Simi- Duduke
After the game and a couple of drinks from a two litre bottle of coke, Lejandro decided he would call out the next game since he was the first to be kicked out, that wasn't exactly the rule, the winner had to choose and this erupted a ridiculous argument until Ciarra finally shushed them so Lejandro could choose.
He decided they played a fair game, Truth or Dare.
" So who spins first?" Amanda asked.
" You know this particular game never ends well in all the movies I've watched?" Ashanti asked.
" Yeah we're going to need some ground rules." Heather reiterated.
" Got it, no swearing, no crude questions or dares and no violent dares." Lejandro lists out.
" Aye -aye captain." Kobby salutes him.
" So if you don't do your dare or don't want to tell the truth, you drink an entire bottle of water and I hear the bathrooms here are really far down this hall." Lejandro chuckled pointing at the paperbag carrying a pack of bottled water.
" How do we in..clude Becca in t...th.. this?" Zaron asked.
" She likes music, if we could play music she could connect with us easily." Amanda replied
" Music?" Zuriah asked skeptically.
" Rebecca loves music, why do you think she learnt how to disc jockey?" Amanda asked Zuriah.
" Oh." She agreed.
" We came prepared." Lejandro grinned grabbing Zaron's backpack and rummaging through it for his Bluetooth speaker, " What's Rebecca's favorite song?"
" She likes anything Alan Walker, Kygo, Megan Trainer, Ava Max and Bebe Rexha."
" The electronic sound musicians." Ciarra comprehends.
" I have Bebe Rexha." Lejandro turned on the Bluetooth and scrolled through his list of songs in his cellphone while the two devices paired, " But first I'll like to dedicate a very special African song to the baby."
Simi's Dduke begins to play.
" Okay who's starting?" Amanda asked about the game so curious to get to know Rebecca's classmates.
" Zaron." Lejandro declares and placed the bottle infront of Zaron as they gathered around to sit.
" W..why me?" Zaron whines.
" Shut up, just spin the bottle." Lejandro seethes.
Zaron glared at him before spinning the bottle. It fell on Zuriah.
" Truth or Dare?" Zaron asked.
" Truth."
" Do you know who the baby's d..d..d..dad is?" Zaron asked.
" I don't know how you think I am so different from you guys. Rebecca literally doesn't tell me a lot of things, I know he's from Jordan where she was raised but who he actually is, I don't know." Zuriah replied.
" I don't like Arabian guys." Lejandro declares.
" You are Arabian dude." Heather reminds him.
" Shut up." He says earning him a shove from Heather.
" Your turn." Amanda tells Zuriah who proceeded to spin the bottle and it falls on Ciarra.
" Truth or Dare?"
" Truth." Ciarra decided.
" Are you a perfectionist?" The question took her by surprise.
" Perfectionist like how?" Ciarra protests.
" Like those kind of people who always make sure their T's are of the same height in their entire writing, no shorthands, extremely neat you know what I'm talking about right?"
" Can I answer for her? Yes she is." Kobby butts in.
" Hey!" Ciarra exclaimed, " Why would you think that?"
" I work in the Teacher's common room and I've come along your books countless times and your books are exceptionally neat even after months of writing in them, no dog ears and your handwriting is just insanely linear." Zuriah chuckled.
" Hey then I'm pretty sure if you saw Faye's books you'd pass out. She has the most impeccably beautiful penmanship I've ever seen. It's cursive like a computer typed it." Ashanti adds, " But yes Ciarra is a perfectionist probably from birth. "
" Really?" Ciarra asked.
" You're the only one with post-it's on your headrest about your schedules, assignment, things to do, it's so weird. I thought I was responsible but Ciarra's own is out of this world. She arranges her stationary from most used to least used in her pencil case and would wash her shoes even if she wore it for just thirty minutes in PE and that day wasn't even sporty, we sat in the studio to do music, no running. I would hang out my uniform if I wore it for a day without hectic activities but Ciarra would wash her clothes though she didn't do anything hectic that day." Heather elaborates.
