ᵀᴴᴵˢ ᶜᴴᴬᴾᵀᴱᴿ ᴵˢ ᴰᴱᴰᴵᶜᴬᵀᴱᴰ ᵀᴼ keniemarsh1212

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As they speed through the flyover, Boma is unmindful of the fact that her mother is accelerating at a high speed, faster than the other cars, faster than she has ever driven before.

Meanwhile, at the base of the flyover, weaving carelessly between cars and culverts, are three black, tinted SUV's in an entourage. In the first SUV is Mrs. Adebayo, tensed and broken, beside her is Sua, who's duty is to provide comfort for the restless woman. Behind them are two soldiers, and in front, the driver sits with a navy officer. In the second SUV is Mike, Deji and Ike. The third SUV is packed with armed police men.

A few kilometres away, the people at the pleasure park are unaware of the tragedy they are about to witness.

The speeding Toyota Corolla makes a reckless U-turn at the foot of the flyover into Aba road. Driving for a few minutes, and coming to a slow stop as they join the queue at the gate. Before her mother can stop her, Boma alights the vehicle and begins to run inside. Leaving her mother anxious, honking repeatedly, and yelling at the cars to move faster.

Inside the park, Boma is refused entry without a ticket. Each passing moment is too precious to waste. She begins asking people leaving the park if they've come across Ivan. When her description fails, she shows them pictures on her phone, still, they provide more hopelessness. Just when she's about to lose it, her mother shows up behind her.

"mummy they need us to pay, we need to buy tickets," she cries frantically, "tickets." she repeats, her mind is far from arranged.

The queue at the ticket desk stretches far into curved lines, frustrated people murmuring at every turn. To Boma, a second feels like an hour, one she cannot waste. A woman stands beside them, away from the queue, a black leather purse hanging over her shoulder, and two tickets in her hand.

Boma runs up to her. "Please ma, can we buy your tickets? We'll pay double for them, but we just need to get into the park now!"

The woman is dumbfounded, but moved by the tears and urgency of the pretty girl, and so spares them the tickets for the same price. Boma's mother hands over the money to the woman and grabs the tickets. They push their way to the front of the gate, and rush in as soon as they're allowed, paying deaf ears to the people lamenting about their manoeuvre.

Close to a little stream, Boma sights people crowding. She looks ahead and there it is, the most glorious sunset, casting hues of rich gold and shades of sweet orange. Her mind snaps out of the sunset when she connects the dots. With a speed faster than she had ever reached, Boma bolts towards the area, unconcerned by the scene she's creating.

The closer she gets the more her heartbreaks. She can hear the people shouting, 'blood of Jesus!' as more people gather. She squeezes herself through the crowd and comes to an icy still when she sees Ivan seizing on the bare concrete ground. She crawls over to him, lifting his head to her chest, begging him to wake up, while simultaneously yelling for help.

The crowd gives way as her mother runs in, followed by Mrs. Adebayo, Sua and the Soldiers. They immediately pick Ivan up, rushing him into his mother's SUV, amidst the gazing audience, most of which have their cellphones out, recording what doesn't concern them.

On the way to Life Fountains hospital, police has been alerted to keep the highway clear of vehicles, and behind the entourage, Boma and her mom follow closely. Both of them being unable to keep their eyes dry.

"We found him. I don't know if he's going to be okay, we're on our way to the hospital. " Boma cries over the phone.

"Jesus. Jesus." Chinny keeps repeating. It only makes Boma cry more.

"Turn it off." Her mother instructs. She follows the order. Every heart on this entourage beats like drums set for war.

°°°°°

At Life Fountains, the paramedic team have been notified, and are ready on standby. As soon as they sight the entourage, they begin prepping for resuscitation. The SUV halts at the entrance, the team rushes in to grab Ivan's limp body.

Taking note of his open mouth leaking out contents of the substance he ingested, a paramedic remarks, "this is an attempted suicide. " They immediately roll him away. Boma follows behind until she is interrupted by a nurse.

As she watches the doors close, she wonders if that would be the last time she sees Ivan. The thoughts are too much for her to handle, she loosens her bun, allowing her hair to cascade around her face as she sinks into the floor, burying her face between her knees.

In the dark, she replays every single memory. The first day in preparatory class when he gave her his capri-sun, because she had left hers at home, the day he pulled her beads from her hair and stuck it up his nose, the first day her mom brought him to their house after school, how he loved the paintings and flower pots, the moment at her 7th birthday party where he mistakenly blew out her candles before she had the chance to, how everyone laughed and he dropped a blushed peck on her little cheek, she conjures the loneliness she felt that monday he didn't come to school, she remembers that day he sketched her, the day at the mall, how he hugged her, the moment she saw him the evening of prom, how he danced with her, held her like she was the only thing that mattered, how their lips fused and how nebulas exploded in her head, the fight, the moment he left to meet his mom and the moment she told him she hated him, how could she not have seen the signs that he was drowning and looking for a way out?

"What kind of life is this? " She mutters under her tears drenched voice.

In the lobby, Boma's mother and Sua are playing the roles of comforter to the grieving Mrs. Adebayo. Mike and Deji are bickering between themselves about how they failed at locating him.

Inside the resuscitation unit, a nurse rips Ivan's shirt, exposing his muscular chest.
"He's not breathing." she announces. A paramedic takes over, doing CPR compressions, one, two, three. . .

Just outside, Boma has agreed to kill herself too if Ivan doesn't make it.

She doesn't expect it when someone calls her name. She looks up, immediately standing to embrace him. It's Dr. Anthony, whose name she modified to Dr. Handsome. He holds her like she's his daughter. Nobody knows that Dr. Anthony is so attached to Boma because his niece died from sickle cell disease.

"Why are you here again? And why are you crying?" He asks her.

"He tried to kill himself. " she sobs.

"Who? Your friend?" He asks, "the one that brought you in?"

She nods, unable to utter more words.

"They took him in?" He asks again. She nods again. He pats her shoulder before running in through the doors.

On getting to the unit, he sees Ivan, pale and limp. He grabs a defibrillator, shoving the attending paramedic aside, he orders a nurse, "360, charge!" While she's setting up the defibrillator, he continues chest compressions.

"All clear!" She states. He delivers the shock that should restart Ivan's heart.

The heart monitor is almost flat lining. "Charge!" He orders again,

"all clear!"

He delivers another shock the monitor doesn't respond.

"Time of death, 7:25pm," a nurse announces.

Dr. Anthony stares at her, then back at the other nurse, "again!"

She charges it back up, "All clear!"

Dr. Anthony delivers another shock.

In a moment of silence, the medical team watch as the little spikes appear on the heart monitor. They never thought that, a steady beeping noise could bring as much joy as it the one they were all graced to be listening to.

Glowing in perspiration, exhausted to the core, he calls out the nurse who announced the time of death, piercing through her with his scathing glare, he says, "the next time you do that, I'll see to it that your license is withdrawn. Admit him into the ICU, administer naloxone, swab the spittle and send to the lab for immediate testing, we need to know what he injested." With that, he walked away, having added another life to the multitude he has saved.

The doors slide open again and he is faced with eyes, all asking the same question.

"We were able to resuscitate him, but we still don't know what he ingested. We've sent samples of his spittle to the laboratory and we'll get results soon. We know he's alive, but we don't know how much damage had been done. Let's just hope that we got him in time. We'll know by tomorrow. For now, he is in the ICU and nobody is allowed to see him."

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~♡Tamunosakiogaree♡~