☆☆
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.
Tom watched in disgust as Sheila ran up the
stairs in the direction of the Intensive Care Unit.
He wondered why she was so excited about a
total stranger and his wellbeing. He had never
supported keeping the stranger on life support
and discouraged her everyday, giving her strong
reasons of how the hospital bills were taking so
much of her money. He had refused when she
asked for his assistance in taking care of the
bills and she summoned the courage to take it
all up by herself without asking help from
anyone else.
Sheila was the only daughter of a successful
Businessman, a billionaire named Emery Jack.
But even with her father’s wealth, she was
hardworking and had made so much for herself
at a very young age. She was a business owner
herself, running a consulting firm and also a
website where she gives information about
small business opportunities and ideas, and also
mentors others.
Tom was the second son of Emery Jack’s friend,
Harry Wills who was another successful
Businessman. The friendship of their fathers
made he and Sheila friends since childhood. He
also did well in his own field but still worked in
his father’s organization.
Sheila opened the door noisily and barged into
the ward without announcement, making the
eyes of Doctor and Nurse turn to her. For some
reason, she couldn’t move further, it seemed
like her hand got glued to knob of the door and
she stared at the man who had been “dead” for four months. The man in the hospital bed was
the last to look up at her but he looked away
immediately as if he saw no one and returned
his focus to the doctor who was administering
some injections to him.
Tom joined Sheila at the entrance and stopped
beside her. He glanced at her face before fixing
his gaze on the man being attended to by the
nurse and Doctor.
It was confirmed now that he was truly out of
danger. He had been taken off the medical
ventilator and was now sitting and moving parts
of his body in response to the doctor.
Sheila advanced slowly in contrast to the
manner at which she got to the entrance. She
kept her eyes on the face of the man who did
not even seem to notice she was coming
towards him. Tom followed behind and they
stopped when they got to the leg side of the
bed.
“Congratulations Miss Sheila, he’s finally out of
danger.” The doctor let out a smile.
Sheila responded with a smile and looked at the
patient’s face again. The patient glanced at her
for a moment and then looked away, the
expression on his face was unwelcoming.
“I came as soon as I got the message,” Sheila
replied pleasantly, taking a brief look at the
doctor’s face. “I hope everything is well with
him.”
“Yeah…” The doctor answered, dragging the
word a little more than usual. He finished up
with administering the injection into the
patient’s arm and dropped the used syringe into the container held by the nurse. He took in a
breath and faced Sheila. “He’s fine and totally
out of danger now, we’d have to change his
ward soon,” the Doctor began to take slow
steps away from his position. He stopped
beside Sheila and spoke in low tones, but still
loud enough for Tom to hear. “I told you after
you brought him that he had a brain injury that
he must have gotten from the use of weapons
on his head.”
The colour on Sheila’s face changed and she
seemed worried at the news. She looked at the
patient’s face again and noticed that his eyes
were now on her.
“So what’s the implication of that?” Her eyes
turned back to the doctor’s face.
“He has amnesia,” he replied.
“So he doesn’t remember anything at all?” She
asked the doctor, staring back into the eyes of
the man who was staring at her.
“Well, it’s retrograde amnesia. He’s able to
create new memories but may find it difficult to
recall the past, he may only have flashes of
episodic memories,” the doctor replied in a sad
tone.
There was silence for a moment until Sheila
heard a sigh from behind her, she turned to
look at Tom.
“This was all a waste of time,” he murmured
with a sigh.
“You call this a waste of time?” Sheila raised her
brows at him.
“Yes, I mean after all the troubles done to get
him back alive, he doesn’t have his memory
intact. How would he go back to his life? Or
would he continue to remain a liability after
footing his medical bill?” Tom insisted.
Sheila turned to the doctor, “Are there any
chances he would regain his memory?”
“Well, the chances are very slim.” The doctor
stated. “But you two can help him in different
ways…”
“How are we going to help him doctor? We
don’t even know who he is,” Tom argued.
“Doctor, please tell us ways we can help him.”
Sheila asked the doctor, deciding to ignore
Tom’s negative remarks.
“Very simple techniques,” the doctor replied. He
allowed for the nurse to walk pass him and out
of the ward before he continued in low tones.
He glanced again at the patient briefly. “What he
needs for now is care and attention, he needs to
be helped to be confident and he needs to trust
you completely. He has greater chances of
regaining his memory if he’s exposed to things
of the past and if you help him recreate some
memories.”
