Handling Grief

Chapter Twelve

This is actually my favorite chapter! I hope you love it too;)

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The rain poured massively and in no time, I got drenched from my hair to my shoes. It seemed the cloud and I felt the same way. People were running and looking for shelter. I heard some people shout that I should leave the rain. I didn't respond nor did I budge.

"Na igbo(she's on weed)!" a lady told the people that tried to make me leave the rain.

That was how they left me alone.

Twenty or thirty minutes went by. Suddenly the rain stopped drenching me. It was still pouring but I wasn't feeling it. I rose my head to be sure I wasn't high and seeing things. I met a man that reminded me of Deacon Obi, holding an umbrella over his and my head.

He had a warm smile and a towel in his hand.

"It's not healthy to stay under a downpour" he told me.

"Nothing is ever healthy in this cursed world!" I snapped.

"Well, dry clothes and body under a roof during a downpour is healthy. Why don't we go to my shop across the road?"

I looked across the road. The man was a chemist. I soon discovered that I was foolish. I didn't want common cold to kill me so I accepted the chemist's invitation and went across the street with him.

He waited for me to remove my wet clothes in the other compartment of his shop. I tied the towel around my body and used another one to cover my shoulders.

After I had sat down and settled, he started the conversation.

"Why were you staying under the rain?"

I stared at the rain instead of looking at him. I didn't answer his question.

"He broke your heart, right?"

I turned to face, "How did you...?"

"Well, nowadays, Nigerian girls commit or attempt suicide because of heart break"

"Hmm!" I said and turned back to the road, watching as the downpour wet it.

"What did the coward do?"

"None of your business"

"Looking at you, I can tell that you are more than just heart broken. Maybe sad? Depressed? Grieved?"

"I don't always feel this way" I told him, still staring at the road.

"Really? Hope you don't take drugs?"

I sharply turned my head to him, "Even if I took them, it is still none of your business"

He kept silent. I resumed my staring at the rain. Instead of reducing, it kept pouring down really hard.

"How do they make you feel?"

Since Doctor Richard had asked me that question before now, I knew what to tell the chemist.

"They make me feel more positive, less scared and euphoric"

"Wow! They're good!" he commented.

"You can't know about something until you try it" I told him with a grin, "And it's people like you that go about telling people not to try these stuff"