Ficorpio
Chapter 1
The sun rays easily filtered into the room through the small gap between the windows. They fell on the well made bed covered in pink and white sheets. Two big pillows lay neatly at the upper side of the bed. The walls of the room were covered in all kinds of posters and wallpapers. A huge frame of the picture of a girl, a man and a woman smiling brightly hung on the wall right above the head of the bed. A long shelf was plastered to the wall with the books neatly arranged in it. Next to it a shoe rack of sneakers and different shoes.
Adjacent the shoe rack was a table with a girl seating on it. She had a headset on with music blaring in her ears cutting her off from the outside world. Dressed in a long shirt that reached her knees, she tapped her feet slowly against the table as she scrolled through her computer. She bobbled and nodded her head to the song playing in her ears. She removed her hands from the mouse and moved her hands while dancing. On the Computer was news about a popular teen singer.
She didn’t notice when the door of her room opened and a middle aged woman stepped in. On closer inspection; it wouldn’t be hard to realize that the woman in the frame above the head and the woman standing in the room were the same person.
“My dear…… A voice drifted into the room as a man walked inside. He stopped talking upon seeing the girl in headsets.
He walked towards her and removed the headsets as the girl turned immediately the frown on her face morphing into a smile immediately.
“Dad, Mom, when you guys get back?” She asked as she stood up.
“You are checking news about Lashe?” Her mom asked and she turned towards the computer and chuckled.
“Yeah, Snr Ibukun attends my school, she’s was my senior. She passed out this year. Who could have believed that she was LA she’s girlfriend?” she replied as her dad nodded.
“Here’s ice cream for my favorite daughter” her dad said with a smile as he handed over nylon to her.
“Thanks Dad” she said as she collected the nylon and smiled.
“Your favorite daughter?” She asked with amused eyes and her dad nodded.
“Of course. You are my favorite daughter, you don’t believe me?” He asked as the girl laughed.
“Dad, I’m your only daughter. Isn’t it normal for me to be your favorite daughter?” She asked as her parents burst into laughter.
She walked towards the computer and sat down and brought out the huge box of ice cream. She opened it and used the spoon to scoop a potion of the ice cream.
“Mom?” She asked as she turned the spoon toward her mom who laughed and walked towards her to take the ice cream.
“Ike” her dad called as she turned towards him.
“Huh?” She asked as she scooped another potion of the ice cream and swallowed it.
“You have a checkup tomorrow” her dad replied and Ike turned to the calendar on the table and raised an eyebrow.
“Okay” Ike replied as she turned to nod at her dad. Her mom dropped nylon on the bed.
“I also got some chocolates for you. M&M, Maltesers; your favorites” her mom said as Ike beamed a big smile.
“Thanks mom” Ike said as her mom nodded and Ike turned back to her computer.
Mr Adeniyi squeezed the shoulders of his wife as he led her out of Ike’s room. Ike turned as soon as she heard the door close. Sighing softly, she carried her box of ice cream along with her as she climbed her bed. Crossing her legs over each other, she reached for her phone and unlocked it.
The news of Lashe’s girlfriend was still trending like crazy even though it had been two months since the news got out. After all, he was the most popular teen singer in the country. He had a reputation of locking down news about him. If Lashes didn’t want any information about him to go viral, there was no way anyone could get their hands on it.
Everything started changing when he came out about his parents and the whole country when on rampage; just for him. Ike chuckled as she scrolled through the WhatsApp status on her phone. A lot of her friends were excited about the fact that school was resuming in a week, some were just posting random videos and posts. She clicked on the class group and rolled her eyes upon seeing that they were talking about Ibukun being Lashe’s girlfriend.
She as well almost didn’t believe it. Ibukun, Fikayo and Blessing had been a popular although not too popular trio in school. There were their two year seniors so they rarely had contact with them. Some of her classmates couldn’t believe they attended the same school as Lashe’s girlfriend. Ike closed the chat as soon as private message came in.
Gloria?
Babe, I and Chidima are going out tomorrow, can you make it?
6:34pm.
Me
Nope.
I have somewhere to go. You guys have fun.
6:34pm.
Ike dropped her phone and focused on finishing her ice cream. She pulled the nylon of chocolates closer to herself as she poured the contents on the bed before selecting a long one and tearing the nylon open. She bit into the chocolate as she took a spoon of ice cream. Generally; foods like this or rather snacks and combinations like this are advised to be avoided because they could cause tooth decay but for her; she needed this particular kinds of food to survive. Medically there weren’t good for the body.
The same food would make some other teenagers or anybody to get fat and give them tooth decay; she needed to eat them to live, to survive. Ike chuckled at the irony of her thoughts. Talk about another man’s food is another man’s poison.
