax.” He growled as he grabbed her arm and quickly stuck the needle into her skin.
He barely removed the needle
before the feeling of weightlessness began. She felt so calm, languid, her body light as a feather. So light, in fact that it seemed as if she could float right off the table.
She hardly felt his hands opening her legs wide and inserting what looked like a mega sized syringe into her sex. What she did feel was the pain that started seven seconds later.
Chike’s eyes opened in a flash. The dream and peace had all but vanished. His skin was scorching hot and his breath was coming in long labored gasps. He tried to move but found that he could not. All his strength seemed to have deserted him. His eyes grew wide and darted around the room, frantically searching for help.
He recalled seeing his mother seated beside his bed before he went to sleep, but the plastic chair was empty. Several voices rang out from behind the door. He recognized his mother and father’s voices as one of them. He desperately tried to call out for help, but could not manage more than a weak croak. What in the world was wrong with him? His heart started to race so fast that he felt it was going to explode and then came a heavy blackness and he knew no more.
Outside his room
“You are going to have to file a lawsuit against that school and its principal Steven. How could the school management have been careless enough to allow that mad man to attack our boy? Didn’t the principal realize the danger Eze posed to all the students?”
“I agree with you Chioma. I am shaking with rage now. First thing tomorrow morning I am going over to ogochi’s place to ask where I can get a lawyer. The school is not going to get away with the danger they put our son’s life in__”
He droned on and on, citing many criminal cases that the government either did nothing about, or had swept under the carpet. Chioma tried to listen for the first five minutes and simply lost interest afterwards.
A preoccupied look crept on her face as she tried to think of an excuse to put an end to the dull conversation. Her face lit up immediately she thought of one.
“Excuse me Stevenfrank___” She interrupted rising to her feet slowly. “I want to go and check on Chike. I will be back soon.”
He nodded, looking slightly displeased that she had interrupted him in mid-sentence. Smiling at him sweetly she quickly strode to Chike’s door, opened it and walked in.
A pause followed and then___ she came rushing out breathing heavily and looking terrified.
“Steven Frank come quick___ I think something is wrong with Chike.”
Steven Frank tore to his son’s room with his wife following closely behind.
Chapter Thirteen
After school hours (Next day)
Wole walked towards the front door of his house. His mother stood in front of the door with her arms akimbo and a hard scowl on her face.
That look on a normal day would have driven a cold shiver down his spine. Today however, he was strangely indifferent. His mother’s frown became less hard, it was almost as if she seemed to sense his indifference. There was also something else in his carriage that put her maternal senses on full alert; she could not quite put a finger on what it was. Before she could dwell on it further he stopped in front of her.
“What’s wrong with you?” She asked taking a step forward. “Did Eze attack anyone again?”
“No he didn’t. The police arrested him yesterday. I don’t think he has been released yet.”
“Then why do you look so glum? Thought you would be happy that your friend sustained nothing more than a blow to his pride?”
“But that’s just it mum. He sustained more than that. We heard at school that he was rushed back to the hospital late last night.”
“What?? But I thought you said the doctors examined him and found nothing wrong?”
“According to the principal he developed a very high fever last night. Tunrayo and I just came from the hospital__ she has gone home.” He added noticing her questioning look.
“We would have stayed with him longer but I knew how worried you will be, so I came home.”
A long silence followed his sad words.
“How is he doing?” His mother asked breaking the silence.
“I don’t know mummy. He was not speaking and he kept falling in and out of consciousness. The doctor seems to think he is in shock__ but__” His eyes grew distant as his voice drifted off.
A sigh burst from his mother’s lips as she turned and headed back into the house.
“Come and get something to eat. When you have rested and gotten something into your stomach, you and I will go to the hospital to see how he is doing.”
She was pleased to see his eyes brighten considerably at her words. He quickly followed her into the house without another word.
Much later
She followed him into the hospital complex with a wary look in her eyes. Oraromi crown hospital was the only hospital Oraromi had. Except of course, if you counted that quack doctor’s clinic; a hard frown roughened her brow as she remembered it.
