Lotanna

Episode Five

I could hear voices saying so many things inside my head as I lay there wondering why I was there. Not until I heard Senior Raymond talking to someone I could feel was Mr. Nabase.
    “Sir I really do not think that she is the thief with all that has happened. She even fainted because of mere questioning” he continued.
   “Sir, Mary has already come forward to say the truth so I think we should just let Lotanna recover from this state and go back to her studies. Sir, next week is Continuous Assessments week. Every student is already preparing earnestly for it but because of this case, Lotanna has not been able to prepare. Sir pleaseeeeee let us drop the case and Question Senior Frances and Senior Leylani properly” he said with his voice pitch decreasing slowly after the please till he ended his speech.
   I was in a state of serious confusion because it had just occurred to me that next week was CA Test week. Wow! I had only been able to cover Government and Civic Education because they were more or less like siblings. I had not even seen the time table and I was lying here.
“Lotanna you really need to get up from this bed” I said to myself as I made the attempt to stand up but was restrained by a force I could not see.
This felt spiritual! My eyes were open; I could see Cheta and Gold, but no one had noticed that my eyes were open, and no one had even come to check on me. This was becoming weird. I tried to get up again but this time with greater force. A force greater than the level of energy I put in the second time dragged me back to the bed and I landed hard on my back.
  I think my unsafe landing was what drew attention to me because the next thing I heard was “Sir she is trying to break the chains!” in Cheta’s panic voice.
“Help us Sir” she shouted again in serious panic I could sense.
Chains? I asked myself. When did I become one of the mad people taken to churches for deliverance? What exactly is going on here?
I really wanted to scream out so she would know I was normal, but I remembered quickly that mad people were associated with shouting and screaming so I resolved to call Cheta in a calm voice.
“Psssss psssss” I said with my lips, “Cheta” I called out but my friend was not answering.
“Cheta it’s me Lotanna, come and help your friend please”, but my aunty did not even shake.
I sighed heavily on that bed thinking of how to attract her attention because no one else was in the clinic except her. Senior Raymond had gone; the Doctor, Mr. Nabase, and even Gold had left the clinic. So I knew my best bet was to convince my friend to get whatever they used to chain me, off.  That way, I could get reasonable explanations from her.
Just then I remembered a song I taught Cheta and decided to sing it in my not so sure voice.
“So I will try to remember you
And I will always see those scars
They are battle marks I got from fighting for you
So let the gone days go.
Anywayyyy  anywayyy
My heart won’t beat for you
Anyway anwayyyy
I evacuated you from my heart
Anyway anyway
I will move on and heal my soul
Anyway anyway
Let the gone days go”.
    Nobody could ever know this song because it was a song my mother wrote after my dad abandoned her and she had to live with the shame of becoming a single mother at such a young age. Whenever she told me all their stories, their secondary school love tales and how everything went sour, I actually realized how deep that song was and how much my dad had meant to her before he left. To evacuate someone from your heart like a dead child from the womb, was a painful but permanent process so I could feel her pain anytime she talked about it.
   Cheta always heard me sing the song once in a while; really liked it and asked me to teach her so I did. Although I did not tell her the origin of the song or what it really meant, I thought her anyway and refused to teach anyone else. This was the reason why even in her sleep, if she heard someone singing anyway, she would just know that it was Lotanna.
    I was so proud of this genius plan and I had not even reached the second anyway before Cheta ran to me and hugged me with tears in her eyes.
“My friend you are ok, thank God” she said wiping her tears.
“We really thought you had gone mad because when you fainted at the panel room, it was so scary and you were so heavy that they were struggling to carry you out and bring you here. All of a sudden as soon as they took you to the Principals office and laid you on his sofa, you started shouting “let them kill me since they have found me guilty already, let me just die!!!!!!”
They said the moment you started shouting, you fell on the ground from the principals sofa and become so heavy to carry. Senior Raymond said it was like your breath was fading away slowly.
  Lotanna everyone was really scared. They said you called on your grandfather to accept your spirit and take you to a place of joy. Hmmmm my dear, I don’t even want to continue because this story keeps sounding like a 2003 Nollywood movie.
Long story short, I think the situation made Mary call one of the security operatives who then called Mr. Nabase; and she told him that she was sorry and she didn’t know that Senior Frances used what happened to set you up. She told him that she wanted to speak up earlier but she had been threatened seriously so she chickened out. My dear, God really came through for you.
But I don’t even know who asked that oversabi Mr. Moneke to call your mum. She has really been worried and Mr. Eke said that once you wake up, I should inform him so that he could contact your mum.”
  Cheta had said so much and my brain was really processing everything she had said. My girl did not lie when she said this story was sounding like a Nollywood movie.
“Nkiru Sylvanus is highly capable of acting what I just acted” I thought to myself but I was grateful to God that everything had ended well.
“Cheta, I heard senior Raymond saying some things to Mr. Nabase, what was he saying” I asked.
“Abegi don’t mind that man; looking for promotion up and down” she said hissing and adjusting her beret.
   “The man was planning to go and tell VP Academics that there was still need for a trial, but thank God senior Raymond stopped him and spoke some sense into him” she shouted proudly.
‘Ah Chetaaaaa” I said covering her mouth.
“Don’t put yourself in trouble because of me O! Thank God everything is ok; we need to really read for Continuous assessment next week girl because lord knows my head is empty”
    Sorry, I forgot the part where Cheta untied one orange rope the doctor had used to tie me to the bed. It was a rope so I was wondering why she kept calling it a chain. I was also wondering my after all the strength I thought I had, I could not be like Samson and rip those ropes apart in a split second. Well, I was thankful to my friend for all she had done but I was really considering the idea of writing down the stories in my life to sell to film writers because my life had a lot of drama in it and I could certainly use it to make money I thought.
“Let me go and call Mr. Eke so you can at least speak to your mum because she even spoke to me in tears” Cheta said standing up heading for the door.
Tears! This was what touched my heart. My poor mum would’ve cried throughout the day. I took a glance at the wall clock beside the drug cupboard and my goodness! It was five minutes after two in the afternoon which means that this drama happened in approximately two hours.
Wow! I said to myself in shock as I turned to sit on the bed with my legs on the floor. I was still thinking about everything when Senior Raymond, Senior Joshua, Senior Dele and Senior Tomiwa walked in.
The HI boys had come to visit I said in my heart happily.
   “Thank you Senior Frances for implicating me” I said again in my heart as Senior Dele Took a chair near the Drug cupboard to sit.
  “This theft case has really brought me good fortune” I said in my heart the moment I sighted the Godswill super market bag Senior Tomiwa was carrying.