BFFs: Married To My Sister's Best friend

33. Coma

Sa'eed drops the special whip he bought for beating Halima. He had used the strong thick handle of the whip to hit his mother on the head, hard. He goes over to hold a hysterically crying Aleesha, while his mother lays unconscious on the ground with Halima trying hard to wake her up as tears stream down the latter's face unstoppably.

"Haba Sa'eed what have you done?! Just take a look at Ammi, she's your mother for Allah's sake!" Halima says to Sa'eed who ignores her as she - with shaky hands - tries to call either Amal or Afnan. They both know how to drive so they can get here fast. Amal picks the call and Halima almost shouts in relief. She's too confused to drive. Moreover the car Sa'eed gave her as birthday gift has been snatched by yours truly, Aleesha AbdulMajid.

"Amal come to my house fast." Amal utters and okay and before she can even ask what's wrong Halima ends the call and calls Doctor Maryam to tell her to please help her with the number of a doctor she might happen to know that's in Kuje. The number is sent to her and she calls the doctor who tells her the hospital he's in.

Just as Halima manages to drag Innayo off the ground and leans her on her injured shoulders, Amal comes rushing inside the house.

"What happened to Ammi?!" Amal screams as she notices the back of her mother's headtie stained with blood. Halima hasn't even noticed it.

"Just get us to this hospital." Halima hands her phone to Amal who nods frantically and places Innayo's other limp hand on her shoulder to support Halima. She might hate her sister - Fatima - but she doesn't hate Halima. Halima is like the sister she never had.

Arriving at the hospital, Amal calls the nurses. They arrive with a stretcher and within the blink of an eye, Innayo is on the stretcher being wheeled into the emergency room.

While Halima perambulates in front of the two glass doors, Amal calls her dad and Afnan. Hajjo is out of the country for a two week course on learning Indian style of interior decoration and won't be back till next week.

Almost two hours later, Abba and Afnan come running while throwing questions in the air. Halima opens her mouth to tell them all that has been happening but she's cut off by the sound of the glass doors opening. A doctor with a white knitted cap popularly known as taba kaji hadisi, rimmed glasses, well trimmed sideburns and a subtle beard comes out with hands in the pockets his crisp white lab coat, his black Jean trousers complimenting his caramel skin and auburn shoes.

His tag says Doctor Kwami and beneath it General surgeon is written. He uses his calculating auburn slits for eyes hidden behind rimmed medicated glasses to look at Abba who's obviously the oldest for a millisecond, then Halima for the same time rate, then Amal for the same time rate also before Afnan, his eyes lingering on her scared ones for almost thirty seconds before he shakes his head remembering what he's supposed to do.

"Are you the family of the patient who has an injury on the head and was brought one hundred and four minutes, thirty seconds ago?" Doctor Kwami asks and Afnan looks at him bewildered. He's a maths freak! Not really but still. And he freaking wears braces!

"Yes." Halima answers immediately and the doctor says one of them should follow him. Halima follows him, limping which doesn't go unnoticed by Abba, Amal and Afnan.

"Why is Adda Halima limping?"

"What happened to Adda Halima's leg?" Amal and Afnan ask simultaneously. Abba shrugs and they both look back at the direction Halima took with the doctor.

Halima follows Doctor Kwami into his office and he offers her a seat which she quickly takes due to the immense pain she's feeling in her ankles, precisely her left ankle. Maybe she twisted it because her shoe twisted when she was trying to get out of the car and her ankle has been paining her since.

"I'm Doctor Aliyu Usman Kwami, the surgeon that is in charge of Mrs Abba Sulayman. The injury on her head is a minor one, it's just a small opening a little above her telencephalon also known as the cerebrum which is in charge of emotions, memory, thought, reasoning and consciousness. The opening is about zero point zero three centimeters - 0.03cm - wide but unfortunately it touched the cerebrum by zero point zero zero nine - 0.009 - and even the slightest damage to the cerebrum can cause problems.

"But that wasn't the reason she became unconscious. Her blood pressure shot up to one hundred and ninety eight - 198 -, pressuring her heart making the slight swelling in her heart to increase by one point two millimeters - 1.2mm. And till right this minute the blood pressure has refused to reduce. If we aren't lucky, she might end up being paralyzed or having a stroke. And we're not sure if she will be able to remember everything she knows because due to the slight damage on the cerebrum, her memories might be tampered.

"We've not completed the diagnosis and what I just did was against the ethics of the hospital because I just told you what might be or might not be true. But I have to atleast let you know her situation because I know how it feels to be in your shoes awaiting news about a family member, I was once in your position but does it really matter?" The doctor lets out a sad chuckle and his pager beeps making him hurriedly excuse himself and speed past Abba, Amal and Afnan into the Operating Theater, leaving the baffled father and children.

Halima comes out limping with a defeated face and slumps on the iron chair beside Amal. Before they can ask her what the doctor said, she starts speaking.

"A few days after our one month anniversary, Ya Om.. Ya Sa'eed started acting out of character. It started with him pushing me away from him then calling me a fucktard. Now, he beats me everyday because of one of his old classmates, Aleesha." A sob strangles Halima and she swallows hard then tells them all about her life since Aleesha came into their lives and what Doctor Kwami said.

Just as she finishes, the glass doors open and Innayo is wheeled out on a strecher to God knows where. Doctor Kwami comes out too and he gestures for them all to follow him. Once in his office, he starts speaking.

"The injury on her head has been taken care of and we've been able to forcefully drop her blood pressure. But, I'm sorry to say, the injury caused her to be in a coma and there's nothing I or you can do except pray for her." Afnan falls to the ground and Amal looks around and when she notices her father's eyes on her she starts to wail, pulling on her clothes. Even though he knows it's just an act, he's going to let it go. He obviously has bigger problems.

"We've tried but it seems like even she doesn't want to regain consciousness. She's going to be here with us till she regains consciousness and the room she was taken to is spacious and has another bed there so someone can stay with her.

"She's going to be under close observation here with us so untill she regains consciousness, she'll remain here. Her prescription is by the nurses station, get the drugs from the pharmacy. There are signs that will show you how to get to the pharmacy. There's some paperwork you need to fill out too, the nurses will give it to you." Doctor Kwami concludes.