LOOKING FOR MISS RIGHT! Episode 33 ...I couldn’t believe my ears. Flores couldn’t be dead. Not young, bubbling Flores, the woman I had befriended for eight years. It was a hard fact to swallow. The doctor was still rambling on about the procedure for releasing the body, I blocked his words out. Without meaning to, I found myself walking away. I had no idea where I was going but I knew I needed to get out of there. “Jake!” It was Femi. I didn’t answer, I couldn’t. I felt like I was struggling for air. I kept going… “Sir!” Another voice called. “Sir!” I stopped and turned, a nurse hurried to catch up with me. “That…is the way to the mortuary.” She panted. “Excuse me?” I blinked at her. “You’re going the wrong way. Only authorized persons are allowed in there.” She explained. “Oh…I’m sorry. I was actually looking for the gents.” I said distractedly. “No, you’re not. Come with me” Femi was right behind me. He placed a hand on my shoulder and nudged me towards the exit. I didn’t argue with him, I let him lead me like a robot to the car. We leaned quietly on the car for the next ten minutes. “I’m sorry, Jake.” Femi spoke breaking the silence. “It’s not your fault.” I said in the bravest voice I could muster. “I know how you felt about her. She didn’t deserve to die like that.” I didn’t reply. What could I say? I wasn’t even ready to accept the fact that my only chance of happiness was gone. It still seemed like a dream to me. “We have to notify her family. The doctor says we need to pick up the body soon. I was thinking…” Femi was saying. “She should have called, you know. Just once. She would have been taken to the best hospital to have her baby. She didn’t need to die like this.” I lamented. “What did she have?” “Have?” “The baby. Is it a boy or a girl?” “A girl.” I nodded. A girl. “Oscar and Abbey are on their way.” Femi said. “I want to see her.” I said. “She’s gone, Jake. Don’t torture yourself about it.” “I want to see her.” I repeated. Everything around me felt cold. The coldness started from within. My heart had just taken a huge blow and I didn’t know how to take it. I felt like I was talking through lead lips, my mouth could barely move. I didn’t know grief could make a person speechless. At that moment Oscar and Abbey pulled up beside us in their car. “Good. Oscar’s here. He can talk to the doctor to know exactly what caused her death.” Femi said. “Does it make any difference? She’s gone.” I said bitterly. “The least we could do is find out.” “Oh my God. We heard. Is it true?” Abby asked as she and Oscar got out of the car. Femi nodded. “I’m afraid it is, Abby. She’s gone.” “No, no.” She whispered and crumpled into her husband’s arms. “That’s terrible.” Oscar said in a grief-stricken voice. “How could that happen? She was so young. Did the doctors tell you anything?” “Complications…that’s what they said. She lost a lot of blood.” Femi said. Oscar glanced at me, and then turned to Femi. “How’s he taking it?” “I’m right here.” I said. “And I’m perfectly fine.” That was the biggest lie of the century. I wasn’t fine; in fact…I was far from fine. “Have you called her parents?” Oscar asked. “Not yet.” Femi replied. “Why did she list you as her next-of-kin?” “I have no idea.” “I want to talk to the doctor in charge. Let’s go in.” Oscar said. “And I want to see her.” I added. We went back into the building to find the doctor and get me an audience with Flores’ corpse. We found the doctor in a small room labeled ‘office’. He recognized Femi and I and offered us a seat. “My friend here is a doctor too; we’d like to know exactly what caused her death.” Femi said. “ Umm…Florence, right? She was anaemic…having a baby was not in the best of her interests. It was a risk she took and she needed lots of care during the period of her pregnancy. Besides, she wasn’t that young.” He said. My friends and I glanced at each other. Flores? Anaemic? That wasn’t possible. Flores hardly fell sick and she had no such condition or we’d have known about it. “I’m sorry doc, but Florence had no such condition. She was healthy as far as we know.” Oscar said. “And she was far from old. She was still in her twenties.” I added. The doctor stared at us. “I think you’re making a mistake here.” “How about we clear our doubts by seeing the body?” I asked. The doctor now had a slightly embarrassed look on his face. “I’ll call a nurse to take you to identify the body, while I look around for her file.” He said. He summoned a nurse to take us to the mortuary. Our hearts were beating rapidly as we made our way there. It was obvious we were all thinking the same thing but didn’t have the courage to say it out, for fear of disappointment. We arrived at the place where the bodies were kept and covered. “This is Florence’ body.” She pointed at a covered corpse. I hesitated. “Go ahead, Jake.” Oscar urged. I pulled back the cover, and stared at the body. I heard a sharp intake of breath behind me as we looked at the body before us... ~k
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 07:40:40 +0000
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