" You too?" Ciarra wondered totally appalled.
" I told you guys. She literally makes me feel unkempt everytime, I can't walk around with my shirt unbuttoned like the other guys do in class, I can't go around with my shirt untucked because she'd hate me and I definitely can't wear the same shirt twice in a row but hey, it makes me a better person. Because of that, apart from Zaron, every other teacher thinks I'm a gentleman." Kobby adds.
" Fine I'm a little close to a perfectionist and it's mostly because of my governess when I was younger."
" You had a governess? I thought those things only existed for British royals." Ashanti asked.
" They are meant to help raise girls to be responsible, polite and smart adults in future and my Dad is a sucker for good character so he got me one."
Ciarra spun the bottle to cut them off and it fell on Ashanti.
" Truth or Dare?"
Ashanti knew there were a lot of questions people had about her so she chose a dare.
" Make Zaron laugh." Ciarra said. Everyone knew it was rare to see Zaron laughing. Yh he smiled and grinned but to laugh...
And Ashanti wondered how. She did know for sure that the boys could be the only reason Zaron would laugh but Kobby sat opposite Lejandro. Kobby took a swig of his coke. Ashanti got an idea, she smacked Kobby upside the head and he automatically sprayed the fizzy drink all over Lejandro and Zaron who sat next to each other. Lejandro was the most affected getting Zaron to laugh at his face dripping with coke mixed with Kobby's saliva.
" Someone get tissues." Amanda called. At this point everyone was laughing.
" We have none but we did bring baby wipes." Ciarra says opening a paper bag for it and pulling out several wads of it for Lejandro before handing a couple to Kobby.
" That is so not fair." Lejandro states.
" My turn ", Ashanti spins the bottle and it falls on Kobby.
Kobby obviously chooses a dare just to pay Ashanti back.
" Kiss Ciarra." She says and Ciarra shoots her a glare, " I know...you hate me so much now."
" You know, quite recently at the Scripture Union meeting, I was informed that people dating shouldn't try little things that will lead them on to bigger things." Ciarra states in her defense.
" Since when did you start doing bible?" Lejandro chuckled.
" I don't know, Cameron introduced me into the club, you know her right, she was my first seating partner remember?"
" So you guys have never..." Amanda asked, " What kind of relationship do you have, friendship?"
" I don't know which of the ships we are but we're definitely in a relationship." Kobby defends.
They went on fussing about random stuff for two more hours, as dusk approached, they all decided to call it a day and retired to their various homes.
OoO
8:15pm read the clock next to the gigantic windows of her ward when she opened her eyes. She realized what woke her, a loud shrilling cry that sounded so unfamiliar to her, like... like that from a baby. Rebecca turned her head to the side and saw the flaying arms of the little infant in the crib next to her.
Right, she was a mother now and that was obviously her baby. Last thing she remembered seeing was blinding lights in the labour ward. Rebecca tried to get up but her back hurt in ways she couldn't imagine like she had been lying down for hours. What day was today? She wondered to herself because the room she was in smelled quite different from the one she'd labored in.
It took a few seconds of trying before she could reach out to the crib and pull it closer to her. She didn't even know how to pick her up right so she turned to the bell on her headrest and pressed twice on it to call the nurse . She could see the look in the baby's teary eyes but she was scared to pick her up the wrong way, the lights in her room were off so she could barely make out her daughter's face.
The doctor on duty rushed in with her nurse in toe and flipped the lights on. Rebecca squinted at the inflow of white light as she took in her surroundings. Tied to her headrest were balloons and strimmers with the inscription, " It's a Girl" boldly written on it. There were several colourful paperbags and greeting cards next to her nightstand. She was too confused to ask any questions.
" Where's Dr Ortega?" She croaked.
" He left you in my care, I am Dr Hues." The lady replied as the nurse picked up the baby rocking her but she wouldn't stop crying.
