Episode 18 – Fiction 20APPROVALArmani had been unconscious for a few hours. This was really a case of life and death. The struggles from the past weeks had left her the most physically and psychologically drained, both of which needed to be managed for a successful delivery. Udo had to make a choice soonest. Armani already had gone through so much, she couldn’t afford to have another loss. More importantly, he wanted her alive more than anything. “Let’s do it doctor”, his voice visibly shaken as he requested to sign the consent forms. Doctor Amoh empathised with Udo and promised his team would ensure to make a success out of the situation. “There’s only so much time left. We will try our best to get both mother and child out alive and healthy. Thank you for the support.” With the consent papers signed, it was only a matter of time before Armani would be a mother finally. Udo silently hoped and prayed this would be the child that stays. It would bring back all the joy Armani had hardly experienced. Udo tried to calm himself as he sees Armani being wheeled to the theatre. “This is the only option. This is the right thing to do”, he continuously murmured. The entire procedure was scheduled to take about 2 hours considering Armani’s health and mental state. The doctors couldn’t afford anything going wrong at this time. DIVERGENCEArmani could feel her heart beat so loudly. It’s the loudest sound she had heard in the longest time. Even louder than the gunshots that took her parents’ lives and left her scarred. She could feel her hands and legs heavy, but more so her heart felt like it was about to explode. The anaesthesia had fully set in, causing Armani’s mind to drift to the events that had led her to this point. Armani walked up to a young girl who profusely wept at the sight of blood and dead bodies, the same bodies she had called daddy and mummy earlier in the day. She had barely spent a decade on earth before her parents were gruesomely murdered. She held the hands of the little girl and led her through a door. Although Armani wasn’t sure what was on the other side, she was determined to give the girl the best of whatever was to come. The duo hadn’t walked far before they heard the humming of an elderly couple. They had blood stained faces and clothes. Armani watched helplessly as the elderly woman struggled to get to the little girl. She tried to hold on to the tip of her dress, but her hands slipped off too easily. Armani shoved the little girl behind her and watched the couple struggle through a shining light that soon overtook the room.Armani was baffled as she searched for the little girl round the room. She heard a whimper and was sure it was the same girl she had held a while ago. The little girl was now in the hands of a gentle-looking handsome man. Armani looked emotionless even though the little girl looked happy and safe in the hands of the strange man. She tried to walk towards them but her legs failed her. With every step Armani took, the little girl and this strange man went further away from her, but Armani wasn’t one to easily give up. She moved as her legs would allow her and soon lost sight of both the girl and her companion. PASSAGEArmani’s blood pressure increased rapidly and the doctors knew it was a race against time. They were already an hour and thirty minutes into the procedure and hopefully deliver the baby. Doctor Amoh was pleased that the operation had been successful so far. He was now more concerned about Armani whose blood pressure continuously fluctuated as the procedure went on. Doctor Amoh and his team spoke in the loudest silence while they continued their attempt to save Armani and her child. Armani felt her legs had now become even heavier and could barely be moved. She tried to clasp her hands but felt the sting from the rope she had been tied with. She struggled to open her eyes to see what was before her. She heard the little girl weep this time and constantly in conversation with herself. “He killed my parents. He killed my children. He wasted my life. He made me a nuisance. How could he do this to me? I loved him. He knew my weakness, he was my weakness.” Armani’s eyes were fully opened now as she saw the girl swinging a huge knife from across her face. “I have to end this. I have to do this for my parents.” Armani could hear the words clearly and tried to speak to the girl, but the words failed to come out. It wasn’t too long before she saw the same man who had taken the little girl away from her walk into the room. The little girl had not wasted time before driving the knife into the man’s heart. “He deserved it. He deserved to die.” Armani tried to scream for the little girl to stop, but she just couldn’t. The little girl continued mumbling how it was the right thing to do. The only thing to do. IMPASSEDogo remained in the room bewildered from the events that had just unfolded right before his eyes. The drama the hatred between Jaja and Jamila bore had finally left him in shock and more so, totally confused. He sat with his palms sweaty thinking of the smartest way to escape from the dungeon the hotel had become, without raising a red flag. He mentally stripped himself off every title he once bore. How did he get himself into this mess? Yes, he owed Jamila his loyalty, but he could have suggested so many other options that would have left them with little or no mess. Just as he was losing himself to thought, a brisk walk across the hotel room jolted him back to reality. His heart was now in his mouth as he heard heavy steps towards the door. “The sound was from here sir, I am certain it was gun shots. Someone might be in danger sir”, the scared and sometimes overzealous hotel attendant had just narrated what he thought he knew to the policemen who had arrived the scene after an emergency call. Dogo aimed to reach for the same gun he had skilfully ended Jaja’s life with. There were at least two more shots he could take to clean this mess. The sound from his cocked gun perfectly matched the click of the door knob. He knew it was now or never. MOREThe cries of the new born broke the silence in the room. Doctor Amoh and his team had just completed a hopefully successful procedure on Armani to deliver her child. The child was quickly placed in an incubator to help with its temperature while they observed Armani waiting for her to wake up. Doctor Amoh was gradually becoming impatient since the anaesthetist had earlier suggested that it wouldn’t take long before the effects wore off, yet there were no signs of Armani fully recovering. Udo had remained in the hospital during the procedure and had paced all through waiting for the news of delivery and Armani’s safety. He spotted one of the young doctors who had helped to wheel Armani into the theatre. “Excuse me, excuse me. How is Armani? Where is she?” Udo rushed the doctor with the questions that were most important to him. “I can assure you that both mother and child will be fine.” Though Udo wasn’t satisfied with the doctor’s response, he tried to remain as calm as possible and begged to see Armani. Doctor Amoh called for further observation of Armani while he opted to give Udo an update. “The child is here. It was a successful operation, but we wait for Armani to fully recover from the anaesthesia. She is very delicate right now. Let us be hopeful…” Doctor Amoh hadn’t quite completed his statement before Udo lost his cool and brushed him aside to find his way to the room Armani was. He was ready to tear down the hospital if Armani’s life had been lost during the process. He begged for answers and was only concerned about Armani’s life at this point. “Where is Armani? Where is Armani?” he yelled at one of the nurses who hurriedly led him into the room Armani’s baby was kept and for a second, calm restored to Udo. As he leaned in to catch a glimpse of the baby’s face, Udo now only asked as softly as he had earlier been. “Will she make it?”
Writer : Mansurah Alli-Oluwafuyi. Blog
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