She could never remember the doctor’s name. She doubted anyone did. Everyone called him quack or fake doctor. His clinic was a seedy establishment, which the town’s people should have shut down ages ago.
Much to everyone’s chagrin however, the damn place was still open. There was no mystery to why that was. His clinic was famous for the abortions he did. Now when youths were very promiscuous, it was not surprising that his business thrived.
She came out of her reverie when Wole stepped in front of an open door, which led into a wide room. Sadness filled her heart when she saw Chike lying prone on the bed. He wore no shirt and a thick bandage covered his entire right shoulder. He looked unconscious as far as she could tell.
His chest rose and fell so fast, as if his heart and lungs were working at twice the normal capacity. Rivers of sweat poured out of his skin soaking the bedclothes.
“Is this how he was when you left him?” She asked not taking her horrified gaze off Chike’s prone form.
“No__” Wole began slowly, trying extremely hard not to cry.
His mother sighed walking forward and put her arm on his shoulder. A small crowd gathered around Chike’s bed. His parents sat on the right side of the bed looking at their son with worry on their faces. Chioma was shedding quiet tears.
Alaba his geography teacher was there. His face looked wan and drawn. The blue shirt and black slacks he wore were slightly rumpled and a thick coat of dust covered his shoes. Tunrayo and her mother stood a few feet away. She gave Wole a weak smile as he and his mother entered the room.
Anike (Wole’s mum) walked straight to Chike’s parents with a sad and somber look on her face. She dragged a reluctant Wole with her.
“I am really sorry Mr. and Mrs. Chidozie.”
They both nodded without responding, barely able to take their eyes off their son. She sighed, squeezing Wole’s shoulder so hard that he almost screeched in pain.
A wave of guilt flooded her insides when she found herself feeling relieved that it was Chike and not Wole lying prone on the hospital bed. Feeling shocked by her thoughts she shook her head and listened to the low murmurs around her.
Tunrayo’s face and thoughts were glum as she and her mother walked away from Oraromi crown hospital. It was a ten-minute walk from the hospital to their house, and they had already spent about four minutes walking.
In those four minutes, neither of them spoke. Tunrayo found it strange that her mother had not said much about the incident involving Chike and the mad man. It was so unlike her.
She rarely passed up the opportunity to voice an opinion on anything, especially something as serious as this. Tunrayo grew so entrenched in her thoughts that she did not notice that her mother was speaking.
“Tunrayo__” She cried raising her voice to almost a screech.
“Yes_” She shouted jumping in fright.
“Did you not hear me speaking to you?”
“I am sorry mum, I did not. What did you say?”
“I want you to tell me what happened yesterday morning in greater detail please
. Leave nothing out__”
“But I have already told you__”
“I want to hear it AGAIN!!” Her mother snapped in a voice that brooked no argument.
She sighed in resignation and began narrating the events of yesterday morning. When she got to the part where Eze bit chike, she paused looking horrified as she recalled what happened. Her mother listened without interrupting her once. By the time she eventually finished it was her mother’s turn to sigh.
A long silence followed. By this time, they had almost reached their house. They could see its bright red roof fifty paces away almost hidden by a thick cluster of teak trees.
The dusty road leading to the house seemed even dustier today. It covered their sandaled feet with a thick coat of white dust. Her mother cleared her throat twice before turning to face her.
“Tunrayo__” She began slowly.
“Yes mum.”
“I know sometimes I seem hard, but__” She paused as if she was struggling to find the right words to say.
“But what mummy?”
There was another pause.
“Please my daughter, I want you to be very careful from here on out. I don’t know what I will do if I lost you. I do not want you taking such risks.”
“But that’s just it mum, I didn’t take any risk. Chike caused everything. Wole and I warned him on countless occasions to stop taunting Eze but he refused to listen. There was even a time I almost slapped him, but stubborn goat that he is, he refused to listen to me.”
“I will not say more than what I have already said__” Her mother continued as if she had not heard a word she said.
“__ I haven’t said a word about it since you told me because I was frightened and in shock. You are my child and I don’t want anything to happen to you__ in fact I will not let anything happen to you_ not while I am around.” She looked so fierce as she said this that an amused smile crept on Tunrayo’s face.
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