EPISODE 22
One of the doctors watching them
from the receptionist stand
walked over to them as they
struggled to drag Annie with
them. Doctor: “Hello please?” he said
politely, smiling as they turned to
face him. Paul: “Hello! What can we do for
you?” he asked still trying to calm
Annie down. Doctor: “Can I ask you guys a
question please?” Dickson: “Sure, go on” Doctor: “Who is that little boy to
you?” Ralph: “Hmmmmm! We don’t
know him, we were just driving
by when we saw people
gathered. That was when our
baby asked us to stop the car, she
kinda rescued him from getting killed” he explained proudly. Doctor: “Your daughter should be
given an award for such a brave
act. And I overheard her saying
she wants to stay with the boy?
She’s got a really large heart I
must say” Ralph: “Yeah thank you!” he
replied eager to get away from
the conversation so they could go
home. Doctor: “May I suggest she stays?
She and the young lady here, I
will personally take care of them.
They can even stay at my place
tonight and tomorrow and if you
stay around, I will drive them home myself. The way I am
looking at things now, this girl
might fall sick if you forcibly take
her home like this. Paul: “We are sorry to decline
doctor. She is too young to really
know what she wants. Thanks
for your suggestion anyway. We
will get going now, thank you”
he said and they all turned to leave, he noticed that Annie was
quiet all of a sudden, he checked
and realised she had fallen asleep
in his arms and heaved a sigh of
relief. They drove back to Ibadan
in silence with each of their minds occupied with thoughts of the
young boy and the state they met
him in. it was really pathetic. === He sat thinking about where he
could find Sammy. He still nursed
doubts in his heart about his wife.
He knew he had to find out the
truth but how he could do that
was something he wasn’t sure about. He remembered he hadn’t
read news that day and he had
forgotten to get newspaper from
the vendor, he decided to check
online. He logged in to www.storyaim.com and the first thing he saw was JUNGLE JUSTICE:
AN INNOCENT BOY ALOMOST
LYNCHED BY AN ANGRY MOB. The
title seemed catchy so he decided
to read it cursing the adults who
would want to set an young boy ablaze just because of some
cheap commodity. His network
was slow so he tried again by
reloading it. It came on at last and
the pictures he saw almost took
his breath away. Laying on the floor was his son, covered in
blood, unrecognizable because of
his swollen and bleeding face. He
dropped his phone and stood up,
unable to continue reading the
news any further. ”Oh my son! My son!!” he kept muttering
breathlessly. He thought he was
going to have a heart attack
because of how much pain he
was feeling in his heart. “All these
is my fault, I drove you out of the house… where exactly are you?”
he remembered the post could
give him information about his
whereabouts and went over to
his phone, picked it up and
proceeded with his reading again. He saw the picture of the
brave beautiful girl who had
saved his Sammy. They were
pictured with her rocking
Sammy’s head on her lap and
looking menacingly at one of the men carrying out the nefarious
act. He finally got the address of the
hospital where Sammy was
admitted at, without thinking, he
ran for his car and zoomed off.
Ophelia ran out when she heard
the sound of his car leaving the compound and wondered what
could be wrong this time. She saw
his phone on the table with the
post he just read still on the
screen, scooped it up and
scanned through it. She staggered back when she saw
Sammy in the pool of his own
blood. Her hands began to shake
while her palms sweated
profusely. She quickly dropped it,
took her car keys and went after her husband. === On getting to the hospital, he was
directed to the doctor in charge of
his son’s case. Richard: “Good evening, I am the
father of the boy who was
brought in some hours back. The
one in the ER” He introduced
himself. Doctor: “I know whom you are,
the receptionist already called to
inform me of your presence” he
said as they shook hands. Richard: “Oh good! So how is my
son? Will he be okay?” Doctor: “Of course he will be
okay. He sustained multiple
injuries though, three broken
ribs, mild concussion of the brain
and some fractures here and
there. But let’s thank God that girl stood up for him when she did,
by now his charred corpse would
have been what you’d be picking
from the road now with people
looking at you as the father of a
thief” Richard: “Hmmmm glory be to
God. Does that mean my son is
not in danger anymore? I mean
he will recover?” Doctor: “Of course he will recover
faster than you think. You should
find a way to thank the parents of
that girl. They even paid your
son’s hospital bills and the girl?
