Ebony

Run

Ivory opened her tired eyes and looked around. She let out a long sigh when she realized she was in the hospital. The person she shared the room with was snoring incredibly loud and the thin curtain separating them did nothing.

Her throat burned from its dryness as she tried to swallow her spit. The thumping of shoes turned her attention towards the curtain. Her eyes slowly rolled over to the tall and lean doctor.

"Ms. Ogundu, how are we feeling?", he asked politely.

Ivory cleared her throat before answering

"Thirsty and tired. Why am I here?", she asked bluntly.

"For starters, you passed out in a cafe not far from here. You've been out for about an hour"

Ivory sighed and rubbed her temple.

"Now Ms. Ogundu, your blood pressure is dangerously high, especially since you're pregnant. You've been dealing with way too much stress. Passing out was your body's way of letting you know that you've been doing too much. You're highly at risk at this point. We did an ultrasound when you first came in, since you were unconscious. Your babies are doing ok, but you need to be on bed rest for the rest of your pregnancy"

Ivory frowned as she tried to register what was being said to her. She knew she'd been extremely stressed and it was bad for the baby.

"Babies?", she asked

The doctor took a quick glance at his chart before nodding.

"Yes, babies. The obgyn who performed your ultrasound recorded two fetuses present in the womb", he said with a small smile.

Ivory rubbed her stomach in disbelief.

"I see that this is news to you, so I'll come back later and give you time to process all of this. I know I just hit you with a lot to think about. A nurse will be back in a few with something to drink", he said before leaving.

Ivory placed her unusually cold hands on her face, thinking about the past events that had happened within 24 hours.

"What am I gonna do with twins?", she asked aloud.

The only response she got was the continuous snoring done by her roommate.

These was a light knock on the door before it was opened. The curtain was quickly thrown back and a worried Achebe stared back at her.

"Oh my gosh Ivory!", she exclaimed, throwing her arms around her cousin.

Ivory gave her a weak hug, considering she was completely drained.

Tafari came in behind her with a relieved look. Ivory stared at him in complete disbelief.

"Tafari?", she choked out.

He smiled and leaned in to hug her.

"Yeah it's me and I brought someone with me", he responded before pulling back, going towards the door. A few seconds later, he came back to Ivory's side of the room.

Tears welled up in her eyes a she placed her hand to her mouth. He gave her a small smile and rolled his wheelchair to the side of her bed.

"Safari", she whispered.

"I'm here", he replied, using all his strength to stand up. He leaned over and embraced her fragile body.

"I'm here", he repeated as she cried.

"Oh my God ", she whispered, tears pouring down her face.

Time paused for a few seconds with all of them stuck in the moment.

" I'd hate to ruin the moment, but we have a problem", Tafari spoke, breaking the silence.

Ivory and Safari parted, but found their hands linked together as a replacement.

"Oh yeah... ", Achebe let out slowly

" What? ", Ivory asked, somewhat forgetting the past events.

" We might be on the run", Safari answered, looking up at Ivory.

She shook her head

"No, no they think it had something to do with Boko Haram. They don't even know we were there", Ivory said reassuringly.

Tafari shook his head

"There was a lot of bloodshed and we can't be 100% sure that the fire destroyed every trace of us", he replied.

Achebe began to get nervous

"He's right...we need to go back to the states... Asap", she said shakily.

Safari nodded

"I'll see how soon we can leave"

Sorryyyyy don't turn back the clock! Lol I have been very negligent :( please forgive me, but more chapters to come!