12 CHAPTER 12: BREATHE

"How did you feel when you had to leave us?" I ask my dad as he drives me to work.

"Honestly, I was scared because I wasn't prepared. I knew nothing about it."

I nod. "So I heard Brent isn't dead and he's with you. Is there any other person I think that is dead that is actually alive?"

He glances at me with a quick smile. "Nah, none that I know of." He turns back to the road. "But, Brent, he misses you. Maybe you both can meet up sometime"

"Dad, how do you feel with this life?"

"Your Aunt Hilda, when she heard I was dead, she didn't believe it so she looked for answers until she found me. I had to stay away because I was afraid of what will happen, later I got the courage to trace your sister and tell her about it. She was angry at first and I would have been if I was her. But she got over it. I'm mostly I'm hurt because of the family members who think I'm dead, I don't even know how to look at them and tell them I'm alive. I can't even imagine how their faces were when they were told they couldn't get my body" He lets out a laugh. "So how was my funeral?"

"We had in Nigeria, grandma insisted"

"And she died thinking I was dead" He let out a huge sigh. "I wish I didn't give in to your mother's decision. I would have fought or something. I didn't even get to tell her I'm alive before she died."

"Since you were alive, why didn't you attend your funeral and maybe in disguise so you won't get recognized."

He laughs. "Andrew, your imagination is wild. This isn't a crime novel or some movie. If I had gone to my funeral in Nigeria I was bound to be found because they would have sensed my presence or something."

"But aren't you going to the hospital in a disguise? Someone is bound to recognize you."

"Your right, that's why I'm not going there anymore. I only went there yesterday because I wanted to address something."

"Okay. You said something about Lucia knowing that you're alive all this while."

"Well, when your mum told me to go and never come back. She was the first person I called because she was my friend and she was also my personal assistant at that time. I knew your mum would find a way for you to take over the hospital, so I made sure she would always come home every day to check up on you and your sister and that was why I made sure she stayed your personal assistant."

When he says this, I remember how frequently Lucia would come to our house to give my mum daily reports or spend time with me and Adanna.

She never wasted time scolding me whenever I or Adanna did the wrong thing.

"Thanks for being there with us even though you couldn't be there physically"

"So, what about the kid that went missing, did you find anything about him?"

"Not even a trace. I don't know what to do. I and Nailah searched for him everywhere."

"Nailah?"

"Yeah, the girl I did the surgery with."

He exhales loudly. "You told her about this?"

I nod. "Yes, since she's kind of involved, she did the surgery with me and mom knows."

He turns to face me. "Your mother?" He swerves to the side of the road and parks the car. "Andrew you cannot tell anyone about what is happening in our lives. Andrew, we are in a crucial and dangerous situation and no one can know." He tells me and I nod. "Does anyone knows I'm alive? Does she know?"

"No just Salah"

"Andrew, no one else can know. We have a lot on our hands, especially with that kid that's missing, and I hope his disappearance doesn't have to do with my suspicions."

"What suspicions?"

He ignores me and asks, "Has anyone else gone missing in the hospital?"

"I don't look at that aspect in the hospital. I just do the paperwork and a bit of supervising."

"So you mean you don't know if anyone else has been missing from the hospital?"

"Yes. Mum said it would be best if I stayed away from that aspect because of the trauma one operation caused me."

"Trauma? What happened?"

I sigh. "There was this girl; Kendal. She wasn't just some girl. We were dating for some time and we were so in love that I was considering getting engaged to her. Later, I got the courage to 'pop the question' and the wedding date was fixed."

"I heard about her," My dad tells me.

"She wanted a huge wedding, and I didn't object to that since she is a very outgoing person. As you know, to prepare for the wedding there are tons of things you have to go through."

I fought the urge to let a tear drop. "We scheduled for cake testing on a particular day but I brought it a day back because I had an impromptu meeting that was supposed to hold the day after the cake testing."

I feel a hard lump in my throat. "When we were tasting the cake, suddenly, Kendal just collapsed. I was so frightened, dad because I had never seen her in that state. Immediately I rushed to Savier hospital."

I felt a tear trickle down my cheeks. "I didn't trust any of our staff with her because I wasn't down for any excuses, or maybe complications. But, I didn't handle the entire operation by myself, though. I had some help from a few of the best we have at Savier but I headed it and I never left her side."

Another tear trickles down. "We later found out that she had a collapsed lung. And from what I observed, she had been having the symptoms for a long time, but she never told me. When I found out about the collapsed lung, I became more frightened because this was a life-threatening situation, any mistake and she might have lost her life."

I sniff. "I braced myself because I wasn't prepared to lose Kendall. I made sure I gathered the few surgeons in the hospital who had experience In this and we began immediately. We also found out it wasn't her first time collapsing and that she has had over one pneumothorax. I panicked but managed to calm myself down. We tried using a chest tube, but it wasn't working. Again, I panicked."

I just didn't care anymore, and I let the tears roll down. "The only other option we had was for us to carry on a lung surgery to close off the air leak. The surgery was a long one it took almost four hours."

I let out a smile to comfort myself. "The surgery was successful, and I had an immense relief. All the surgeons and nurses who helped exited the room, but I stayed there. I wasn't prepared to leave her side, and I watched her as she lay sleeping."

"Days passed and Kendall was still in the hospital because I was sure she wasn't strong yet to move to the house. I stayed with her all day from morning to night, not leaving her side. On the fourth day, I need to get to the house to get something because we were running out of clothes and some supplies. I didn't want to tell anyone of my friends to help me because I felt like would disturb them because they already did so much; they each took turns to spend the night with me in the hospital and they offered to bring food to us. I convinced myself that she would be fine with me gone a couple of minutes and nurses being standby"

More tears trail down. "I got delayed by a traffic jam and I got there thirty minutes later. When I got there-"

"W- whe- when I got there" My breaths get heavier.

"Andrew breathe. It's ok," My dad tells me.

My breaths get heavier. "When I got there…. They sa- said she was gone."

"Andrew, it's okay, Andrew breathe."

"Andrew, breathe!"

"BREATHE ANDREW" I hear my dad yell again.

"I could have saved her I know I could have. If only I had stayed back," I kept repeating.

My dad immediately speeds off from his Parking position is him screaming. "ANDREW, JUST BREATHE AND CALM DOWN."

I hear him scream that continuously until I can't hear any other thing again.