Endings

5

  "Khalil?? Khalil my best friend? You're kidding right? Just tell me you're kidding Jamila."

Did she just say Khalil? No, she couldn't have.

"Yes Ali but you need to know that we plan on getting married and everything will be fine I promise"

So telling me that you would eventually get hitched should surely ease the tension? She was ridiculous.

"Son, I know that this must hurt you but you'll come to see that everything will work out eventually" mum said

I couldn't believe what I had just heard. Was my auditory canal playing tricks on me? I was flabbergasted. The room began to spin, I was getting dizzy. My balance was shaky and my vision dwindled. I tried looking for something to grab on to as fast as I could but it was too late. I fell to the ground instantly, I was unconscious.

  Running away from my problems didn't make them vanish. It seemed as if it  made them more prominent. My problems commanded attention. There was no way that I was going to some how let everything go, that wasn't possible. How could Khalil impregnate my little sister? Couldn't he have planted his "seed" somewhere other than in my sister? Khalil was the guy that always preached about abstinence and staying celibet. He would go hours making it finitely clear that sexual intercourse was only for those bound together through marriage and now he turned out to be a huge hypocrite, a fraud even. Khalil was dead to me, I was never going to speak to him ever again. Everything else compared to my brain cancer were even worse.

   Dealing with brain cancer was getting tougher and tougher. The fact that I had passed out was as a result of both the news Jamila had told me and my terminal disease. Cancer was proving stubborn and it was asserting its dominance which made me immensely scared. The tumor was getting bigger and the doctors felt that administering chemotherapy was a waste. The necessity for chemo had passed. Having gone through rounds of chemo, my body had lost all willingness to fight. I was weak and constantly light headed. I couldn't live my life suffering from the clap-back of chemotherapy. I mean I was bald, literally bald. I'm a 17 year old boy that had already started losing my hair, my life was just a series of disappointments. 
     I had Funke who was hassling me for $30,000 within the next 3 months, Jamila had not only come clean about her pregnancy but she had also revealed that the dad was none other than my best friend khalil, my mother was probably going to file for divorce and my dad had basically ran back into the arms of his mistress. My life was such a mess.

* * *
  My mum, Jamila and Khalil were the ones that had brought me to the hospital. Funny enough after I woke up Khalil was the first one I saw. I felt like the doctors had run out of options when it came to my case. All they could do for a while now was to simply drug me. Staying sober didn't even seem like something that could be done in my kind of situation. I had lost all hope when it came to that aspect of my life. Khalil was observing his Salat (one of the five daily prayers). He claimed to be this religious fanatic meanwhile people didn't know that he had ulterior motives. I just laid down staring at him thinking of how we were possibly going to get through this. I wasn't in the mood for an uncomfortable situation so I was hoping my mum or Jamila would be back in the room soon.

   "Hey are you okay Ali? Anything I can help you with?" Khalil asked

I pretended as if I couldn't hear him but that didn't stop him from asking me again.

"Ali I know we aren't on the best terms as of right now but I'm here for you. I'm here to help."

He sounded sincere enough but Khalil had become someone I couldn't just trust. He was a bloddy liar. I felt bad for not saying anything back to him so I decided to say something.

"Where's my mother?" I asked

"She took Jamila home, she was having cramps I guess and she had to rest so your mum drove her back to the house but don't worry your mum will soon be here" he answered

Fair enough. My mum was the only one I wanted to talk to and look at. She was the only one that understood the real me.

"Ali I just want to sincerely apologize. This was not how I envisioned things playing out. Me and Jamila really wanted you to know, we really did but I was scared. Scared of what would happen to our relationship. Scared of you thinking less of me. It wasn't something we planned it just happened. Finding out that you had cancer really made her depressed, she was scared of losing you. We were both sad and vulnerable and I guess it was the heat of the moment or something but I just want to let you know that I'm so sorry. You don't need to forgive me now or anytime soon but I just needed to let you know what led to this big mess."

So I'm just meant to let things go now? I'm just supposed to move on like nothing ever happened? I didn't know how to respond to Khalil and his apology. As sincere and honest as he made to be I was still skeptical about it all.

   Whilst I was thinking about how to respond to Khalil who was looking right at me waiting for me to give him an "I forgive you" or a "it's fine" my dad then ran into the room with balloons and a box of pizza. Saved by the incompetent dad I thought.

"Son, Ali, are you okay? Sorry I'm just making it here I was busy with quite a lot. Please tell me everything is fine."

Just look at him. He was pathetic. Funke was clearly who he was busy with.

"Khalil could you please excuse us?" I asked

He stood up slowly and then walked out the room. I could see that he was conflicted. He wanted to be there for me but he didn't know how and I didn't know how to let him know that I was fine. I had forgiven him but the dishonesty was going to be something I could never just look pass.

"Where's Funke? Isn't she your second wife? Why isn't she here dad?"

"I know you're not happy with all that is happening but you need to know that me and your mum aren't happy Ali, we just aren't. Faking love isn't something that I can ever do." He answered

"Spare me, not happy indeed. Hasn't Funke replaced mum?"

He couldn't even admit to me that he had already forgotten about mum. They hadn't spoken for 6 days now and I'm sure they both had no intentions of sparking up a conversation. Their marriage was doomed from the start, after having me priorities shifted and they started caring less about each other. Date nights weren't a custom in Nigeria so being able to tolerate your partners "faults" was key.

"Don't say that Ali, no one can replace your mother" he said

Yeah right.

"Oh really Bukhar? Then make things clear to me. I seem to be out of the loop"

It was my mum, she had been listening to all that we had been saying.

"Fatima, not in front of Ali, its not right"

Not right? Did he really just say not right? This coming from a man that has a mistress and intends on sticking with her and he was judging my mum on what was right? This was ridiculous

"I'm done Bukhar. Honestly done. You've made me look incredibly stupid for too long and I'm sorry but I can't just continue to endure your maltreatment...."

She was about to say it, I could feel it.

....I, I think its best we file for divorce"

And there it was. Was I shocked? Not even a little. I was proud of her.