Ade woke up frightened from a terrible nightmare. It had felt so real that sweats poured out of the pores on his skin. He had been falling down an endless pit with so much heat. The further he fell, the more unbearable the heat became. It was certain that where he'd land eventually would be hotter than the fire that consumed Sodom and Gomorrah or even Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace.
How he escaped from the horrific dream without screaming down the whole hospital was still a surprise to him. He looked at his daughter, willing her to wake up with his mind, but he was no magician. He looked at his sleeping wife, body on a chair and head on a free spot on Abigail's bed with hands as pillows.
The poor woman, he thought.
He checked his wristwatch, it was 5:42am – the dawn of another day. He looked out of a window and saw that the dusk was already lifting. It was one of those days when the sun rose early and set late.
He stood up and staggered on his weight for few seconds. The headache he felt made him like a drunkard suffering from a terrible hangover as a result of his heavy drinking from the night before. He sat back almost immediately and stretched out on his seat. With the resolve of a warrior, and the desperation of his predicament, he stood up and left the ward in search of the doctor, hoping to find him. He met a nurse on the way, in the hospital's lobby and asked for the doctor's office. The nurse made it known that the doctor had not yet resumed for the day. "What is the problem?" She asked in a polite but professional manner. The cleric told her about his daughter in Ward fifteen. "Oh, Abigail Brown," She confirmed.
"Yes, I'm Ade Brown, her father"
"Well, I'm Titi Ifagbemi. I'm the nurse assigned to take care of your daughter. I promise you, she's in safe hands," she smiled and revealed a perfect set of teeth.
"Is there any information you can spare me? Is she in a critical condition? When will she wake up? He bombarded her with these questions.
"Calm down, sir. One at a time."
"I'm sorry."
"I understand," she said, and searched through the bunch of files that had been with her all along. When she found the file she was looking for, she took it out from its position amongst the other files, propped the rest of the files on her left arm, placed the needed file on them, opened it, and scanned through. "Let's see. I must say, your daughter's case is one of a kind. It's surprising how perfect her brain still is, with a fall as heavy as that. The doctor feared she might have a damaged brain and decided to carry out an MRI which showed the brain is working fine. No hemorrhage or blood clot." She looked at the pastor in the eyes and flashed him a smile.
"At least, that's a good news"
"Thank God."
"Apart from that, she has a lot of bones fractured and some external bruises which you might have seen. Her pulse is fine. As for when she will wake up," the nurse shrugged "she will when she will."
"My God," the pastor muttered and became downcast again.
Nurse Titi noticed this.
"Don't do that, Mr. Brown. You should keep thanking God as you did earlier. Your family is very lucky. It's a miracle your daughter is still alive. A survivor of a three-storeyed building fall is rare. Some people just trip or stumble on levelled ground and they become dead bodies. Cheer up."
"Thank you very much nurse err..."
"Titi, Titi Ifagbemi. You're welcome, sir. If you don't mind, I've got work to do." She closed Abigail's file and walked off. Pastor Brown felt for his car key in his pocket, it was there, then he moved out of the hospital toward his car which he was going to drive aimlessly until his next line of action became definite in his mind.
Wednesday passed drily without any improvement in his daughter's health and no clue as to his misdeed.