Unable to sleep, Dotun sat up in his sparsely furnished
one-roomed apartment and could not shake off the feeling that something was
most definitely wrong. And he knew it had to do with Peju. Leaning his head
wearily against the peeling wall, he prayed silently…and waited.
* * *
Somebody was
tearing out her insides. Each stab into her belly brought a fresh onslaught of
pain, consuming her entire being. She was swimming in an inky blackness,
struggling to reach the surface. Finally, with a violent gasp, Peju tore away
into consciousness. The first thing her mind registered was the pain. Pain
raking through her entire body, reaching into places she didn’t even know
existed. It consumed her whole body. And then there was the blood. Blood
everywhere. Confused and scared, she tried to bring the previous evening to
focus, but all she remembered was inhaling a little more weed than usual, then
nothing…till the nightmare. She had to get help. She weakly reached for her
cellphone and called Dumebi, the strength required to hold the cellphone almost
too much to bear. No response. How she regretted choosing a BQ so far from
everyone else, not that she wanted anyone seeing her like this. She didn’t have
any neighbors close enough to hear her cry for help, though. Another wave of
pain washed over her and she thought she was going to pass out. Almost giving
up and giving in to the pain, one lone face came to mind. With all the strength
she could mutter, she reached again for her phone and searched for the number. By the time she'd made the call, all her strength was gone. Sobbing weakly from the pain, she dragged herself out of the apartment to the front steps and welcomed the numbing darkness of unconsciousness.
* * *
Back on campus, Dotun felt he had
prayed himself out and was finally ready to catch up on lost sleep. Out of
nowhere, his cell phone rang shrilly, piercing the stillness of the night. He
snatched it up and was shocked to see the caller ID ‘Peju Daudu’ on the screen. He didn't remember that they’d
ever exchanged numbers…must’ve have been one of the times he’d had to
‘offices-sit’ for Dr. Ehime. Shaking himself awake, he picked the call. Ten
minutes later, he was driving crazily out of the Post-Graduate Hall towards the
staff quarters where Peju lived, praying under his breath. He wasn’t going to
let this one die.
By the time he got
to the BQ Peju had described, he was sweating profusely…praying desperately
that she was still conscious. The way she’d sounded on the phone had scared the
life out of him. Why he was so affected by the situation baffled a tiny part of
his consciousness…he hardly knew the girl. All second thoughts vanished from
his mind the moment he went up to the house. Peju was lying on the front steps,
unconscious. For a brief moment, Dotun dejectedly thought she was dead. Thirty
minutes later, he carried a bloody unconscious Peju into the University
Teaching Hospital, his shout for help startling a dozing nurse awake. Still
half-asleep, the nurse directed him down the hallway to the emergency ward,
promising he’d find someone to attend to them.
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