Just do it √

Thirty Eight

Overwhelmed. I never expected a hospital to be this crowded but apparently there are a lot more sick people in the world than we care to know. For five days we all left for the hospital which was really close to the hotel we were lodged at so I could have a drip administered to me while mom went on with her treatment.

The drip never lasted over five minutes, Kunle said it was supposed to help grow my white blood cells. Each day I tried to put up a brave front for my mother, I didn't know how far gone her illness was, nobody was telling me anything and I didn't let myself assume.

I was alone at the room most of the time, during which I watched TV and thought of my friends. I missed them, I missed how we used to be before all the drama. I missed Vivian's cold retorts, Abike's bear hugs and Henrietta's incessant talking. I missed Rasheed's intelligent jokes, even Marcel's cocky smirk and general annoyance.

I wondered if things would ever return to normal but we never really established normalcy so I was just left wondering what the next chapter of our story would hold, if there'd be room for all of us and thinking about it made me anxious but I couldn't stop because all I had was time and while it might seem patient, time isn't always on your side.

       I was shaking as the nurses prepped me for the operation. They were doing their best to assure me that everything would be fine. They said I wouldn't feel a thing, it wasn't going to exceed three hours and the side effects weren't severe, just weakness in my bones for a maximum of twenty-four hours.

I didn't believe them, I felt like they were going to scoop out my heart and sell it to some rich guy suffering from a heart disease. Then I thought of my mom with her rough palms and tired lines scattered on her forehead.

She deserved a chance to live better, to have the life she always wanted and I was going to give it to her because she spent thirteen years of her life building one for me.

         I was laid out on the operating table with my mom less than a meter to my left. She reached out and squeezed my hand as the nurse injected me with the anaesthetic.
"Count from ten down". I was instructed.

"Ten".

"Nine".

"Eight".

I don't know how long she held my hand but I know that as I slipped into my dreamland, I could feel her, anchoring me.

                                                    *

I was in the living room but it looked different, rearranged, brighter.
"Purebliss". Abike's voice dragged my eyes to the sofa. She was seated at the edge with her short legs stretched, barely reaching the middle.

"Digestive". Marcel insisted from the other end of the sofa.
"Oh come on, it's ancient".
"It's evolutionary".
I watched them argue like they were at the parliament.

"It's stayed the same from the beginning of time". Abike countered.
"It has maintained its core but the other condiments have gotten richer". Marcel stood his ground.

"I think it's unwise to be arguing over biscuits, they are all beautiful in their own way". Henrietta said, walking in from the direction of the kitchen with a big bowl in her hand.
"What's that?" Abike abandoned her argument to ask.
"It's the bomb". Hen replied with a huge grin, taking a seat on the armrest beside me.

"It's a waste of coconuts". Vivian strolled in and took a seat on the floor beside Marcel's feet.
I watched on with confusion, I couldn't recall a reason why they would all be at my house.

"It's my new toning lotion". Hen said with a frown.
"It's hardly a lotion to begin with". Vivian grabbed the remote from the center table and began surfing through channels.
"More like a concoction". She added.
"Well, this concoction is going to be the next best thing". Hen defended.