THE NIGHT WIFE CHAPTERS 71-80

THE NIGHT WIFE CHAPTERS 71-80

CHAPTER 73

BY SOLOMON ADINYA

Ene ran back into the main house, to call her husband. She knocked hard on the door of Simon’s room. She could hear his alcohol fueled snoring, he was growling louder than a lion. The banging on the door made him jump out of bed.

“Who is it?” He asked with a deep groggy voice. “Can a man not have peace in his own house?” He grumbled.

“Simon wake up ooo! Ogwuche is dying.” She said sobbing, his heart began to beat so fast, he opened the locks on his door and jumped out of his room.

“What happened to Ogwuche?” he asked.

“I don’t know he was screaming we all heard him and ran out, when we got there he’s not answering anyone, we’ve called his name severally.” She said tears bubbling down her eyes.

He overtook her, and ran outside the tick blackness outside, he could only walk through the mental picture of his compound in his mind. Relatives had poured out of their houses, arms folded over their chest whispering to each other.

THE NIGHT WIFE CHAPTERS 71-80

“I told him, how can he be challenging his father knowing the kind of man he his.” Ochigbo Ogwuche’s cousin brother, the son of his father’s step brother said. “How can you dare him? A man that everybody fears.”

“But is Ogar so wicked to kill his own son? See a boy that was the pride of this family. Agada has remained in prison for one year now, Ogwuche a medical doctor has become a shadow of himself.” Ochigbo’s wife said.

“If that boy is dead we won’t take it, the whole youths and clan must gather to know what happened.” He said.

Simon began to bang on Ogwuche’s door. “Open the door Ogwuche it’s me your father.” there was no response. Ogar’s heart was beating like a war drum, he wondered if it was the renewal of his charm that had killed his son. He never told the debia to kill his son, he only asked him to make him submissive to him, like he used to be.

” Ejembi go and bring the big axe.” Simon has ordered his eldest son, Ejembi ran into the house, he searched the whole store using the flashlight on his phone, he found It and returned with it.

THE NIGHT WIFE CHAPTERS 71-80

“Break this door down.” Before he gave the command Ejembi had started hitting the axe against the wall, each blow sounded as an explosion happening in a distant land, or the feet of a giant stepping on the earth.

“gbooo! Gbooo!” The concrete wall sounded, while members of the family stood on suspense, wondering what would meet their eyes after the door was opened.

Ene was pacing at one spot, she mumbled prayers to God not to allow her bury her child, not Ogwuche, she knew her heart would give away. A child she had put all her hope in she blamed her husband.

The door became loose after several blast from the hammer,Ogwuche’s siblings and parents poured into the house, torchlight was flashed on him, his neck was swollen as though he had developed goiter over night, his eyes were tightly shut, he was only wearing a boxer shorts, that had been soaked with sweat like rain.

His bedsheet was twisted and rumpled, while he was struggling with death, the whole bed was wet with sweat , which soaked the bed as if rain has fallen in his room alone. Ene touched his body, he was still warm after about thirty minutes that he had screamed.

THE NIGHT WIFE CHAPTERS 71-80

“Simon go and get the truck we need to carry him to Otukpo.” Ene commanded her husband, he ran out of Ogwuche’s room and went into his bedroom.

He fetched a polo shirt from the wardrobe and a pair of trousers, he got his truck key. When he rushed outside, Ejembi and his cousin Ochigbo had carried Ogwuche’s limp body out of the room, his head was hanging to the left , his hands hanging limply as the men carried him out.

Simon’s Toyota Hilux roared into life, he made a sharp reverse, showering the people standing with the bright yellow lights of his truck beam. He Jumped out of the drivers seat to help them put him in the back sit.

“Gently put his head gently.” He said as the men moved Ogwuche into the back of the truck, Ene was already sitting there, Ogwuche’s head was placed on her lap.

Ejembi joined his mother at the back. Ogar the truck maniacally, as the beast growled, whenever he stepped on the gas pad, the road was empty and dark, only their vehicle was on the road, they could only see as far as the headlamp could go.

THE NIGHT WIFE CHAPTERS 71-80

I thrifty minutes there got to the General Hospital Otukpo. Simon kept honking outside the gate of the hospital, the security men had locked the gate, and was soundly sleeping. Ejembi went to the gate and banged on it hard, when nobody answered he went to the glass window of the security post, he hit hard against the window pan, the two men jumped up.

“Who is it?” one of the men asked, with a voice soaked by Guinea corn alcohol they had drank that night before going to bed.

“Come out come and open the gate joor! Are you being paid to sleep or to work?” He snarled at the men they hurried to the gate and threw it open. Ogwuche drove into the compound of the hospital.

Ejembi backed Ogwuche on his back,while Simon placed hands on his back so he wouldn’t fall off.

Ene was just crying and wiping the tears from her eyes as they ran into the bright lobby of the hospital, a big generator set was running, the hospital was was the only building with electric light at that time of the day, most if the houses surrounding the hospital were invincible, it looked like a dark forest.

The nurses put Ogwuche on a stretcher and rolled him into the emergency ward, they check his vital signs, he was barely hanging to the thread of life.

THE NIGHT WIFE CHAPTERS 71-80

His blood pressure had gotten so low, below the healthy standard, he was given an IV drip, he lay in bed not knowing where he was.

Just a little could be done to stabilise him till the next morning, Ejembi and his father sat in the waiting room, while Ene was with Ogwuche, he lay in bed like a dead man, not moving or reacting to anything around him.

The doctors weer going up and down all morning, running several test, they all came out negative. Simon called the head doctor aside.

“Doctor please come and talk to me man to.” He said calmly. “What’s wrong with my son?” He asked.

“We are still running more test on your son. But from all we’ve seen, we cannot pin point anything wrong with him, his blood pressure is up and normal now, we should just wait and see what next would happen before the end of the day.”

THE NIGHT WIFE CHAPTERS 71-80

Ogar went into the ward to see Ogwuche, Ene was praying for her son as her head relaxed on his bed near his arm.

” Ene I want to go home.” He said calmly. Ene raised her head up, she looked at him for a very long time, without uttering a word.

Her eyes were red and wet, she put her face on the bed and continued her silent cry and prayer. The pain hit Simon in the heart. He and Ejembi left the hospital at eleven A. M.

Relatives kept asking about Ogwuche’s health, Ogar didn’t say a word.

“Ogbole!” He called after his son, who was outside the house, the huge teenager, who was just as big as all his older brothers came running.

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