EPISODE 18
Paul: “Ralph, you should go with
her. There is no time to waste” he
nudged him forward and he
followed the nurse. On getting inside the doctor’s
office, he saw Annie sleeping
soundly on the only bed inside
the office and heaved a sigh of
relief. Ralph: “Good afternoon doctor” Doctor: “Good noon to you too,
please have your seat” he said
looking at him from the rim of his
glasses. Ralph: “So what did the test result
indicate?” Doctor: “Nothing serious. It’s just
febrile convulsion which
happened because of her high
fever. Her temperature was 39°C.
I will prescribe some drugs for
you, make sure you administer them on her till she is stable
again” he scribbled something in
a jotter and passed it to him. Ralph: “But hope it’s not
epilepsy?” Doctor: “Not at all. It is a different
kind of convulsion and less
harmful than epilepsy though it
can still give rise to epilepsy if care
is not taken. Among the drug I
prescribed, there is anti- convulsant among them though it
might not be necessary she takes
it. Just make sure you get all the
drugs and administer them on
her like I instructed on the paper.
Good luck and for the record, your daughter is a very strong
and lovely girl” Ralph: “Thank you doctor” he
said, smiling. He stood up, took
the doctor’s outstretched hand in
a handshake, went over to Annie
and scooped her up from the bed
into his arms. Her temperature had gone considerably down but
he noticed she was weaker than
usual. “Sorry baby!” he
whispered into her hears and
walked out of the doctor’s office.
As soon as his friends saw hi, they both surrounded him asking
one question after the other. They
touched Annie gently and were
relieved to know she was no
longer running temperature as
much as she was earlier. === Soon enough, Sammy stopped
going home from school because
he knew she would be waiting
for him. He dreaded that moment
when she would climb him and
do the stuffs she did or the moments she made him do those
stuffs he did. He would linger
around the school, cook up every
possible excuse just to stay
longer outside. On that particular day when he
got back from school at past 7pm.
He might his dad in the sitting
room, angry while his step mum
was sitting with him. They were
waiting for him. Richard: “Where are you coming
from Mr Man? He queried him as
soon as she entered the sitting
room. Sammy: “I am coming from
school” he said looking down. Richard: “You are just coming
back from school by this time
Sammy? At this age? You are just
twelve years for crying out loud
and you are already keeping late
nights?” Sammy: “I had extra assignment
so I decided to do it in school” Richard: “So you are always
having a surprise outing? I have
been getting complaints about
you since this started but I
thought it will stop with time but
you are getting worst by the day. Why are you doing this Sammy?
Am I not a good father to you?” Ophelia: “Honey take it easy with
him please. He is still young, he is
just showing signs of puberty;
you know adolescence is setting
in so this is just normal” She
looked at Sam who gave her a look of disgust and she winked at
him, sticking out her tongue
seductively, he looked away as
his dad’s gaze was riveted on
him. Richard: “What nonsense
adolescence at the age of twelve?
He is just being rebellious and
nothing more. Why are you trying
to kill me? Was I the one who
killed your mum?” he regretted that statement as soon as they left
his mouth. Sammy: “Don’t ever talk about my
mum again. What do you know?
There is nothing you are good at?
You are neither good at being a
husband nor a father. If you were
you wouldn’t have given up so easily on finding Annie. You are a
coward da…” before he could
finish saying dad, his dad stuck
out his hand in a bidding flash of
lightening and struck him in the
cheek, blood few out from his mouth. Ophelia: “Richaarrrd! Why did you
do that? How could you strike
him like that?” she flared up
unexpectedly. Sammy was dazed for a moment,
even the tears refused to flow.
That was the first time any of his
parents will ever raise their hands
at him. He looked at his dad who
stood in front of him defiantly and just turned back and walked out
on him. Richard: “Come back here right
away you insolent fool. You dare
call me a coward? The next time
you do that, its belt I’d use on
you” he raved and slumped
down heavily onto the settee behind him. “I can’t believe this is
happening” he lamented sadly. Ophelia: “You shouldn’t have
done that honey, now you just
made issues worst. How do we
go about this now?” Richard: “Weren’t you there when
he was heaping abusive words at
me? So you expect me to just
keep mum?” Ophelia: “I am not justifying his
actions but you as an adult
should know better than hitting a
child like that. Please go and talk
to him” she said pleadingly. Richard: “No way! Just stay out of
this okay?” he warned and
walked out on her. She couldn’t
think of what to do. “Now i know
where Sammy got his
stubbornness from. they are both the same”she said to herself. === He walked inside his room grief
stricken and emotionally bruised.
He sat on the bed and looked
around, saw the picture of Annie
hung on the wall and walked
over to it. Sammy:” “Baby sister, hope you
are living a good life? Where are
you now? I know you must b
looking quite beautiful now. Your
birthday is tomorrow and also the
day mum died. I feel so alone, my life is ruined. I don’t know what
to do anymore” the tears flowed
freely now. “I am not even really
sure if you are alive and it’s all my
fault. I was not a good brother, I
did not protect you enough. I should have ran after those men
faster than I did. Mum must really
be mad at me now, I am a useless
son. Annie and mum, I miss you
two so much” he started looking
frantically around. “I don’t think it’s okay for me to keep living
right? All I have to do is push
something sharp inside my
stomach and I will be able to see
you two again right? What use is
living this kind of life? See what that woman has turned me to?”
just then he remembered the
compass in his bag and went for
it. He brought it out, held it tightly
in his hands and closed his eyes..…
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Please comment please
Encourage me
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