HE SAID NO
EPISODE 16
Mrs. Grace laid on her side on the hospital bed and turned her face to the white-coated hospital wall, although no visible tears could be seen on her face, she had cried a drum-full deep down inside, her insides rumbled and her lower tummy ached at the same time, Akinwale was seated on an iron chair beside her, he had been waiting for her to wake up all night.
Akinwale had rushed his wife, Grace to Solid Rock private hospital the last night when she fainted after he beat the daylight out of her, what happened?
He came home very late at around 11 pm, and when he could not find his bunch of house keys, he resorted to knocking, Grace who had waited for a couple of hours had already gone to bed with her son, after all, he had his keys and would find his way in whenever he got home,
Akinwale had been knocking for almost 30 minutes before his wife woke up, she was tired after washing a big heap of all their dirty clothes and her entire body ached severely, she slightly felt the body aches again as she dragged herself to the door,
“Didn’t you take your keys?” asked a tired Grace, her white nightgown was already far above her knee as her protruded stomach got bigger every day,
“You are mad!” Akinwale said, pointing at his head, “Yes, you must be very mad for asking such a stupid question, if I had the keys, would I stand here knocking for almost 1 hour? move away from the door old woman!”
“I am not mad oh, I am not, it is not my fault that you misplaced or forgot your key so don’t transfer your aggression on me,” and that was it,
“Are you talking to me?” Akinwale asked, locking the door securely behind him, as he moved closer to Grace, who was already scared, she knew that was definitely in for another drama, only that she didn’t know that it was going to be fatal,
“Are you freaking talking to me?” He barked, he didn’t wait for an answer before he pounced on Grace who was already shaking, as he punched her and practiced all the forms of acrobatic skills he knew on her, she kept shouting and begging for mercy but he didn’t listen. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was when she hit her head hard on the wall, that was all she remembered.
Grace did not want him to know that she was already awake, but a sneeze gave her out,
“Grace, Grace! You are awake, thank God!” Akinwale said standing up quickly, as he rested his arms on her body, “I was so scared,”
Grace shrugged as she harshly flung his hands away from her body, “Don’t touch me, Wale!” she said calmly still facing the wall,
“I am sorry Grace, I don’t know what came over me, don’t worry we will have more babies. I promise…”
“I said, don’t touch me!” she yelled as she turned her bloodshot eyes to him at the same instant,” “You are a mistake that I would regret as long as I live, you killed my baby, are you happy now? “ she laughed hysterically, as Akinwale kept pleading with her to lower her voice, “ You disgust me, I wish I had died instead of my poor baby, in fact, I don’t want to see you, get out!” she yelled, Akinwale must have thought that it was a joke until she sat up and removed the needle that was inserted in the fore-flesh of her left hand,
“Get out!!” she yelled again, 2 nurses ran into her room and ushered Akinwale out,
“Please sir, you need to leave. She is in a really critical state right now, as she has already lost a lot of blood and putting her in this kind of condition might worsen her case,” one of the nurses said as she ushered him out, the other nurse tried to pacify Grace who had already broken down into tears, the back of her left hand was bleeding slightly,
“I hate him! I hate him! I don’t want to see him ever again,” she kept saying as the nurses helped her to the bed and she laid on her side again, turning her back to the world. One of the nurses stayed back in case of an emergency.
“I just want to die,” she whispered amidst sobs,
“No madam, you can’t die. You won’t die. Please don’t talk like this,” The nurse said with sympathy,
“Please don’t allow him to come close to me again, please, ”
“I will make sure he doesn’t, I promise. Please just calm down,” she continued, as she cleaned her up and adjusted the needle,
“If you need anything, please use the intercom, so that someone will come and attend to you,” the nurse said,
“Please can I get my phone?” she asked,
“I’m sorry but I don’t think we have it here, let me see if your husband is still around, I will get back to you,” the nurse said as she walked out, she came back some minutes later to tell her that her husband had left,
“But I will tell the doctor so he can reach your husband but if you need to call someone in the meantime, you can use my phone,” she offered,
“Please can you help me talk to my mum, tell her I’m in the hospital, ” She pleaded,
“That’s fine ma, ” the nurse said, handing her an Itel android phone to dial her mum’s number,
“Hello, ma, ”
“Hello, please who am I talking to?” Mrs. Balogun asked she was having her afternoon siesta after church,
“My name is nurse Titi and I am calling you from Solid Rock Private Hospital, ”
“Solid rock hospital, ” she repeated, “Ahn Ahn, is that not my daughter’s family hospital?”
“Yes ma, and I am making this call on behalf of your daughter, ”
“My daughter? Ki lo see? Hope she is fine?” A perplexed Mrs. Balogun asked as she sat up,
“Erhm, we are doing everything to ensure that she is fine ma, ”
“What do you mean, I asked you a straight question, give me a straight answer o jare!” She said,
“Actually, she just lost her baby and…”
“Which baby? What baby are you talking about? Are you sure you are not calling the wrong number? because I still spoke to my daughter yesterday, ”
“Yes ma, I am talking about Mrs. Grace Akinwale. She asked me to put this call through to you and…”
“Yeeh! Ori mi, eleda mi o! My daughter!” Mrs. Balogun yelled as she stood up from her bed and adjusted her wrapper,
“What happened? How come? When did this happen? Where is her husband?” she asked simultaneously, she could hear her daughter crying underneath,
“I am already on my way, I will be there right away,” she said, hanging up hurriedly, without listening to what Nurse Titi had to say, she picked a mismatched headgear that was lying loosely on the bed, and slipped into a casual footwear before heading to her navy-blue Toyota Corolla, although the last time she went to the hospital was when Grace birthed Tobi which was 2 years ago, she still remembered the place vividly,
“Eleda mi saanu mi o! Please Lord, don’t allow anything to happen to my daughter,” she prayed as she zoomed out of her compound.
Written by Sodamade Olamide Tolulope.
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