Chapter 2
Ike scrolled through her phone as she lay on the bed. One of Davido’s recent songs, Jowo rang loudly in her ears but the calm look on Ike’s face betrayed the intensity of the music. Her hands delved underneath her pillow as she brought out a biscuit and tore it open. She took one and started munching on it slowly and dropped her phone beside her. She continued eating the biscuit as she stared at the ceiling. Tomorrow, tomorrow, she was going to know what life had decided to give her on a sliver plate.
Ike knew she didn’t have time but she didn’t know her long or rather how short the time she had left was. She folded the nylon of the biscuit and placed it on the drawer beside her and turned on her side while adjusting her cover cloth. Just a few hours and she would know how long she had left.
Even when Ike knew she was going to know how much she had left to live; there was zero panic or anxiousness on her face. For someone who had realized since when she could understand things that she could die anytime, death definitely didn’t scare her. She closed her eyes slowly as she fell into a deep slumber.
Ike woke up as soon as the alarm went off. She climbed out of bed and turned out the ringing alarm as she walked towards the bathroom to brush her teeth. She could hear her parents praying downstairs. Ike didn’t remember when last she prayed. She had stopped praying a long time ago. She didn’t see the need to pray.
Pray for what? Long life? Good grades? Prosperity? What exactly? Long life was so out of the list, good grades? Neither she or her parents cared about her grades, she was going to die before she was able to use them anyways.
To thank God she woke up in the morning? For keeping her alive? She knew she could die anytime so living one extra day didn’t mean she wouldn’t still die. Not that she didn’t believe in God. She believed in him, she knew he existed but she lost her trust in him a long time ago.
The walls of the bathroom were covered in blue and white tiles intertwined together and Ike quickly pulled off her night wear, grabbed her towel and took her bath.
Ike remembered hating the smell of the hospitals when she was little. The mixture of the disinfectants always seem to poke at her intestines and she always had the urge to vomit or rather she always vomited. Ten, fifteen years later she walked through the passageway of the hospital without vomiting. The years of coming to the same place over and over again had made her adjust to the crank smell.
She turned on her headset and placed it over her head to block out the cries of the children as they walked past the children section. Hand Of God by Jon Bellion flowed into her ears and Ike chuckled.
Was her life really in the hands of God?
Ike dropped her bag with her mom as she walked towards the room she used to take her tests. The nurse inside the room offered her a small smile that Ike quickly returned.
“Doctor Makinde said you were coming. How are you feeling?” She asked as Ike shrugged as she sat lied down.
“Normal” Ike replied as she watched the nurse take her blood and run an x-ray. She stood up immediately the nurse was done.
“Doctor Makinde will tell you the results” She said and Ike nodded and walked out of the room pressing her finger on the spot where her blood was taken.
She grabbed her bag and started walking towards an office with her parents behind her. DOCTOR MAKINDE was written just outside the office and Ike knocked twice before stepping in. A middle aged man was seated on the chair behind the table and he turned the moment Ike pushed the door open.
“Ikeoluwa, how are you?” He asked as Ike sat down in front of him with a small smile.
“Doing fine. Normal actually” Ike replied as Mr and Mrs Adeniyi exchanged pleasantries with him.
“Let me ask them to send your results” Doctor Makinde said as he turned to his computer while Mr and Mrs Adeniyi sat on the couch in the office.
Ikeoluwa tapped her feet soundlessly on the tiled floor. The head phones on her head blasted music crazily into her ears and even the people close to her could hear tiny little bits. She pulled it off head and placed it on her neck as soon as the doctor turned to her. Flashing him a smile, she asked.
“How long do I have left Doctor Makinde?” Ike asked as Doctor Makinde glanced at her parents who were seated at the couch in the spacious office. He sighed seeing the anxiousness on their faces.
“Two months” he said after a while.
“I still have that long?” Ike asked with a bewildered expression.
“Just two months?” Mrs Adeniyi asked with an edge in her voice.
“Mrs Adeniyi…… " Doctor Makinde started but Ike cut him off by standing up.
“I’m going to Doctor’s John office, he’ll bring me home” Ike said as she stepped out the office and released a sigh she didn’t even realize she was holding.
She climbed up the staircase as she arrived at a door and pushed it open without knocking. A good looking young man was seated on the chair as he browsed through the files on the table.
“Ikeoluwa, you came in without knocking again” the man said before he dropped the files he was holding and turned to face Ike who had dropped her bag and walked towards the fridge in the office and opened it. She brought out a box of ice cream and grabbed a spoon as she sat down cross legged on the couch.
