Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Songs for this chapter are:

Good, Bad, Ugly - Lecrae

Messengers - Lecrae

Voss - Nobigdyl

At the end of the day - Chung Ha (Hotel Del Luna OST)

Ojuelegba - Wizkid

Cassandra

"One...two...three...SHOCK!"

My mother's torso rose in response to the shock provided by the cardiac defibrillator and fell, unresponsive. The method didn't seem to be effective. Her heart didn't seem to be restored into the normal perfusing rhythm.

I kept my face glued to the glass, however, watching my mother's fate left to be handled by the agitated doctor.

I'd wept so much that there didn't seem to be any more tears left to cry and all I craved for was some tinge of hope. I wanted my mother to live despite how unlikely it was. When people passed away, they did pass away for real. Never to come back again, never to be revived and I didn't want that to be my tragedy to my lot, since I'd had only just one moment with my mother.

I wanted to have more moments, plenty enough to amount to a memory. A memory I could keep forever, long after her demise in the farthest future. If she died now, I would hate it.

I knew how potent the elixir of desperation was so I tried it again. It had worked when my sister prayed for me during my near-death experience. If only I could scoop a little from the potion and add it to my prayers just so God could see how badly I wished that this prayer would be answered.

"AGAIN! One...two...three...SHOCK!"

The process was repeated, two electrodes placed on her torso again but without progress. The doctor did it a few more times, sweating profusely. Again and again, her torso rose and fell but she remained still on the bed.

The doctor dropped the defibrillator and with a sigh, he covered my lying mother whole with the white sheet, not a strand of hair to be seen, and just like that, my nightmare had become a reality. How swift that moment always is when your life becomes a different one. I knew that experience all too well.

I was once a free-spirited girl that loved to enjoy the wave of the wind smashing against her face as she ran down the streets, till I became bound in chains once the gust of wind rolled by, driven far, far away from home. How swift that moment truly was. The hardest pill I have had to swallow.

I didn't want to believe that I would have to swallow another one. That I would become an orphan when I had barely ever enjoyed the benefits of evergreen parenthood.

The doctor sighed again and took off his gloves dejectedly. I watched him walk out of the room where I watched him perform the CPR and I descended on him like a lone, bitter hyena. I squeezed his lab coat and wailed in his face, demanding an answer.

If there was one person that I detested hearing an apology from, it was the medical practitioners. An apology had never sounded so debilitating.

"I'm sorry ma'am. We did our best."

From then on, what it was that took a hold of me, I couldn't decipher. Pain? Death? Nothingness? Shock or disbelief? I wouldn't know.

Tap. Tap. Tap. And another freaking tap on my shoulder.

I opened my eyes reluctantly. They seemed to hurt a great deal but there was only a few more tapping I could endure as it wouldn't stop. I saw sister Yemisi seated next to me. When did she get here?

I tried my best to wake up fully despite how much of a literal eyesore it was. She was here. Had she heard of mother's death too? Oh, God. This is about to be one hell of a chaotic time. I looked around for the heartless doctor and I saw him with a smile on his face. A freaking smile!

I gritted my teeth in deep pain but paused when I saw my mother next to him, standing, alive and...and...breathing. Breathing.

It would have been stupid of me to drink liquor at a sorrowful moment like this but at that moment, I couldn't help but wonder if the drink I had was so strong to have effects that endured for more than two nights.

Which was a dream? I wouldn't know but there was only one possible way to find out.

Thankfully, standing up from the seat wasn't tasking at all so I reached for my mother's figure and I touched her. I did. And I tried again. She was standing in front of me, meaty, warm and of moderate flesh with a working pulse!

I couldn't believe that my eyes were still capable of producing ocular fluids but oh how industrious they were despite how much I had overused them!

"Oh, mother!" I fell into her bosom and wrapped my arms around her because my life had depended on it. I squeezed my palm firmly into her bare back, holding on to that tangible softness that could be felt, afraid that it might vanish, yet hoping it wouldn't.

"I'm so thankful that you are alive oh my God. I was really scared." I breathed after holding her closely till I was satisfied. The elixir had worked. I had my mother. I really, really did. God didn't take her away. Thank you, God!

"For how long have I been asleep?" I asked the doctor with a little mercy now.

"You've been asleep for two days, ma'am. Your mother started to get better only last night and asked that I call your elder sister over once she recuperated."

"I've been trying to get you to wake up. I thought you were unconscious or in a coma but you kept crying in your sleep and wouldn't wake up no matter how I tried, " sister Yemisi explained.

