Facade (Romola 1)

35: The Coma Dreams

"Dami," Olumide paused, his eyes strolling to the ceiling. "At that time, he was angry at the principal. He broke the principal's windscreen then peed all over the man's desk and table."

"It sounds like you all had fun." Romola tightened her hold around his palm, enjoying the feeling of his skin against hers.

"Yes, until the effect of the drugs wore off and we couldn't explain why we did what we did," he replied.

She spun her legs around so that they dangled over the bedside. "I don't understand why they wanted to expel you instead of Dami."

"I was the one who brought the Zobo. They thought I drugged it on purpose."

"How did they find out?"

"The school called my mother and my brother boasted to her that he had initiated me. She got to school after the damage was done."

Romola frowned. What kind of a brother was Muyi. "Well, it's good that you didn't get expelled."

"Mostly because my father made a huge donation to the school. But the best thing happened after that. I got to know who my real friends were. The whole school thought I was dealing with drugs but my friends believed me. Only Mohammed stayed away. He was embarrassed because the whole school had seen him half naked."

Romola giggled, leaning close enough to practically lick the words off his lips if she stretched her tongue that far. But there was still this feeling that she wasn't good enough for him. She released his hand and kept tracing patterns on the bed sheet.

"I can't think of any good thing about being here." A pressing need to hawk bread consumed a corner of her mind.

"I can think of several." His eyes lit with a grin. "First, I got to carry you like you were a new bride. Second, I get to spend some time with you. Third-"

"Yeessss?"

"Third, I get to tell you that even though you're dressed in hospital wear, you're still the most beautiful girl I've ever met."

Did he really mean that? He looked honest but she could not believe him. She had looked in the mirror and found a haggard version of herself starring at her. She searched for a reply that would not undermine his compliment. "Well, you don't look too bad for someone that is well dressed."

"Too bad?" His face fell.

"That's not what I meant." She sat up. "I mean, you're very handsome and-"

He cut in with a guffaw. "Babe , I know I'm handsome but I'm glad you think I'm handsome."

Her breath hitched at the word 'babe'. It was the way he said it. Like it was meant to be used for her alone. He let her hands go, holding the giant card open with both of his hands. She could only see the top of his head from over the card.

"Romola," he called, setting the open cad on her laps.

She picked it up tracing the intricate designs with her finger. The golden glitter on the calligraphic letters stuck to her finger. "Yeah?"

She opened the card, expecting a novel worth of words to be scribbled in it. All she saw were two large words in pink bold cursive type on a dark purple background. 'I'm sorry'. She tried not to frown. Where was her novels worth of words? What did he have to be sorry for? He had brought her to the hospital. That was what Vicky told her.

"Do you remember anything at all? At least, before you wake up?"

Her gaze focused on the empty bed beside Olumide. There was the image where she had drowned in the desert but she wasn't sure if that was real. It felt like a dream. The worst part all this was that she saw Olumide and Yetunde in her dreams. She hadn't recognized them but she had seen them. In one of those dreams, she and Olumide were engaged, then Olumide had asked her to follow Yetunde for something, after that, she found herself drowning in a desert. She couldn't remember how she had gone from the church to the desert.

"Nothing at all." She would not share the content of the dream with him. She squeezed her bows, trying to call up more memories. An image flashed in her mind, She was outside with Yetunde and Yetunde shoved her. "I think. I'm not sure."

"Come on Romola. Just try. Please,"

She wasn't sure that the image was part of her dreams. It seemed like something real but there was nothing else to tie the memory to reality. "I think Yetunde pushed me. In the night, Somewhere."

Olumide opened his mouth but the door flew open, hitting the wall with a 'thud' and cut of his words as the person who plagued her dreams ran in with a teary face.