{COMPLETED} "This is the sequel to The Wrong Crowd."
"I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine." - Emily Bronte.
Following the acceptance to Dami's proposal, Ore begins to slowly realize that not a...
Madeleine's eyes narrowed to slits and she lunged at Ore, landing her a loud slap before she was restrained by the nurse.
"She has given her virginity to a boy, now, she has HIV. A senseless child bent on bringing disgrace to the family. In fact, I curse the day I gave birth to you, from today, you are no longer my child. You have become a stranger!" Madeline kept on screaming frightfully as the nurse struggled to pull her away to the exit door.
Ore couldn't move or speak. Her mum said she had been diagnosed of an HIV infection, there was nothing left for her to live for anymore. Martha with mouth agape tried to comfort Ore who had started weeping furiously. She trashed around, wailing helplessly and the surgical drip the doctor had infused in her arm went off.
Bright red blood began gushing out from the small incision on her vein. Ore was hurled into a mental crisis. She wrestled with Mercy thinking what a big mistake she'd made to sleep with Dami. Now, her life and her career was over. Ore wanted to run away from everyone, she wanted to cower and hide in a secret place. A place where nobody knew her name.
The nurse rushed back into the humid room with a doctor seeing Ore kicking the drip stand away from her. It crashed to the floor leaving Martha gasping in shock. Ore screamed feeling a sharp abdominal pain slit through her and she began to shake violently. Martha and Mercy had to evacuate the space so that the doctor could have the matter in absolute control.
Mercy dragged her feet across the marble tiles as she resumed her seating position at the waiting area. Neither her or Martha were able to utter a word. It seemed the security had taken Madeline away because she didn't spot her red leather handbag or her thread like hair. Mercy couldn't imagine the toll the news had taken on Ore's mum that caused her to snap.
She clasped her hands in front of her in form of prayer but she was mute. She shared a perplexed look with Martha whose arms were crossed on her chest as if deep in thought.
"This is mind blowing," Mercy croaked, her voice dangerously low.
Martha nodded in agreement. "I can't believe that guy slept with her even after knowing he had the disease."
"Men," Mercy tsk tsked. "They are something else seriously."
Mercy nervously bounced her knee as they waited for news from the doctor. After what seemed like ages, the doctor finally walked over to them and stated that Ore had been heavily sedated so she was going to be out throughout the night. The man gave them a commiserate look and gestured for them to follow him into his office.
Normally, patient's information weren't supposed to be disclosed to people not related to the family. But in this case, the doctor had to because he saw that Madeline had misinterpreted the information he'd given her wrongly causing everyone to be thrown into a state of panic and frenzy. Martha had to lean on Mercy for support. Her head was close to exploding and her legs were wobbly like jelly.
The man opened the door to his decluttered office and headed in. A cold rush of air invited Martha and she rubbed her arm conscious of the thin fabric clothing she was wearing. They both sat opposite the doctor who had sweat coated on his forehead and an emphatic look on his face.
"So I called you guys here to actually relay to you the results from the abdominal pelvic scan we did on her. We found a growing tumor close to her left ovary that has high chances of spreading to the right. And that is the reason for her intense abdominal pain. Fear not, she doesn't have HIV like the mother said. It's just that the symptoms are alike."
Mercy and Martha both gulped as they tried to take in what the man was telling them. "Your friend has an acute case of PID infection that's why she passes in and out of shock. PID infection simply means pelvic inflammatory disease. It can be gotten by having unprotected sex or the introduction of bacteria into the vagina and it blocks period flow. Her case is nearing an HIV infection so we had to run a test to be sure she's free."
"Is she, doctor?" Martha asked clearing her throat to make her voice more pronounced.
"Yes, she is. The lab results came in while we were trying to stabilize her some minutes ago. We weren't supposed to get hold of the results so soon though but I pulled some strings." He snickered. Mercy heaved a sigh of relief.
"All we can do right now is to keep her monitored for the next twenty four hours with consistent drug and injections to help relieve the severe pain she feels once in a while. I have prescribed some medications that will help her when she is discharged. You guys have no cause to worry, it's not an HIV infection and we thank God she was brought it when she did. It would have been a sorry story by now if not."
Martha muttered a 'God forbid!'.
"So I am done here, we just have to wait till tomorrow to see how her condition improves," the doctor briefly stated before an emergency call came in that ushered Mercy and Martha out of the office in a hurry.
They linked hands together as they winded down the long hallway.
Ore's roommate's had passed their night in the hospital. The crowd from before had thinned considerably and there was enough space for them to stretch on the iron seats. Mercy was the first to wake up. She was awoken by a small group of nurses gathered around in prayer. She didn't waste time in covering her hair with a wrapper and joining them.
The Bible said that wherever two or three were gathered in his name, his presence would always be in their midst. Mercy silently prayed for Ore to recover quickly so she would be discharged for her to prepare for her exams. Sickness wasn't a part of the brethren's life.
Martha jolted awake surprised to see herself in a hospital until the events from the night before came crashing down on her. She yawned tiredly and got up. Doing kinks to free her stiff legs and wandering around the corridors of the massive hospital.
Ore's fingertips moved and her eyes began to blink repeatedly as she made a feeble attempt to turn to her side. Her lower abdomen was still paining her greatly but she was thankful to be alive. Ore slowly opened her eyes. She took in the hazy white washed walls of the hospital and the drip now infused on hand.
She swallowed with difficulty and began making some movements like she wanted to pee. A nurse who was by to check on her vitals assisted her in going to the toilet and back. She adjusted the arch of Ore's bed and then put her to lay down. She was about tucking the covers around Ore before she weakly requested to see her roommates.
The lady quickly finished up with what she was doing and hurried out to tell Martha and Mercy that Ore wanted to see the both of them. Martha had been pacing the length of the area calling Dami to inform him of what happened but he didn't pick up.
She decided to contact Philip instead. After he called that Dami was back home with his twin, he asked after Ore but she'd lied because telling him that she was in a hospital would escalate his worry. Martha realized now that she made a big mistake in doing that. As Philip picked on the second ring, she swallowed her pride and muttered the words that shattered her heart.
"Ore is in the UPTH hospital right now and she needs you."
That was all it took for Philip to throw on a shirt even as he just roused from sleep and grab his car keys.