Sheila closed her eyes and drew in air deeply.
“It’s a total waste of time, we don’t even know
him, we don’t know his past, we only found him
in a body bag and took him to a clinic before
having to bring him here.” Tom grated out,
deciding not to hide his feelings in anyway.
“Shhhh…” The doctor hushed him and took a
quick glance at the patient to see if he was
listening to them. “You should not be saying
such things in front of him,” he cautioned,
disappointed at Tom for speaking so harshly
even when he could see the patient’s eyes were
focused on them.
“I ain’t got time for all this really,” Tom replied
nonchalantly. He turned to Sheila, “I remember
I promised that if he comes out of coma I would
pay off the medical bill. I’ll stick to that
promise, and pay everything.” He said with so
much arrogance in his voice.
“I don’t need your money Tom,” Sheila replied
him angrily.
“I’m sticking to my promise,” Tom insisted and
patted her gently on the cheek with his right
hand. “I’ll be outside waiting for you.”
Sheila heaved a sigh of frustration and turned as
she watched Tom walk out of the ward.
“Please, talk with him. He has to be patient, the
sick man is just recovering and would need a lot
of care to help him.” The doctor whispered to
Sheila before he began to walk towards the
door. He stopped and turned briefly to say
something. “Some nurses would join you in a
moment, they are coming to move him to the
new ward.”
Sheila watched the doctor go until he got out
and closed the door. She suddenly felt an
uneasiness as she realized she was alone with
the strange man whom they had found few
months ago. It wasn’t her first time of being
with strangers or traumatized people, so she
wondered why this felt so different.
What was she going to say to him? And would
he respond to her well or with coldness? The
look she had seen on his face when she stepped
into the room was not encouraging. She turned
to face him and met him staring at her.
He blinked as his eyes met hers. He didn’t know
who she was or how she knew him but he was
sure of one thing, and that was that she wanted
him to be well. He couldn’t even remember who
he himself was, talk more of remembering
someone else. He had watched the doctor
discuss with her and the other man. He did not
hear most of what was said especially the
doctor and the lady but he heard the other
man’s words and got to discover that none of
them also knew him, even though they were the
ones footing his medical bill. Perhaps, they had
found him somewhere and picked him up, he
thought. He knew one thing for sure, the man
who spoke out loud did not like him.
“Hi, how are you?” Sheila put on a smile as
pleasantly as she could and moved closer to
him.
“I’m fine,” he replied in a calm voice. A look of
surprise appeared on his face but it soon faded
away and his face became expressionless.
Sheila noticed he was handsome, even with the
scar on his forehead, his cuteness did not fade.
The tubes and lines connected to his body were
now all gone and the machine by the side of the
bed was no longer functioning for him.
“I’m glad you’re fine now,” Sheila said. “My
name is Sheila, what’s your name?”
“She…ila…” He muttered slowly and repeatedly
under his breath for some seconds and looked
down, a frown appeared on his face like that of
a person who had just recalled a terrible
nightmare. He looked up again and stared at
Sheila’s face with confusion written all over his
face.
“Oh!” Sheila gasped, she realized that he was
trying hard to remember his name and she felt
sorry for asking him. “Don’t…”
“Do I have a name?” He interrupted her
statement.
“Never mind,” she said with a pleasant smile.
She reached for his hand and sq££zed his palm
in hers gently. She saw him staring at her hand
as if to ask what she was doing with his hand.
She felt he was uncomfortable and released his
palm. He took a sharp look at her face and there
was an awkward silence for a moment, he
reached slowly for her hand and took it in his,
encouraging her to sq££ze it again like she did
before.
“I’ll call you Henry,” she said with a smile. “I’m
your friend and I’ll be here for you every time
you need me.”
Henry did not know how to respond to her but
a faint smile appeared on his face.”Henry…” He
muttered. He didn’t know what it meant but it
sounded nice to him. “I like Henry,” he said, his
smile broadened.
Sheila smiled more pleasantly and she stared at
his face. He looked like a hard man with his
well developed muscles and a tough body but
he looked soft and more handsome when he
smiled.
His smile disappeared immediately as he
remembered something. Henry was a new name
given to him by Sheila, if he was Henry now,
who was he before? He thought to himself.
“Sheila,” he called softly and she stared at his
face, wondering what he wanted to talk about.
.
.
“ Who am I? ”
.
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#Gold
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