Tiwatopes Redemption – Episode 7

Tiwatope’s Redemption – Episode 7

By Kayode Odusanya

She couldn’t ask anyone how he died, but from eavesdropping, she got to know that he had been sick for a while, and had died of cardiac arrest during his surgery in India yesterday. Now she understood why he would always zone out on her during the trip. The belief of impending doom always overwhelmed him.

After crying on an off for about half an hour, she decided it was time to leave as more people were trooping in every minute. She got off her seat, walked across the room, knelt beside his mom, and held her in a tight embrace. “What’s your name?” Tolu’s mom whispered in her ear.

“Tiwatope.” She answered as she slowly pulled away from the woman.

“Okay Tiwa. Thanks for sticking around.”

“Take care ma.” She said and flashed a quick smile before turning around and walking out of the house.

She was almost by her car when she heard a female voice from behind her say, “Hello.” She turned around and saw a lanky girl dressed casually in jeans and rumpled looking grey tank top staring at her. “You’re Tiwatope, right?” The girl said. Her voice sounded croaky like she had been crying.

“Yes.” Tiwatope answered as she put her right hand above her head to shield her eyes from the sun.

“I’m Tolani, Tolu’s sister.” The girl said, but Tiwatope had already figured that out.

“It’s nice to meet you, Tolani.” Tiwatope said as her eyes went to the small, brown rectangular envelope in the girl’s hand.

“He wanted you to have this.” She said and handed the envelope over to Tiwatope. “He gave me before he left the house.” She added. Tiwatope turned it around and saw her name written at the back in bold letters.

“Thank you.”

“You are welcome.”

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds as the girls stared at each other. Tiwatope broke the silence with, “Can I have your number? I’d like to talk to you some time.”

“Okay. Let me have your phone.”

They exchanged numbers, said their goodbyes, and Tiwatope walked off to her car. She tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter immediately she got into the car.

The letter read…

‘Hey Tiwababy, if you are reading this, then it means I am gone. I’ve gone to the land beyond. As I write this letter, I am scheduled to travel to India on Monday for a Liver transplant, but my chances of surviving it are slim as I am in a critical stage of liver damage called liver cirrhosis. I also have a weak heart, and a bad kidney. We had to search for months before we found a doctor that agreed to operate on me, and even he told us he couldn’t fully guarantee I would survive the operation as my other vital organs have been badly damaged too. I could die from cardiac arrest during the surgery, infections afterwards, or my body could refuse the liver.

I know you are thinking, ‘why go ahead with a surgery when you’ve been told you might die in process?’ Well, if I don’t do it, my situation would get worse and I would die in a couple of years anyway. Yes, what a sad story. But don’t feel pity for me; I brought it all on myself. After ending my first year in civil engineering with a 1.9 CGPA, and disappointing my dad, I got depressed and addicted to codeine. I took it further by crushing Tramadol and Refnol, and adding to my codeine. The guys that introduced me to the drug warned me that I was going too far, but I didn’t listen till I damaged more than half the vital organs in my body. I lost massive weight, was fatigued all the time, and had to transfer to geography department when I could no longer cope with studies in engineering.

After my mom dragged me to the hospital for a checkup and a series of tests were run, they found out how far gone I was. My mom didn’t want to go the surgery route at first, so we tried alternative means, and I started taking warm garlic, lemon, and ginger water every morning as prescribed by the herbal practitioner we consulted with. The concoction helped me feel much better, but it didn’t really heal my already damaged organs. My dad had to sell all his real estate and shares to come up with the thirty million naira for my surgery.

The night we had our first encounter in front of your friend’s house, I was actually going to ki*ll myself as I had become suicidal. My plan was to walk across the bush path to the Lagos lagoon, and drown myself. I had a rat in a trap, and once I released it, Suzy went chasing it. That was the only way I could distract her and get my plan done. But then, you showed up from nowhere, and literally fell into my arms. Right at that moment, I felt the urge to live again, even if just a few days or weeks.

I had been watching you from afar all along, and I knew you were living a reckless life, but deep down, I knew you were a good person. Aren’t we all?

Of course I couldn’t just walk up to you and tell you to change your ways; you wouldn’t listen to me. So, I came up with a plan; I believed that if I showed you enough attention and genuine love, you might just reconsider your ways. That’s why I started following you about and showering you with positive energy. Even though I pissed you off at the beginning, I knew it would only take a matter of time before I got to you, because essentially, all human beings just want to be loved.

That was my plan; it was full proof in my head, but what I didn’t know was that I was going to start developing strong feelings for you. It hurt me so much to think that I might not be around long enough to keep enjoying your company. The reason I walked off so fast and didn’t turn around the last time we saw was because I didn’t want you to see me cry. I wish things could have worked better for us. I wish I had gotten to know you before I ruined my life, but then, maybe our paths wouldn’t have crossed if things went that way.

Tiwatope, I know how you must feel right now, considering the fact that you lost your dad just recently, but I don’t want you to let my death get you depressed. I want you to keep on living. Let the brief time we spent together mean something to you and fuel you to be a great person; someone that would touch the lives of millions of people in a positive way. I know you have greatness in you. I know that for a fact.

My dad is calling my name right now as he wants to drive me down to my uncle’s house from where I would be traveling, so I have to stop writing now and give the letter to my sister, Tolani, who will give it to you. I love you and will always be with you in the spirit.

Tolu.’

The letter was soaked in tears by the time she finished reading it.

____

6 months later

As she sat there on the stage, staring at the sea of teenagers in white on white school uniform looking up her, she wondered how the talk would go. They were being addressed by their vice principal; a slow talking grey haired man with pot belly almost bursting the buttons of the grey shirt he had on. She had done about half a dozen talks in the last 4 months, but they were all co educational schools; this particular school was an all boys school and she could see some of the older boys ogling her, even though she had dressed as modest as possible in black pant suit.

As usual, she had requested for students from SS1-3; that was her target audience. They were mostly in their mid teens to late teens and eager to experiment with anything new that they thought would make them appear cool to their peers.

As Tiwatope heard the man finish her introduction and call her name, her heart skipped a beat. She swallowed saliva and walked up to the podium. After an awkward moment of prolonged silence, she cleared her throat before saying, “Hello boys.”

There was a loud echo of, “Good morning ma” across the hall. She was surprised at the chorused positive response, and it gave her a little confidence.

“How many of you guys are science students?” She asked and about half of them raised their hands. She looked at them for a while, and then said, “I mean, science students. You know what I mean.” She added and winked. She could see smiles slowly start to appear across their faces as murmuring in the assembly hall grew gradually. “Awon omo science students!” She said out loud, and there was a shout of enthusiastic approval among the students. Some of them started singing the Olamide song she had gotten her words from.

She waited for them to go silent and then continued with, “I’m not here to preach to you about the dangers of taking Codeine. I’m not here to tell you how abusing Tramadol or Refnol can cause organ damage in your body. I’m sure you all know that.” She went silent for several seconds, letting the students hunger for her next words, and then she said, “I’m here to tell you a story. I’m here to tell you a love story.”

The End

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