The Devil Wears Okrika

Chapter 33

Osi was in a strange room. He opened his eyes and shut it immediately. The light was blinding, soo bright it hurt his eyes. He opened one eye gently and studied the room. It was strange but there wasn't any window, just a room with four corner walls. At the end of the wall, was a small door. It was open.
He opened his eyes fully and swung down from the bed.
The corridor was brighter than the room, the light seemed to be coming from up ahead and illuminated the passage that it almost hurt his eyes to look at it. He didn't know if it was out of curiosity but he suddenly had a strong urge to explore.
The corridor was a long one, it seemed unending and he walked down the straight path slowly.
"Hello...hello...is anybody there?"
There was no reply.
It seemed he was the only one in this place.
Whatever 'this place' was. Finally after walking for what felt like hours he saw another door few feet ahead.
The door was also open and seemed to be the source of the bright light that filled the corridor and without being aware he took a step forward.

.·.·.·.·.·
Doctor Ambrose patted Amara on the back as she sunk to the ground.
"I'm very sorry...he just lost too much blood and the Knife wound was just too deep and he got here too late, if only....."
His voice faded to the background and Amara lost track of what he was saying.
She drew her knees to her chest and sobbed softly.
She could see Osi clearly in her mind's eye. His smile, his dimples, his bulging Adam's apple, his reassuring attitude...she could see him clearly, how he had stared at her the first time she had seen him at the bus park, how he had startled her later and raised his hands awkwardly and from there how they had started talking and become close. She remembered his embarrassed look when she had kissed him at the hospital and then she remembered what felt like hours ago, how he had come to her rescue and fought the devil and now he was dead.
Why?
Why would God allow his servant...his son to be killed like that?
To be murdered so gruesomely?
She suddenly stopped crying and got to her feet.
Dr Ambrose was talking to her father, probably telling him the details of Osi's demise judging by the way her father kept shaking his head in dismay. She walked away from them wiping her tears with the back of her hands as both men's voices became faint and inaudible.
She saw the nurse writing what looked like a death certificate in one of the rooms.
She knew the nurse quite well- Nkiru had been one of her close neighbours before she went to school in the city and even though she was few years older than Amara, both girls got along fine and had been quite close when they were younger.
Now Nkiru was married and lived in the nearby village with her husband but she came to work everyday and worked her shifts diligently.
She looked up when Amara entered the room
"Amara..."
"Please Nkiru you have to do something...Osi can not die"
"Osi?" She dropped the pen and stood up. Her friend didn't look alright, she looked sick and Nkiru began to get worried.
"Osi the tall pastor that was brought in few minutes ago...knife wound to the chest...he's very tall"
"Oh...I'm so sorry...I didn't know you knew him"
"What do you mean you're sorry...you should be treating him"
Nkiru sighed sadly.
"Its very unfortunate but we don't have the equipment to JumpStart his heart and get him breathing again...and he was brought too late. The loss of blood was just too much"
"Nkiru" Amara's voice was calm. Too calm. "I don't think you understand...if you don't treat my friend I'm going to tear this clinic apart"

.·.·.·.·.·
Amara struggled for control as she saw Osi. He was on the table and he was steady. She felt a new wave of tears build up inside her but she forced it down.
Now more than ever she needed to be strong. Osi was not dead and no, she wasn't in denial.
Nkiru peeled Osi's shirt which was already red with his blood. She looked at Amara and her eyes didn't hold much hope."I need you to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation...I need to find out if he has an open pneumothorax"
Amara didn't have any idea what the complicated word meant but she knew it was important.
She placed both hands on either side of Osi's face and covered his lips with hers. She blew air into his mouth.
Nkiru studied his chest intently while Amara performed CPR.
"Just as I thought, it's an open pneumothorax" she looked at Amara and when she caught her blank look she explained. "That means it's a sucking chest wound, usually caused by penetrating chest trauma, what we need to do is ensure he has a patent airway... So maybe by some miracle he can respirate normally." She looked down at Osi again and frowned. "I need to cover this wound if not more air would move into his chest through the cavity...that would be grave"
"Please do it...we need to hurry" Amara urged her. She lowered her head again to blow more air into his mouth.
She was worried. Osi hadn't responded in anyway to the CPR but she refused to believe the worst.
Instead she increased the pressure and blew as much air as possible into his mouth.
She felt a sudden movement and she jerked up.
"Nkiru...nurse!"
Nkiru was busy standing on a stool and getting gauze and bandages to block the chest wound and she almost fell when Amara shouted her name suddenly.
"He...I think he breathed...I felt a movement just now! It was very low"
Nkiru hurried to her side and watched intently.
"Perform the CPR again" she instructed Amara.
After some seconds she said: "you're right...life hasn't left him completely but we're in a race against time...he doesn't have a pulse and I fear either his lungs or diaphragm has been damaged"
"So what do we do?"
Nkiru frowned deep in thought "Our best hope would have been a defibrulator but we don't have any"
"What's a defribu-...whatever?"
[Defibrillation is a process in which an electronic device sends an electric shock to the heart to restore the normal heart rhythm.]
Nkiru didn't answer, she was lost in thought. She looked at the chest wound with such intensity it was a miracle fire didn't shoot out of her eyeballs. Finally she snapped her fingers. "I think I know what we can do! He was exposed for too long and too much air entered his thoracic cavity without escape and now the pressure from the trapped air is greater than the pressure in the lungs...any second from now and the lungs could collapse!"
"Lung? Collapse? Jesus Christ! What can we do??"
"He needs immediate needle decompression" as she spoke she hurried to the cabinet and rummaged around searching for something
She returned with a very large metal needle and Amara held her breath.
Nkiru shook her head. She seemed nervous. "I've never done this before" she looked at Amara and Amara could see the doubt and fear in her friend's eyes.
"Nkiru...his life is in your hands...you can do it...you NEED to do it"
Nkiru took a lot of time (in Amara's opinion) staring intently at Osi's chest and tracing her fingers, searching for an entry point.
Amara got very impatient "just push it through the open wound already...too much time has been wasted!" The 'collapsed lungs' phrase had really gotten to her and shaken her to the core.
"I need to insert the needle into the second intercostal space at the midclavicular line of the injured spot to convert the tension into a simple open pneumothorax that would enable the air escape the pleural space so it won't build-"
"I get I get...I understand please carry on" Amara interrupted the nurse impatiently.
Finally Nkiru inserted the needle gently and by pulling the plunger extracted the trapped air from Osi's chest. It made a sucking sound as the air filled the plunger.
His Adam's apple bobbled and he made a deep sound in his throat.
"Oh my God!" Amara gasped.
Nkiru was equally shocked. She looked at Amara with wide eyes. "Okay...this just might work"