She was so taken to your son that she didn’t want to leave” Richard: “I must see that girl of
course, I read about it all online
and I must say I am really
impressed. Her parents must
really be proud of her. Please
when next they come, tell them I want to see them, they should
give me a call” he said handing
his card to him. Doctor: “Okay they will hear. And
don’t worry, your son will be
fine” Richard: “But can I see him now?” Doctor: “Of course! If you can’t
see him then who can? I will take
you there. Come with me please?”
he said leading the way. Richard: “Thanks a lot” he said as
they walked along the long
corridor leading to the Emergency
Room. He was taken aback when he saw
his son. He was plastered from
head to toe. POP was used to
support one of his legs. He fell on
his knees and just stayed there
with his heard down like a gallant soldier who fell in battle. Doctor: “Are you okay?” he said
holding him gently by the
shoulder. Richard; “I am not okay doctor.
You see that boy lying over there?
I am the reason he is there. He
told me something grievous
someone is dong to him and I
refused to believe him. I even punished him for calling me a
coward when I knew within me
that he was really saying the
truth. Now he is lying here almost
maimed while his mother is lying
cold and stiff in the ground, all my fault” Doctor: “I will advise you to just
pray for him to get better soon so
you can apologize to him. That is
the best way and hope the
person that did that grievous
something has been reprimanded? Don’t let him or her
go scot free” Richard: “She will not. I will reveal
her dirty secrets to the whole
world, I will ruin her life for
ruining my family” he said bitterly. Doctor: “It’s okay, go talk to your
son now, he seems to be awake. I
will get going though, I am
having another appointment in
five minutes’ time.” he checked
his time, patted Richard’s shoulder and started walking out. Ophelia hid herself behind the
door till the doctor had
disappeared out of sight. She
quickly sneaked away from the
ER and fled from the hospital. === Ever since they got back from
Abeokuta, Annie refused to talk
to anyone. She became sullen and
withdrawn overnight. The cries
of the boy kept ringing in her
head, his agonized gaze as he looked up at her. She felt like she
could almost feel all the hurts he
had passed through in his short
life on earth. She wanted to go
back there so much but there was
no one to take her, which saddened her so much. Paul: “Annie, we are going to see
that boy on tomorrow which is
Saturday. Will you like to go with
us?” he said that morning as they
were preparing for work while
prepared for school. Annie: “Yeeeees! She said
jumping up excitedly. “let’s get
him plenty gifts, I will give him all
my toys even Elsa” Paul: “You like him that much?” Annie: “Yes I like him very much,
he looks as if he is my brother” Paul: “Really? Brother from
another planet heart right?” he
teased her. Ralph: “Looks like someone is
back. Welcome back baby, we
missed you” he said pecking her
on the cheek with the foamy
teeth paste in his mouth. Annie: “Uhnnn! 1st daddy, you are dirty” she said using her
towel to clean her cheek. === At the hospital, The POP on his leg
had been removed while some of
the bandages still remained. He
kept thinking about the girl who
had saved him. She looked
exactly the same age as his Annie, for this one fact, he
wanted to see her so much. As he
was thinking, he heard shuffling
of legs outside, he looked
sideways and there she was,
sanding right there grinning gleefully. Annie: “Oh my God! You look
better friend. Thank God He
answered my prayers” she said
walking towards him slowly
afraid that if she walked fast, she
will find out that it’s all a dream anyway. Sammy: “So you’ve been praying
for me?” he said sitting up. Annie: “Of course! Meet my three dads. This 1st dad, 2nd dad and 3rd dad” he said pointing at them one after the other. Sammy: “1st dad, 2nd dad, 3rd dad? Are those their names? How
is it that you have three dad?
What of your mum?” he asked
after he had nodded greeting to
the three dudes standing like her
body guard. Annie: “They refused to tell me
where she is. What about you?
But what is your name? I don’t
even know your name” Sammy: “My name is Samson but
everybody calls me Sammy. What
about you?” Annie: “My name is Annie…” Sammy: “Annie…?” his eyes
almost popped out of their
bruised sockets.
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