Crushed

Episode 14

Rape?
My Elder?
Impossible!

I started feeling nauseous as I held my tummy and rushed to the adjoining toilet to vomit in the basin
I couldn’t bring myself to understand what had happened
I couldn’t even forgive myself
As I pulled the tap head and water gushed out, I stared into space as my temperature rose.

I was so thirsty as the heat in my body became unbearable
No wonder they termed her possessed!
I sprinkled some water on my forehead and later walked back to the office, shaking like a wet duck

“Holy Spirit” I called out, my voice dancing with cold
I heard some footsteps and quickly ducked as I put the diary in my skirt
The door opened
“Mum, you are here. Dad’s looking for you” my son said to me.
My eyes were very hot in their sockets
“Really! I am coming” I said as I stood up promptly, my head feeling very light
We rushed out of the office and approached the theatre, my legs felt so weak as I could barely compose myself
“My girl, its more than we bargained for” my husband said and I looked deep into his face

He looked shocked as he came near me
“You look faintly. What’s the matter?” he asked
“What’s wrong with Mercy?” I asked, brushing off his question
“It was a miscarriage!” he blurted out just like that- as if it was funny.

I fell into the arm chair behind me as my husband held me firmly, looking so worried and shocked.

“What!” Jean exclaimed almost immediately, coming close to us
“A miscarriage?” he asked again and I blinked hard, tears falling down my face
“Jean, go inside the car. I will …” I was saying but he only looked towards his father
“Is miscarriage not only in pregnant people?” he asked, looking white
“Yes” the father replied and he widened his eyes as he panted heavily

“Mercy couldn’t have been pregnant daddy. It can’t be possible” he said
“But she was. Our girls of nowadays can do what other old women can’t do. We are to trust nobody” my husband said again
Here he was with his judgment again
“I thought she was different” Jean said as he turned away slowly, repeating same thing as he staggered away.
I was just too weak.

To tell my husband to stop his judgment;
To tell my son to come back so he would know that she was really different
I was too weak- just too weak!
“Girl, be strong please. Not all your students would be saints anyways” he said as he patted me softly but I couldn’t talk
I could only cry

“We might have to have a surgery to remove all the residual embryonic or placental tissue in her womb in order to avoid possible irritation or infection of the uterine lining. But she has currently relapsed into comma.” He explained and I only nodded as I rubbed my wet face on his lab coat, sniffing as I did

A doctor ran out of the ward
“Sir, your attention is needed sir. Patient Mercy is gasping for breath” he said and my husband jumped up and went after him
My heart stopped for like two minutes before coming back to life.

I jumped up and was following him when I heard the siren of an ambulance right inside the reception.

Some nurses jumped down and fixed the stretcher

They dumped someone who was dripping blood on the stretcher and wheeled him directly to one of the wards while a nurse ran pass me to the theatre calling ‘Doctor’ agitatedly

Though the person on the stretcher looked so familiar, especially those clothes, I could not link it at all.

I started walking back to the theatre when I saw some of the medical personnel coming out, beads of sweat on their faces.
They all looked dejected
“Is she dead?” I asked so agitatedly
Two of them shrugged and went past me while two nurses shook their heads
My husband looked so disturbed as if he wanted to go somewhere sharply.
He patted my back and whispered into my ears

“The Lord gives and he …” he was saying when I fell down to the ground, my hands on my head.

I didn’t cry though
I was so shocked that even as I fell to the ground, my husband just ran away as fast as his legs could carry him towards the ward where the stretcher was being wheeled to.
I smiled at the nurse holding me and started walking towards the theatre.
The door was opened and I just walked straight to the corpse which had been covered.

I removed the blue cover cloth and fell on her face to start crying vehemently.
What a pure girl!

What pain she had gone through!
What a tragic situation!
“But God, she can’t just die like that?” I cried out as I rubbed my cheek against hers
I felt warmth
Was that my fever rising up still?
I wasn’t sure.

I stood up, touched her neck and felt it- weak pulse
She wasn’t dead!
I was excited
The Holy Spirit didn’t tell me she would die, I just knew it.

I looked at the ventilator to which she was connected and tried to see what I could do
“Ma, please, let’s leave her alone. The Lord knows why…” the nurse was saying
It was even then I realized that someone was with me but I simply shrugged.
A plug on the ventilator looked loose and I pushed in it well and that was all- the pulse came blinking again
I smiled broadly as I looked at the nurse who looked shocked
“Wow! The ventilator must have been mistakenly disconnected when the nurse rushed here to tell the doc about the young boy” the nurse said, smiling
I smiled too
“That boy, what happened to him?” I asked and she shook her head
“A car rammed into his back and flung him down just right here, in front of the hospital. I doubt if the spinal cord isn’t broken” she said and I held my chest
“That’s so serious o. would that be fixed here?” I asked when she smiled
“If the spinal cord is broken, he would have to be flown outside the country. But if there is just a dislocation, it would be fixed here. It’s a serious case o” she said and I shook my head as I glanced back at Mercy
“No wonder, the doctor ran off like that” I said and she shook her head sadly
“He had to madam. That’s his only son” the nurse said and my head b@nged
I turned to look at her
“He’s the doctor’s son?” I asked, almost going crazy

“Yes ma” she replied courteously
I held her collars, almost lifting her up
“You mean, that’s Jean?” I asked and she nodded sheepishly

I left her and ran out of the ward madly
“Its impossible oooo my Redeemer! Impossible!….Jesu…impossible!” I sang on as I ran towards the theatre where he was wheeled to

No wonder those clothes looked so familiar!
Jesus!
Spinal cord?
Tufiakwa!

“Jesus, I didn’t bargain for this oooo. Impossible…impossible” I cried on as I ran like I was being pursued