.·.·.·.·.·
The bright light seemed to attract Osi and he walked slowly towards it. He idly wondered where he was, and where everybody was although he couldn't remember specifically any of his friends or family or if he had any.
When he was a few feet from the entrance, the light went out suddenly.
Everywhere instantly became very dark.
"No...no...no!! What's happening" he turned around in a state of panic as everywhere became pitch black.

And in the clinic in Amaife, his eyes twitched.

.·.·.·.·.·
Sofiri got home some minutes before 12am and a frantic Mabel opened the door for him. She was clearly worried.
"What happened...why did you spend so long? Where were you all along?"
She leaned in to sniff his clothes gently so he wouldn't notice. Lately she had been feeling insecure and she half expected to get a whiff of a female perfume. But she didn't perceive anything of the sort.
Instead her husband looked very stressed and cross.
"What's wrong, are you okay?" She asked again. Rubbing his shoulders gently.
He shrugged her hands away roughly. "Look just serve me my dinner...I need to go to sleep...and next time don't ever invite anybody for dinner without discussing it with me first!"
Her mouth opened in shock. She was about to say something when a violent knock rattled the front door.
Sofiri flinched involuntarily and looked at his wife. She looked back. He looked at the door and swallowed. The door was pounded again and he finally found his voice "who...who's there?"
"Janjakere..kere o..kere.ooo..janjankere...!" The song was unmistakable. It was equivalent to a war cry in Amaife...and the voices that chanted it where filled with much rage and vigour.
"Don't worry...don't be scared nothing would happen" Sofiri assured his wife. Although he didn't sound as reassuring as he had intended.
Benedict's voice thundered from outside "if you know you're hiding your brother you better bring him out now...if we find him inside we will kill you both!"

.·.·.·.·.·
Dé Nwachukwu was still talking to the doctor when a nurse hurried towards them and called for the doctor. He recognised the young nurse as a little girl that used to live in the compound next to his. He didn't call out to her because he had trouble remembering her name, it was either Nkechi or Nkiru...or something that started with the letter N.
Secondly she seemed to be in a hurry. She bounced on her heels as she waited impatiently for Dr Ambrose.
"So Dé...please try and calm your daughter...I did my best, it was just too late...Good night sir" he looked at his watch "or should I say good morning" he walked briskly to the nurse and she told him something. He looked back at Dé Nwachukwu and hurried off with the young lady.
Dé Nwachukwu sat down on the bench beside his daughter. Joy was already dozing, she rested her head on Oluchi's shoulder. The drugs she had taken earlier had finally knocked her out.
"Where's Amara?" De' Nwachukwu asked her Oluchi.
"Sir I don't know...I thought she went to the toilet"
He looked around but saw no sign of her. He was suddenly tired. He was hungry and cold. He hadn't even gone halfway with his meal before the interruption and his wrapper couldn't really cover up his chest entirely. He yawned tiredly.
"My friend"
He looked towards the entrance, at where the voice had come from. It was Pa Kenneth.
"Elder"
"Dé"
Both men shook hands and Dé Nwachukwu got to his feet and moved away with pa Kenneth.
When they were out of earshot, pa Kenneth said "I heard what happened"
"Yes...I still find it hard to believe...Batholomew! Most times he always addressed the people right after you...we held him in such high regard..." His voice trailed of and he shook his head.
"It's very bad and unbelievable. But we have a role to play to ensure that no other innocent person suffers again...so many have suffered already"
Dé Nwachukwu nodded "I don't quite get you"
"I mean the pastor's brother...I learnt the youths are marching to his house...they are agitated and could do anything to him. it's up to us to prevent them from harming an innocent person"
Dé Nwachukwu nodded.
Someone else entered the hospital and he saw it was Stevenson the European.
"I have to stay here with my daughters pa...I can't leave them like this"
Pa Kenneth nodded. "I understand...I'm heading there now..should Dé John come, you direct him to my whereabouts"
Dé Nwachukwu nodded "I'd so that sir...take care"
He returned to his seat thinking that Pa Kenneth was indeed a true leader. A man of the people.