"Janet...Ah... Thank God you're here. I'm exposed." If not for the energy lost I would have jumped out of bed immediately I saw her. Janet, my bestie.
"Calm down, Aholah. Gush, what kind of sickness ..."
"My parents are here. They know everything. I'm going to die..."
"Calm down!"
I met Janet at a hospital's reception the night I got suspended from school. Remember i said I didn't go home.
Well, not really.
I'll explain.
February 1, 2022
First, I was seventeen, a 200thlevel student and my school would not have released me to go on my own if any of my parents hadn't come to pick me up that day. So, after the whole show of embarrassment I was showered with in chapel that morning, I rode home with my mute mum and her driver. Like she typically said no consonant to me till we got home.
They were overreacting, both of them. What did the school tell them? That I was engaged in a fight with a fellow student or what? I was suspended for only two weeks on the basis of physical assault of a fellow student. It really should be no big deal. My mum acted like she knew about the worst things I had done to myself.
"I only slapped a girl. That school has problem o mummy." I tried to break the silence, she ignored me and walked in.
"It was Esther..." I continued.
"Do not try to defend yourself here, Wura. Here is not the right place." She burst out. "You should be at least sober. Oh My God, this is not the child I trained. After all you said about making us proud. Wura, you have just disappointed us. What did I tell you about a good name? Do you still have one?"
She didn't wait for an answer. I didn't have an answer either. I had foolishly lost my dignity as a woman to a fool like me. I didn't feel like Adediwura anymore, not even Aholah.
When we told our parents we were adopting the names Aholah and Aholibah, they recognized them as two nations that God loved, and they allowed us to use them. I remember my dad's words then:
"That makes you a nation. So, next time you want to make decisions, ask yourself first if your nation will be affected positively or negatively before making your choice."
There's no nation anymore or what nation comes from a defiled womb? Call me spiritual. That is what it is. I was by spiritual parents. What a shame... I am.
I was scared, even more scared that I was at home. Emmanuel told me we would be with each other till we graduate nd then get married. He took my first nd then went after the next available thing in skirt.
What if it results in pregnancy My parents will die.
How can I be sure I won't get pregnant? I searched the Internet and found my answers and that night I made up my mind to visit the hospital secretly myself. I was able to leave the house unnoticed because my mum was the only one at home. I took a bus to Eko teaching hospital to have myself checked. It was in the waiting hall I met Janet.
Janet started our conversation that day with complaints about how slow the queue was moving. It was then i realized I was not with any cards. I just joined the queue without a hospital card. She went on to ask me why I wanted to see the 'woman doctor' (as she called the gynecologist) and I tried to dodge the question, but she was smarter, and she guessed in no time. She advised me to not indicate my true identity on the card and gave me answers to possible questions the nurses might ask me, so I wouldn't get into trouble. That moved us into talking about the craziness of modern boys. She later disclosed she was on her IT and would soon be done with 300 level. I couldn't find out her age, but it was obvious that she was older than me.
I wasn't flushed (I had expected a mini-surgery lol). I was only given some drugs and advice to abstain. Janet waited for me till I was done. It wasn't until we got out of the hospital that I realized I was in a bigger soup.
"What is the time?" I breathed out.
"Twenty-three minutes to ten." She answered. "Do you live far?"
"Y..Yes." Truly, Eko hospital is miles from my home.
"My hostel is near. You can stay with me tonight. It's not even safe to travel this late."
I couldn't reject her offer. I was grateful. We had the talk of our lives that night in her bed. She shared a lot, and I was also able to open up to her about my biggest fear. She was the peace I needed. With Janet, I wasn't painted as a worthless teenager but an active and growing teenager.
***
Present day, at the school clinic
"Janet, I bled into a coma at school and was rushed here. The doctor said it's the consequence of some harmful drugs that I used."
"Which drug did you use? I thought we said no more sleeping around."
"I swear, I didn't sleep around. I'm sure Martins drugged me." I rejected him once and told I would no longer use birth control pills. He wasn't so happy with my decision to abstain. And the next day invited me for an important discussion underground (our secret meeting point), gave me a drink and did it. I was angry with him, but then the next I know is I'm here in a hospital stuck in a bed.
"Martins, that Bobo don craze. Why so desperate? Them use this thing do am?"
My friend cursed him on my behalf.
"I need to leave here, Janet. I'm doomed. My grades are poor, and my life is ruined. I probably have lost a womb or something. They would't tell me but what else could that kind of blood have meant. Janet, please get me out of here, please..."
"My friend, you gass cool body for this matter o. We can't rush things now. You don't even have the strength to walk. How do we leave?"
"I don't even have the strength to live!" I yelled, bursting into tears. She was silent. Hopelessness and pity written all over her face.
"Aholah..."She frozed as my parents walked in.
I died.
There really is no going back from here. I have to face this soup. My bestie stood up from beside me and asked to take her leave.
Then I died yet again.