Two days. Wow.

I tried to recollect what happened before I had fallen asleep and the memory came swiftly to me. The sound of my mother gasping in a distant room had terrified me because it continued for several minutes. It was a lot more torturous because I wasn't allowed to go in to know what exactly was happening so my paranoia messed with me brutally.

Somehow, I took solace in the fact that I could still hear her voice even if it gave negative energy until I could no longer hear it and everything became still. I didn't want to overthink it even though I'd already thought of it. I tried to hide from myself, from my possible tragedy that laid ahead and so I fell asleep.

But that torture continued.

The tears I refused to shed in reality tripled in my dreams. I kept having the same dream over and over again. The horror of it, of having to hear the shocking news of my mother's death was an insane experience.

"How did my mother survive?" I asked the doctor.

"I think it is very safe to say that her survival was a miracle because the poison had started to damage her vitals when you rushed her in so there wasn't much we could do to save her but she was able to stay alive till we were able to get the poison out of her body. Although the damage caused by the poison has affected her vocal cords thereby affecting her ability to speak, she's okay and her vitals are still in shape."

I was heartbroken by that news. The urge to blame myself for her loss of speech was intense but it was more like I pitied her. There wasn't anything I could have done to avoid that from happening because things couldn't have happened differently. It was no accident. Still, I was happy she was alive and that wouldn't stop us from making more memories.

"The sores on her skin are going to dry up completely within a maximum of four days. Ensure to use the lotion prescribed by the pharmacy to avoid scars and complications coming from the healing sores."

We thanked the doctor and he left.

I rested my hands on her cheeks and hugged my dearest mother again. Her lips were still void of color.

"Mummy, " another pair of tears settled on my eyes. "Please don't do this to yourself again."

She nodded and rested her cheek on my palm, running one of her hands against it. I saw the effort she tried to make in saying something but I shushed her and pulled her in, hugging her again.

Sister Yemisi joined in on our hugging session, she was happy to have my mum and I reconciled. It showed from the way she breathed. I was thankful for the second chance given to me.

Gradually, I started to feel very tired, like I could drop any minute. Then I realized that I hadn't tasted food since I brought my mother to the hospital. My body had a high tolerance for prolonged starvation telling from past experiences but I couldn't afford to continually put that to a test.

Sister Yemisi noticed me just in time and assisted in helping me maintain the little energy I had left till we got home.

***

I'd slept for another couple of hours after eating. This slumber being a peaceful one. When I woke up, I found myself on the couch, stuffed with comfy pillows with the light of the setting sun, transcendentally reflecting over the living room.

"Where is mother?" I asked sister Yemisi because she had just walked in.

"She's asleep."

"Has she used her medication?"

"Yes. How do you feel?" she asked and sat on the couch.

"Blast! I have a terrible headache although my stomach doesn't hurt anymore I'm sure I will be fine."

"Certainly you will, " she reached for my hand and rubbed on it. "I'm so proud of you." she smiled.

"Hm. God was merciful enough to be very honest. She could have died and I might have lived in regret for the rest of my life."

"There would have been nothing to regret. Life is crazy. Even if you had reconciled with her long before now, if her time to die was the following day, there would have been little or nothing you could have done about it. Some promises would have been left forever unfulfilled and memories yet to be created. All you can find solace in at that moment is the little good times you were able to have with her. You forgave and I'm commending you for that. It was the golden act itself. Whatever was bound to happen next isn't in your place to regret or lament over. You did your part."

I opened my mouth to say something but what I intended to say was never known because the sound of the door opening with alacrity so alarming had gotten my attention.

It was Ebun and she had a confused expression on her face.

"Is there a problem?" Sister yemisi and I asked almost at the same time.

"I'm afraid there is, " she breathed heavily for a moment and sighed. I wanted to kill her for pausing because that moment did inexplicable things to me but bad news had to be delivered with caution.

"There is a woman here who wants to see you. She's been saying strange things and I've tried so hard not to let her in but she's stubbornly insisted and managed to convince me in the most decent of ways."

"What did she say?" I asked.

"She's making ridiculous claims about wanting to have custody over Farida since Dan is the biological father. She was also explaining how lonely she has been and would be happy to have a child to nurture during the last days of her life as a way of repaying Dan."

"What?!" sister Yemisi and I exchanged puzzled looks. My mind reeled. By Jove! What in the world was going on right now?

"Who is she? What does she call herself by name?!"

"Umm...Mrs. Jones."

***

Exodus 14:14 - "The Lord will fight for you and you will hold your peace."