Virus by Ifedayo Akintomide Page B

asked
breaking the silence.
    “I don’t know mummy. He was not
speaking and he kept falling in and out of consciousness. The
doctor seems to think he is in shock__ but__” His eyes grew distant
as his voice drifted off.
    A sigh burst from his mother’s lips
as she turned and headed back into the house.
    “Come and get something to eat. When
you have rested and gotten something into your stomach, you and I
will go to the hospital to see how he is doing.”
    She was pleased to see his eyes
brighten considerably at her words. He quickly followed her into
the house without another word.
     
    Much later
     
    She followed him into the hospital
complex with a wary look in her eyes. Oraromi crown hospital was
the only hospital Oraromi had. Except of course, if you counted
that quack doctor’s clinic; a hard frown roughened her brow as she
remembered it.
    She could never remember the
doctor’s name. She doubted anyone did. Everyone called him quack or
fake doctor. His clinic was a seedy establishment, which the town’s
people should have shut down ages ago.
    Much to everyone’s chagrin however,
the damn place was still open. There was no mystery to why that
was. His clinic was famous for the abortions he did. Now when
youths were very promiscuous, it was not surprising that his
business thrived.
    She came out of her reverie when
Wole stepped in front of an open door, which led into a wide room.
Sadness filled her heart when she saw Chike lying prone on the bed.
He wore no shirt and a thick bandage covered his entire right
shoulder. He looked unconscious as far as she could
tell.
    His chest rose and fell so fast, as
if his heart and lungs were working at twice the normal capacity.
Rivers of sweat poured out of his skin soaking the
bedclothes.
    “Is this how he was when you left
him?” She asked not taking her horrified gaze off Chike’s prone
form.
    “No__” Wole began slowly, trying
extremely hard not to cry.
    His mother sighed walking forward
and put her arm on his shoulder. A small crowd gathered around
Chike’s bed. His parents sat on the right side of the bed looking
at their son with worry on their faces. Chioma was shedding quiet
tears.
    Alaba his geography teacher was
there. His face looked wan and drawn. The blue shirt and black
slacks he wore were slightly rumpled and a thick coat of dust
covered his shoes. Tunrayo and her mother stood a few feet away.
She gave Wole a weak smile as he and his mother entered the
room.
    Anike (Wole’s mum) walked straight
to Chike’s parents with a sad and somber look on her face. She
dragged a reluctant Wole with her.
    “I am really sorry Mr. and Mrs.
Chidozie.”
    They both nodded without responding,
barely able to take their eyes off their son. She sighed, squeezing
Wole’s shoulder so hard that he almost screeched in
pain.
    A wave of guilt flooded her insides
when she found herself feeling relieved that it was Chike and not
Wole lying prone on the hospital bed. Feeling shocked by her
thoughts she shook her head and listened to the low murmurs around
her.
     
    Tunrayo’s face and thoughts were
glum as she and her mother walked away from Oraromi crown hospital.
It was a ten-minute walk from the hospital to their house, and they
had already spent about four minutes walking.
    In those four minutes, neither of
them spoke. Tunrayo found it strange that her mother had not said
much about the incident involving Chike and the mad man. It was so
unlike her.
    She rarely passed up the opportunity
to voice an opinion on anything, especially something as serious as
this. Tunrayo grew so entrenched in her thoughts that she did not
notice that her mother was speaking.
    “Tunrayo__” She cried raising her
voice to almost a screech.
    “Yes_” She shouted jumping in
fright.
    “Did you not hear me speaking to
you?”
    “I am sorry mum, I did not. What did
you say?”
    “I want you to tell me what happened
yesterday morning in greater detail please. Leave nothing
out__”
    “But I