Hydronium:
S02E13
The nurse nudged me and nodded. It was time to go. I had been standing over Sansa’s shrunken white face for minutes, myriads of thoughts bounding inelastically in my mind.
The nurse warded me to the door and shut it behind me while slipping on a pair of gloves. Moments later, she came out and started for the waiting area. I followed her.
“I don't get, she’s should be recuperating after the surgery. Or did the surgery get out of hand? Is she infected… I mean HIV? But does HIV have this kind of effect…”
We’d arrived the waiting area and I didn’t realize that I’d been speaking out loud. I began to understand the reason for Uwem’s rage. Our friend was dying and there wasn’t a thing we could do about it.
“I’d have you to ask the family,” The nurse began conspiratorially, “but you’re in such a sour relationship with them that they don’t want to see you. So I’ll tell you what. We believe she was infected with a deadly strain of an STD which affected her womb but has now spread to other parts of her body. We're doing our very best, that I can assure you.”
She made to leave, then said. “You’ll have to leave now. I’m sure they don’t want you around, with all that’s happened.”
I looked over. Uwem was eyeing me like a hungry fox whose dinner was standing just beyond reach.
The nurse pursed her lips until they became thin slips, then she whirled about and headed for Uwem, leaving me standing there, pondering my fate. They spoke in hushed tones for some moments. Uwem kept stealing dangerous glances at me over the nurse’s shoulder and jabbing a finger at me as she spoke. There was a brief argument at some point with Sansa’s mother and sibling intervening; Uwem flailed her arms, stomped off, and then returned, gave me one last vicious look through narrow slits and handed something to the nurse.
The nurse marched up to me, pressed something into my palm and steered me out of the waiting area. I could see a strand of perspiration snaking down her hairy sideburn.
When we reached her cubicle. She sat with a long sigh and eyed me for a long time. I noticed the name tag on her chest: Akpavia, and the engagement band on her finger.
She sighed again and spoke,
“You have been very foolish Mister …. Now you have everyone against you. I had to make a deal with Uwem to get you out of sight, never to be seen around the family again. How did you get here?
“Anyways, I’m told what’s in your hand was left for you by Sansa, although the family has seen its content. I wouldn’t know what’s in it, but it's gotten the family really riled up about you. Should Miss Ebrima not make it, Uwem made it clear that her blood would be on you, and the family would never forgive you. They are in fact considering arresting you with the police, so whatever you do, pray. I’m told the—”
Another nurse stuck her head into the cubicle and Miss Akpavia nodded.
“—the device contains a voice note and some documents. I’m sure you’ll understand when you view it. You should leave now. Got to get back to work.” With that, she began to slide on a pair of latex gloves.
The journey to Asaba was a mindless one, I missed my junction several times. Incidentally, I didn’t have my multimedia phone with me as it had a flat battery, so all I could do was ponder and ponder on what could possibly be in the object I was given—a memory card.
At home, there was electricity, so I slipped the memory card into my phone and plugged in a pair of headphones. It was a 128mb storage and was mostly empty. I searched. There were a few abstract pictures and a folder that contained a couple of voice recordings and some more photos; one of the recordings was much larger than the others. I figured it had to be that.
Sansa’s familiar nasal voice filled my world as I pressed play.
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Literature / Re: " The Trials Of Maclean Agu" A Story By Hydronium by Ehiiz: 12:56am On Dec 31, 2019