Our journey back home appeared
shorter. I didn’t want to leave Africa but I had my job and family waiting for
me. Fred on the other hand just wanted go home. He wanted to see the NBA games already. I, on the other hand, was so anxious to start
on our married life.
When we landed, we took a cab back
home. Our flat was a mess. While Fred
took the suitcases to the bedroom, I remained in the other room removing my
shoes. I went to have a seat and noticed
an envelope placed on the table. I picked it up and saw that it was written ‘Urgent’
on it. It was from Mike. The note contained only two sentences. It said “Please
come to the Hospital as soon as you get this. Room 207.”
My heart stopped for a minute. I
showed Fred the note and he seemed more worried than me. We quickly went to the
hospital. We were so scared of what news awaited us. After about ten minutes,
we reached the hospital and quickly rushed to reception where we were directed
to the room. Ann and Mike were standing outside the room talking in hushed
voices.
“Mike, what’s happening?” I asked.
“It’s your dad. He is admitted
after he became sick.” Mike answered. “He is …..”
I didn’t wait for him to finish
what he was saying as I pushed the door to the room and walked in. I saw my dad
lying on the bed while Mum and my brother were standing beside him.
“Mum, what happened?” I asked.
“He suffered a heart attack three
days ago.” Mum replied. “We brought him here and he was stabilized.”
“Why didn’t you guys inform us?” I
asked angrily.
“We didn’t want to interfere with
your honeymoon. Your dad insisted that we don’t contact you and besides, you
guys didn’t take your mobile phones.”
I moved closer to the bed and held
his hand. He was warm. He still looked
like the dad I had grown knowing. I looked around the room and noticed the huge
machines attached to him. The beeping sounds made me even more scared. Tears
started flowing down my face and Fred came and helped me sit on a chair placed
in the room. I held onto Fred so tightly. I didn’t want him to leave me alone. My brother left the room quickly and mum ran
after him.
My heart was beating really fast.
I was so scared. I was not ready for dad to leave us. I just got married a few
days ago and he has not yet even seen my babies. I still needed his guidance on
life. What would our family do without him? A doctor entered the room and greeted
us before going to check on dad. He wrote down something on his file. I stood
up and asked him if dad was okay.
“Yes, he is okay. We managed to stabilize
him but he will have to stay here so that we can check on him.” The doctor
answered.
“Will he be back to normal?” I
asked.
“It depends but we will only know
that when he wakes up. For now, we need to be hopeful.” He replied.