" She's hungry." The nurse says with a warm smile, " I'm going to teach you how to breastfeed her."
She took her time in teaching Rebecca how to pick her baby up, breastfeed her and change her clothes and diapers. In an hour the baby was asleep in new change of clothes. The doctor returned to her duties leaving Rebecca with her daughter sleeping in her crib.
Rebecca couldn't sleep after that so she decided to turn off the lights to see if that would work. She stared in the darkness of her room and suddenly, something moved in the window. She hoped she was on some sort of medication responsible for that. She noticed something in the window, like a shadow and she slowly pulled the baby's crib towards her bed. She realized just how vulnerable she'd become now that she had a baby. When she looked up, the shadow was gone.
" Missed me?" A familiar voice says frightening the life out of her. She immediately got out of her bed ripping the IV tubes out of her hand.
Before she could make way towards him, he took one long stride meeting her lips with his. Rebecca pushed him away.
" Are you insane? You scared the living daylight out of me." She held her chest in panic trying to calm herself down.
" I never thought I'd ever see you afraid." He laughed one of his stupid egotistical laughs.
" I have a baby now, of course I am scared. I mean I can fend for myself but what about her?" She asked him wiping the stupid smirk off his face,
" Anyway she looks way too much like you, it's scary."
" Didn't pick you obviously." He teased as she helped him pick up the sleeping infant, " Oh my she's so fragile, what if someone wants to hurt her?"
" Don't start thinking negatively Eric, we're both going to be here for her." She assured him noticing his watch beep.
" It's 10 o'clock, I've got to go. I'll be here at 9am tomorrow to check you girls out."
" No need, Aunt Louisa will be here." She says, " Do you have to leave, I mean you just got here."
" I know I know and I love you two so much...look at my little girl." He cooed at the baby kissing her on the cheek before placing her gently in the crib,
" I would love to stay but I kind of did a detour through this mission because I really wanted to see my baby before she's a week old."
" A week?" Rebecca asked.
" Yeah I heard you were unconscious, you've been out for almost a week."
" Wow." Rebecca sighed before turning to him, " Talk to me...why have you suddenly been hiding things from me?"
" Becca, because you have way too much company now. At first it was just the sick girl, then your dorm mates and now look around you. You have become one of them." He says referring to the balloons and presents, " Did you know they were literally sitting here while you were unconscious the entire day?"
So that's were those weird dreams were coming from. The noise she'd been hearing was literally from the room. Suddenly her head hurt so she sat back on her bed briefly
" If this wasn't urgent, I wouldn't leave. Love you Becca." He kissed her on the cheek before leaving the way he came.
" Be careful!" Becca called after him as he disappeared into the bushes beneath the window.
They were on the second floor of the maternity ward block. She went back to bed and thought deeply about what he just said. Was she really changing? Even if she was was it such a bad thing to change?
An hour went by , then another, then another the nurse brought her a needle and some sort valium in a bottle to put her to sleep easily but she refused to take it afraid she might fall into another coma. The nurse left it on the tray and exited just in case she would like to use it another time.
All she could hear was the sound of the clock ticking. The wind blew gastly into the room and rustled the curtains at the window. That was when she noticed another shadow. Did Eric forget something? But it's been three hours, this was definitely not him. She was on guard, with paranoid instincts, she jolted from her bed and the shadow stood still for a while then moved. Her arms reached out for her baby's hand and as if sensing danger, she also gripped her mother's finger. Rebecca glanced at the tray and quickly inserted the syringe in the bottle, drawing out the entire content of the bottle. The lights in her room suddenly begun to flicker on and off.
There were two windows in the room. One to the east of her bed and one to the north. The shadow was in the window Eric came through which was to the east so quickly she picked up a pillow and placed it on the northern window sill. If something was going to happen at least her baby didn't need to get involved. She quickly picked up her baby and placed her on that pillow pulling the curtains to conceal her. What she feared though was the baby suddenly crying or moving because then she would fall off the window sill.
