The sound of silence

Karl's eyes flipped open,baring reddish eyeballs,his eyelids flicking rapidly pushing out a drop of tear running down the side of his left eye,he was looking pale,almost a washout with some flecks of dried blood sprinkled randomly over his torso,his breathing the sound of a huffing snore was almost the only sign of human presence in the room aside the old split air conditioner vibrating with an irritating noise ,the room was hitherto dull and silent,all of us,quiet and still,all lost in our individual reverie,I sprang up with delight when I saw Karl open his eyes,I was filled with gratitude to God,I covered my mouth with my palms to prevent me from shouting for joy as I hurriedly went to sit by the edge of his bed,squeezing his arm tenderly which had a needle sipping in intravenous liquid into the arm which was all sore around the area the needle was inserted into him.

"How are you doing bro!"


I said to him,he simply nodded his head negatively in a sign he couldn't hear me,I turned instantly to Mom,fear in my eyes,she turned and went to fetch the doctor,QT and Hamz were now standing behind me,all stitched here and there with plasters where they had sustained injuries and my cut on the wrist had long stopped bleeding and needed no stitching.

The door creaked open and in came the tall,almost chubby doctor followed by Mom,he examined him and while at it,a petite,fair complexioned nurse came in with a medical pan and some other medical instruments in it and together with the doctor,they administered drugs,checked the intravenous fluid amongst other things and thereafter made counting signs to Karl and checked his eyes  to ensure he was mentally alert and no  signs of concussion.


The doctor signaled to Mom to see him outside,Mom sighed,trailing behind the doctor who promptly turned to face and tell her Karl's prognosis

"Karl suffered a great depression to his head thus affecting his hearing glands which requires a minor surgical procedure to correct and that's it,if not done,it could lead to permanent loss of his hearing sense"

Mom sighed and asked what she is to do,she put pen to paper,signing that she in the event of death,she won't be suing the hospital. Thereafter she called Karl's mom to inform her of events leading to his hospitalization and now surgery,though heartbroken,more so as she couldn't speak to Karl,she asked my Mom to do all that was necessary as she considered her to be Karl's mom too,that made Mom smile.

Anesthesia was administered on Karl,taken to the theatre and we waited...hoping and praying that all went well.

Meanwhile,all the people who mattered in our hometown had been called to intervene in the now broiling feud between Mom and Alhaji garuba,the latter had been boasting of how powerful and influential he is and how he could send us packing out of abuja,Mom didn't say a word,he was plotting and so were we.

 Five hours later and the surgery was over ,Karl  was transferred to the infirmary to recuperate,we were so glad the surgery was successful,I couldn't imagine seeing Karl dumb,tears welled up in my eyes seeing him fast asleep like a baby with the anesthesia yet to wear off.

Mom then did the unthinkable,she reasoned that since in truth,we were in a battle against a rich man and having called the police to arrest the man and instead took bribes ,making Alhaji boast around that he had the justice system and the police in his pockets,she decided to engage the media,once this is beamed to the whole world,then we would see if he would be able to touch us again

"WHAT?" I yelped,sending echoes through the hospital corridor where Mom and I sat

"How could you even think of inviting AIT to cover the whole thing?have you thought about our image?how our friends would react to such a thing? It's quite embarrassing Mom...what if the matriarch sees it? That would be another trouble for you" I rapped

"Are you bothered about your "image"? Huh? Who knows you? This man is powerful and the world responds only to money,if we are to show him that we can match his boasts and reach by toppling them with media attention,then he would cower down as his own image would be very important to him and he would spend millions on PR damage control,so baby,this is what we need to do"

Mom said bluntly as I pondered over my blog and the fear of people seeing our house on television torn to shreds with the hammers and daggers of those evil men but couldn't tell her that's my reason,I sighed and agreed,telling her we need to brief QT and Hamz,she nodded and urged me to follow her out.

Karl was fully awake by now and thankfully,he could hear us as I spoon-fed him some cereal

"Now I understand what it means to loose a part of you,it was so scary not hearing a single word of what you guys were saying,I thought I would have to learn sign language" He said

"What did it feel like? Did it seem like we were just lip synching?" Hamz asked,swallowing some cereal,Karl's adam apple bobbled up and down as the food went down and explained

"It was so silent that it was so loud..that's how best I can explain the silence,the sound of silence is just too loud it is depressing and yes,your lips just moved,I couldn't figure out what you guys were saying,you can imagine how happy and grateful I was when I woke up and I could hear all sorts of noise and chatter,I felt teary with delight"

 QT and I shared glances,smiling,just then,the door opened and in came some five men with video cameras and mics and all,Karl's eyes popped as he wondered what they were here for,Hamz quickly whispered the whole details in a short summary to him and after exchanging pleasantries,they switched on the cameras and interviewed us,thereafter they went to capture our torn down house,QT went with them to show them around and with bated breaths,we waited to see the outcome

Three days later,the clip aired on evening news on AIT and it felt surreal seeing me talk about our lives and condition of living like I do see people on NTA's newsline seeking for help. Once the news was over,we waited,not knowing if we had just caused our own doom or if we would get the results we expected. As it should be,calls flooded in from all angles,asking to know details,some urged us to leave the house for now since the whole essence of calling it a house which is to protect us from the elements is defeated but we couldn't  just leave the house in that state with our properties in the house,so we willed ourselves to God's protection and stayed in the house.

Soon,we got help from human rights commission who took it upon themselves to help us face alhaji garuba,though Mom's lawyer was a reputable and fierce man of the wig,the weight of Alhaji's influence was too big for him. Soon, Alhaji asked for an out of court settlement and agreed to pay for damages and pay for our house to be renovated and damaged properties paid for,we were relieved but the dramas never ends,do they?

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