“You said you didn’t mind” Ike said as she scooped one spoon of ice cream into her mouth.
Chapter 3
The young doctor laughed lightly as he opened his drawer and brought out a long chocolate before throwing it towards her. Ike caught the chocolate with one hand as she placed it beside her. She took another spoon of her ice cream as she glanced at the huge fridge in the office.
“After two months, you won’t have to keep takeaways of ice creams in your fridge or chocolates in your drawer” Ike said as the older male blinked his eyes and chuckled.
“Why?” He asked slowly.
“I’ll probably be six feet under” Ike replied as he nodded slowly.
“So?” He asked as Ike turned to him and shrugged.
“So? So what?” Ike asked.
“I’m asking you what you are going to do with your last two months” He asked as Ike laughed.
“Is there anything I haven’t done, John?” Ike asked as she placed her ice cream beside her.
“And besides I really want to die without regrets” Ike added as she grabbed her box of ice cream again.
“Write a bucket list” John said as Ike raised an eyebrow.
“A bucket list?” Ike asked as John nodded his head.
“Yeah. The things you want to do before you go six feet under” John replied as Ike nodded.
“I want to stay in bed all day, watch BTS videos, listen to good music and die in my sleep” Ike said as John burst into laughter.
“Girl, you still have two months. And that’s all you want to do? Two months is really a long time you know. Think about it and write the bucket list later” John said as Ike nodded as she continued scooping the ice cream in her mouth.
“So is your guitar here?” Ike asked as she walked towards the dustbin and dropped the empty bowl of ice cream into the dustbin.
“You want to play?” John asked as Ike nodded.
“It s in the car” John said as he flung a bunch of keys towards Ike who caught it.
“In the back seat” John added as Ike nodded and walked out of the office.
John placed his face into his palm as soon as Ike stepped outside. He closed his eyes for a while before opening them.
“You’ll be fine Ike” he whispered into the empty office.
Ike yawned as John drove into the streets of her house. It was late in the evening and the sky had turned orange from the setting sun. Ike stared at the tall fences of each house as John sped by each one. She barely knew the people living in her streets even after living there for years.
She had remained in John’s office throughout the day. Playing guitar and singing, she watched movie after movie ate and slept. John had woke her up and told her he was taking her home. After her parents or rather Doctor John was the person she was the most comfortable with. She felt at ease with him than with her parents.
Ike would never even forget the first time she had met him. It was when she had just clocked six and Doctor Makinde had recommended a therapist for her. John was still doing his IT then and Ike was so wary of him. She kept thinking he would ask her questions and try to make her talk but he did none of that. Each time during her sessions, he would just give her snacks and do his thing.
On her own she started opening up to him till she was able to trust him completely and now it had been eleven years. He wasn’t just her therapist, he was her best friend; the person who understood her the most. John stopped in front of the huge black gate and Ike yawned again as she grabbed her bag and her headset from the back seat.
“When is school resuming?” John asked.
“Three days from now” Ike replied as she opened the door.
“Take care of yourself Ike” John hollered as Ike walked into the house. John waited for a while before reversing and driving away.
Ike looked at the huge storey building painted in plain cream. She glanced at the flowers lined up beside the fence and the fountain that served as a round out in the house. She looked everywhere as if she was trying to engrave every part of the building into memory but when she was gone would it remember her? She pushed the front door open and saw her dad arranging the table.
“You are back?” Mr Adeniyi said with a smile as Ike nodded and looked around.
“Where’s mom?” Ike asked as Mr Adeniyi opened his mouth to reply when Ike saw her mom walking down the stairs.
“You are back, you didn’t tell Doctor John to have dinner with us?” She asked as Ike shook her head.
“I didn’t know if you had cooked dinner or not” Ike replied as she stared at her mom. With her red eyes and snotty nose; Ike didn’t need anyone to tell her what had happened.
The family of three sat down to eat in silence. Ike quickly packed the plates to the kitchen as soon as they were done eating. She pushed her room door open and stared at the spacious room. She dropped her bag on the table and fell on the bed as she stared at the ceiling.
Something that was slowly growing an habit out of her. Staring at the ceiling. Sometimes she wondered if staring at the ceiling could answer the questions in her heart. Her phone rang and Ike quickly stood up to check the caller. Seeing the caller ID, she picked the call.
“Ikeeeeeee” someone from the other line shrieked and Ike laughed.
“What’s up Chidi?” Ike asked with a small smile.
“Why didn’t you come today? I was expecting you only for Gloria to tell me that you said you said somewhere to go. Not fair at all” Chidima replied and Ike laughed again.
“You’ll see me on Monday” Ike said as she wore a small smile.