She placed the syringe in the pocket of the hoodie she wore over the hospital robe.
" Tofic came by didn't he, you work with him?" The thickly accented voice asked but Rebecca was too alarmed to pinpoint the accent. She pressed on the bell again.
" Let's not do this the hard way, nothing works inside this room anymore, no bell, no lights. " He stepped into the room , only the moonlight outside helping her see a portion of his grotesque visage.
" I don't owe you any information. Get out of the room!"
" Nice, very fierce. Let's not play around. Your boy is in charge of transporting a huge deposit. Give us his current location now."
" I don't know." The next sound that emanated got her placing her hands to her ears. Gun shots.
" I must say, the hospital has quite the security. I have company so tell us where and we'll get out of your hair, everyone will be safe." He says calmly pointing a riffle at her head, " Tell me where Tofic is !!!"
" I don't know." She replied and he whipped her around by her hair smacking her across the face. Rebecca immediately retaliated by hitting his groin with her knee and he buckled over but quickly reached out to grab her before she could escape. He held her by the neck and angrily begun to choke her. Rebecca was too weak to try anything, she slowly reached out to the pocket of her hoody while he concentrated on making sure she was dead. She stabbed him in the neck as hard as she could and he froze a second, his eyes becoming lazy and he dropped her.
She picked up his riffle and stuffed it in her hoodie just incase and peeped through the doorway. There were a lot more of them in the hallways. She peeped through the window he came from and noticed the hospital carpark and a tiny bush right beneath the building. That was her only exit. But it was two storeys down and she had a baby with her. She picked her baby up from hiding and went through the paper bags for warmer clothes. She found a knitted sweater and put it over her daughter who was now awake.
" Everything is going to be fine sweetie." She says more to convince herself than the baby. Clutching her little girl carefully in her arms she climbed out the window holding on to the pipes for support. She looked two storeys down. It was very far with a baby in hand. She breathes heavily as she manages to slide down the pipes with one hand slowly so she didn't rip the pipes off the wall. It took several excruciating minutes before she finally landed on hard ground shielding the baby from the impact.
The baby automatically begins to whimper. Becca quickly put a hand to her baby's mouth as she leaned against the wall, sweat breaking on her brow, " Listen sweetie, crying won't help us right now, please please don't." She prayed.
She suddenly noticed one of the hospital's security guards lying down unconscious on the lawn opposite and the sudden screams that followed let her know there were more of them out there. It was pitch dark on the side of the building she was at and because of the baby she wanted to be very careful about her next move. The light from a flashlight crossed the path infront of her. A few seconds it crossed again and she finally noticed the pattern, left left right center. All she had to do was to move right, right, center left. She bolted out of hiding on her cue into the opposite parking lot where she found her new doctor lying next to her Kia Sorento, the keys not so far from her.
Someone had knocked her out. She needed to get out of the place so she grabbed the keys and unlocked the door. She carefully placed her daughter in the shotgun before getting behind the wheel. She picked her up and started the car. She heard shouts as soon as the headlights shone and she just knew she had to speed up so she pressed on the gas pedal and went down the road not knowing where it led to since she wasn't familiar with the surroundings but she just drove. A few seconds later she noticed two cars tailing her.
" Sweetie what do I do now, I have no idea where I'm at?" She asked her daughter who moved her little arms glaring up at her mother, ," Goodness how fast is this thing!!" She banged at the steering wheel trying to lose them but scared for her baby as she drove at high speed. She changed gears again stepping on the gas pedal as the engine roared. At a crossroad she took a sharp turn to the left which came as a surprise to her pursuers.
" Lord, where do I go to elude them?" Rebecca anxiously wondered. Just when she was about thinking about it shots were fired from behind her and she ducked getting the car to narrowly skid off the row. It was already enough trouble driving with one hand.
