It was just another casual morning, a regular school day, nothing new. I ate on the dining with my brother while waiting for my Dad to drop us off to school.
"Why is Dad not yet ready?" My little brother asked me as though I were the all-knowing.
"I really don't know." I replied as I casually churned the food in my mouth. It was obvious I had lost interest in the meal.
"Dad is coming" my brother whispered.
I hastily adjusted myself on the dining. While my brother tucked in his lips about to burst into laughter as I pretended as though the meal were delicious, no one had the guts to complain of a meal prepared by our Dad.
We heard his usual lazy steps slowly approaching us, only this time, it was much slower. "Are you guys done?" He asked us while staring into blank space.
"Yeah! We... we are done." I responded, trying to figure out why he looked into the air like a zombie.
He kept mute for about two minutes without responding to my question while he kept rubbing his pot-belly as he glared into empty space.
"Dad? Dad?" I waved my hands across his face but it didn't seem to distract him from his ghost-like stare. My brother didn't utter a word all through. He watched as I tried to interact with my Dad... he was prolly confused, we both were.
He turned around slowly and walked upstairs taking each step slowly. His eyes maintained a fixed position. He nether blinked nor uttered a word as he kept an expressionless face. It almost felt as though he was controlled by a spell.
"Did you notice..." I tried asking my little brother, chuks, a question.
"He was acting strange" my brother cut in, completing the statement.
Time was past 9am and we were meant to be at school by 8am. If there was one thing about him, he never dropped us off to school at a late hour. He was quite disciplined.
"I'll be right back" I told my brother while I walked upstairs to check up on Dad.
I walked with long strides, taking about 3 steps in a single leap. I walked into his room.
"Dad? Daddy?" I scoured the room in search of him but couldn't see any sign of him.
Something struck my attention. His bathroom door was wide open, something he always ensured was shut.
I tip toed slowly, my heart racing faster than ever. Suddenly my eyes caught a glimpse of my Dad laying right within the bath tub. His whole body shook vigorously with a white foamy liquid streaking down his cheeks,out from the sides of his mouth. I paused, my eyes widened in disbelief as a thousand thoughts came to mind. Finally, I let out a loud scream and my brother rushed to the scene.
We struggled to lift him out of the tub, so we could head downstairs to the gate, to seek for assistance but his weight was far more than our's. We eventually ran out to call someone, anyone; and eventually, we found a taxi driver who followed us to the scene and carried him into the taxi where we took off to the hospital.
"Oh My God!" I kept panicking while my brother maintained a calm demeanor, he was prolly trying to figure out what had just happened.
He was admitted at the hospital after stabilization. I then Got a call from an unknown number...
"hello, Ngozi what happened?"
I recognized the voice, it was Mum's. She stayed far away from us due to the nature of her job.
"Where are you guys? Is he okay? What happened?" She asked all 3 questions at the same time. I could sense the fear in her voice.
"Mummy he's fine, calm down." I replied, trying to relax her nerves.
"Oh, thank God" she let out a sigh of relief.
Family relations came over from different states, including my mum to see him on his sick bed — he was diagnosed of Stroke and couldn't move the left side of his body.
We stayed around him (my brother and I). We listened as he told us stories of the civil war that happened in Nigeria in the 19's. We would listen and laugh. Atleast, it was something to take our minds off the reality of what was going on.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. It'll be alright." He always said to us each time he noticed we were agitated or sad; but those were his last words.
I never thought death could be so close to my doorstep. I never understood what reality actually was, I couldn't differentiate between life and death until he kicked the bucket.
We mourned for a long while, especially my mum and I. My brother however, seemed somewhat calm. Perhaps it's in the nature of a man to be so... Or maybe not.
My lasts moments with him were filled with beautiful stories, nostalgic stories... Stories that'll forever be inscribed in the hearts of its listeners.
