Lola's Story✔️

Chapter Thirty One

Chapter Thirty one

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"Lola, Lola, wake up!" I vaguely heard my name being called in panic. What was going on? I answered drowsily until whoever it was shook me roughly.

"I'm up, I'm up!!" I yelled. "What is it?" I turned to put on my bedside lamp, only to come face to face with a disheveled Laila.

"Dad just suffered a seizure. They're taking him to the hospital right now!!!"She informed frantically. The news registered and I bolted out of bed without delay, Laila hot on my trail.

I rushed down the flight of stairs, heading straight for the front door. The blaring of the siren from the ambulance overwhelmed me the moment I got out of the house. I saw him being lifted from the stretcher on to the trauma board. I took in the sight, he looked so helpless and vulnerable, to think he was alright that morning.

"Would you like to join the patient in the vehicle ma?"One of the paramedics asked my mum who was visibly shaken. She nodded slowly, while Laila placed her palm on her right shoulder, a way of asking if she was sure about it. She nodded reassuringly, just as I offered to join her.

"Just come with the rest, I'll be fine." She assured and climbed in. Her facial expressions were unreadable but her eyes gave a glimpse of the storm brewing inside of her. How she pulled a strong demeanour in spite of all she had been through, amazed me, her strength was something to emulate. I watched them shut the doors and my heart sank. The searing sensation sizzling in the pit of my stomach gave me  a sense of foreboding. This wasn't going to end well.

"Lola, hurry!" Ima bellowed from the back seat of mum's range rover. They were all seated, obviously tensed as I was.
"I think we should pray" Ima suggested as Grey started the vehicle.

"For what exactly?" He questioned, sounding a little irritated. Ima just stared back at her husband through the rear view mirror surely expecting him to back her up but he just looked away. I saw the hurt flash across her features as she recoiled, staring out the window.

We journeyed in silence afterwards. My mind was blank, I clearly couldn't tell when it came to the rest. In a matter of minutes, we found ourselves parked in front of the hospital. I got out just in time to see him hurriedly rolled into the ER. We all sat in the waiting room, barely acknowledging each other.

I watched my mum's every move like a hawk. How she sat, leaned against the wall, arms crossed and eyes closed probably in prayer. Her lips pursed in a thin line, and her glasses still perched on her nose. I watched her slowly take it off and placed it back in its casing. I shifted my gaze thereafter.

Laila and the rest of my siblings sat opposite me while Ima sat next to me on the finely cushioned settee that furnished the VIPs' waiting room.

Perks of being wealthy, I guess.

The tension was palpable and it surely was about to heighten. The shrill sound of a mobile phone broke us all out of whatever reveries we found ourselves. It belonged to my mum, we all watched in silence as she picked up the phone.

"Hello." She said dryly."Gerald? How on earth did you get my number?" She hissed. She gasped at whatever she heard from the other end then there was a pause.

"Fine, just don't create a scene whenever you get here."She huffed and hung up.

"What did he say?" Laila voiced out.

"He heard about what happened, when I asked how, he told me he had his ways and said he was on his way" mum replied, taking cursory glances at everyone in the room perhaps trying to decrypt our reactions. I gave a muffled groan and her gaze settled on me for a brief moment before she went back to her initial position.