At that moment, Simon forged a lie in his head he was gonna tell him. Mr. Lewis was still glancing at him, he was waiting for him to speak. Now that Simon had already forged out something false in his head, he glanced at Mr. Lewis and began speaking,
"No dad, I didn't lie to you guys, all I told you and mum regarding the party was the truth".
"It was the truth? Why do you say so? Explain more". Mr. Lewis said still glancing directly at Simon.
"I took a cab that drove me straight to the party, but the cabman wasn't willing to wait to drive me back home, so he drove off. After the party climaxed, I went outside in search of a cab, but I couldn't find one. Not even a single cab was driving along that boulevard at that time of the night. As for public buses, I couldn't find one either,
Then those guys noticed that I was in search of a cab but couldn't find one. So they told me to join them in their car, I couldn't reject the offer, and that's how it happened. I had no single idea that the guy driving the car was drunk, and the car was his father's own which he took without his consent". Simon explained, it sounded convincing.
Mr. Lewis believed his explanation to a certain extent, but he wasn't fully convinced.
"Are you sure you are telling the truth?". Mr. Lewis questioned.
"Yes dad, that's the truth". Simon retorted.
"But since the guy driving the car was drunk, that shows that there was a lot of drinking at the party. And you said the party was organized by responsible people. But how come someone managed to get drunk to the extent that he couldn't be in full control of a car which resulted in an accident? And also, was it only teens that were present at the party?". Mr. Lewis questioned once again.
Another round of questions for Simon to answer, well, he was gonna lie again.
"It was organized by responsible people, and to be sincere, there were numerous crates of beers at the party. Now, it wasn't possible for the organizers of the party to control the amount of beers people were drinking. Some people drank to what their body can handle, while some drank until they were intoxicated,
But they made sure that there wasn't a single fight or argument at the party, all was in order till the end of the party. And to your question, was it only teens that were present at the party? No, there were adults at the party, but none of them were above their early 'Twenties". That was true though.
Mr. Lewis used his fingers to rub his jaw before uttering, "Believable, but as for now, you won't be allowed to attend any party that comes up in the future. Just a single mistake of entering the car of a drunk driver almost costs you your life. The boy driving the car and two other boys died immediately, one survived after some months of treatment, and you went into coma which you are just waking up from now. We need to always try our best to stay away from danger. That's all I have to say,
You can go now, you should go to bed in time 'cause you'll most likely be going to school tomorrow".
With that, Simon stood up from the sofa and strolled out of the room. He glanced downstairs at the parlor, Mrs. Lewis and Lilian were still watching the television. He glanced away, strolled to the door of his room, opened it, and entered it. Entering his room, he sat on his bed and began thinking if he should run away from this house or not, he wasn't sure yet. After some minutes of deliberation and contemplation, he decided that he was gonna run away, that's his conclusion.
He'll run away and try to start life once again in Robert's body, and men, he's gotta at least make attempts to achieve his dream of becoming a footballer. Now that he had decided, he laid on his bed, and within some minutes, he dozed off.
**********
"Robert! Robert! Robert!"
Simon was woken from sleep with the shouting of his name...yeah, his fake name. And that was Mrs. Lewis calling out his name. He quickly got up from the bed, and as he was about to stroll out of his room, Mrs. Lewis entered. Then she said to him,
"Robert, you gotta go take your bath and do the necessary preparations for school, then you should come downstairs for breakfast before we'll head over to your school".
After making that statement, she caressed his hair with her palms before walking out of his room. Each room in this edifice had its toilet and bathroom, so Simon brushed his teeth and took his bath in the bathroom. Then he dried himself up, dressed up in Robert's clothes, and began arranging some of the books and textbooks in Robert's backpack.
After he was done with the arrangement, he groomed himself once again and stared at his reflection in the mirror. He smiled at himself and uttered,
"Cool". Then he walked out of his room carrying the backpack on his back.
He descended the staircase, and just like yesterday, everyone was already sitting on chairs around the dining table. They beckoned on him to come over to the dining table, and so he did. They were eating a light meal of slice bread and coffee for breakfast. They said some words of prayer before they began eating.
Within minutes, they were done eating, Mr. Lewis quickly stood up from the chair and held his suitcase in his hand...it was about time to leave for work. He wore a black suit different from the one he wore yesterday, black trousers, a red shirt, a lemon tie, and well-polished black shoes...seems like this was his signature dressing anytime he wanted to go to work.
He focused his attention on his wife and said, "Please, try your best to convince the principal so Robert would move to the next grade. Age and time wait for no one, he has spent a whole year lying on that hospital bed. He was 14 years old when he got involved in that car accident, now, he is currently 15 years old. His mates would have moved to the next grade, he should go join them there and meet up with their curriculum,
Please, try your very best to persuade the principal".
"OK, am gonna do just that". Mrs. Lewis uttered.
Mr. Lewis pecked Lilian on the cheek before walking out of the parlor. Mrs. Lewis then turned her attention to Simon and Lilian and said,
"Am gonna drive Lilian to school first before we head over to your school, Robert. You guys are prepared right?".
"Yes". Simon and Lilian retorted in unison.
"Then let's get going".
The three of them sauntered out of the parlor and onto the compound. Then Mrs. Lewis pointed to a red car in the compound and said,
"That's the car we gonna make use of".
They strolled over to the car and entered it, Mrs. Lewis sat at the driver's seat, while Simon and Lilian sat at the backseat. The gateman had already opened the gate widely as Mrs. Lewis drove out of the compound. She drove until she drove out of the boulevard and onto the main road. After minutes of driving, they arrived at the compound of Lilian's school. Lilian hopped out of the car, waved at them, before sauntering into the school building.
Mrs. Lewis drove out of the school compound and onto the main road once again. After minutes of driving, they arrived at the compound of Robert's school...the school he attended before he went into coma. The compound was large, and just by glancing at the buildings, Simon could tell that this was an expensive school. The buildings were painted in very attractive colors, and there were parked cars in the compound.
After parking the car well, Mrs. Lewis and Simon came out of the car.
"We just have to head straight to the principal's office, I've got some persuading to do". Mrs. Lewis said to Simon.
With that, the both of them began strolling towards the principal's office. Simon knew where the principal's office was situated 'cause he had Robert's memories. While strolling, Simon noticed something, some of the students were staring at him. What was running through the minds of most of them was,
'He has woken from coma?'.
The students staring at him knew that he got into an accident and went straight into coma. He had been absent from school for a year now.