She soon gained control of the wheel and drove through the bushes. They diverted there too. The bush was terrible but it led straight to a street. She saw a police motorcycle cross the street and immediately followed it. It drove right to a police station and she almost drove there but then she noticed a car of the same make and colour as hers parked at the station. Her pursuers hadn't manuveured their way out of the woods yet so she drove to the darkest part of the street and turned off her headlights. They came out a few seconds later just as the car in the station backed out of the police station and immediately, they chased after it. The police on standby noticed the suspicious vehicles and got into their squad cars right on their tail.
After ten minutes of trying to calm herself down, Rebecca started the car again. She definitely couldn't go back to the hospital and she didn't know much about places in the country since she was knew and it was 1 am. She wondered which of her friends would be awake at such an odd hour to help her... Zuriah, she thought.
She was insomniac and literally the only friend she knew everything about. She glanced at the signboard for the police station, it said Cantonment East, Zuriah lived in Osu and she had hinted that Cantonment wasn't so far away. She drove towards the station and asked a man standing in front of the police station the route to Osu and he gave her the directions only to see a shattered windshield at the back of her car and smashed taillights as she drove off. He was a bit paranoid why a teenager was driving with a baby in her lap with a messed up car but he let it go.
She new after she crossed the busy part of Osu she'd see the City Market grocery store. Zuriah's house was five blocks to the right from it and she had a blue gate.
She watched her daughter glare at the city lights at night from the many malls, boutiques and restaurants lining up the mainlands of Osu. She saw the huge grocery store and took the left turn next to it. She saw the cozy bungalow with the blue gate and honked at the gate. A sleepy lady came to the gate a few minutes later, obviously Zuriah's nanny by which time the baby had given up and started to wail.
" Hello good evening sorry to wake you, please tell Zuriah Rebecca is here."
The news threw Zuriah in a shock so she bolted to the gates from the living room where she was watching TV to go see for herself. And there Rebecca sat in a badly dented SUV with a baby in her lap.
" Oh my goodness!" Zuriah exclaimed immediately unlocking the gates for her to drive in.
After closing up she immediately took the baby from Rebecca who looked like she could pass out at any moment.
" Dude are you insane, how can you show up at my doorsteps looking like Hitler's army is after you."
" Worse, assassins." Rebecca sighed as Zuriah walked them into the house.
" Seriously?" Zuriah asked flipping the living room lights on since the tv had been the only lighting.
" It's a long story." Rebecca face palmed as Zuriah rocked the crying baby, " Do you think she needs a diaper change?"
" Let's see." Zuriah gently placed her on the couch and checked, " Nope, she's definitely hungry. I hear newborns eat a lot."
" Do you have something for her?" Rebecca asked hopefully.
" Nope, especially not when her mother is sitting right opposite me. You need to breastfeed her constantly until school resumes."
"You know I don't want to think about that." Rebecca points out.
" The nurse taught you how to breastfeed, didn't she?" Zuriah asked and Rebecca responding with a nod which she soon regretted as her head hurt even more.
" I think I'm going to need some pain killers."
" I'm going to get you a suitable one from the pharmacy, I don't think the ones I have here are okay for nursing mothers." Zuriah hands the baby back to her, " I'm going to ran a warm shower for you first because I don't think you remember the last time you showered. While I'm gone, feed her."
" Hey what day is today?" Rebecca called after her as she walked towards the bathroom.
" It's Friday judging by the fact that it's almost three am now." Zuriah replied before stepping out.
Rebecca wanted to rest but the baby's teary cries finally forced her to give in, " Okay okay, you win. You are so persistent do you know that? You didn't even say a proper Hello to your aunt Zuriah." After getting her in the right position, the little girl falls asleep within minutes.
Zuriah walked in on them and pointed out her room for Rebecca to place the baby down. She did and left for her shower. After changing into Zuriah's sweatpants and t-shirt, she returns back to the living room where Zuriah had returned with some pills and a glass of water. After taking the pills she couldn't sleep anymore. She sat next to Zuriah on the couch with bags under her eyes though she couldn't sleep. Zuriah being a nocturnal person pulled her in for a warm side hug.
*******************