All this while, I couldn’t see Ethan around. Had he heard about the incident? Because I overhead a nurse saying Susan attempted to commit abortion. At that moment, I didn’t know what had become of my friend. I was so confused and lost. I watched as the ambulance gave off its siren and drove out of the school compound. All questions were now directed at me. Everyone wanted to know what was wrong with Susan. I was too traumatized to speak. I didn’t even know what to do at that moment. Whether to go back to my room or take an exeat to follow Susan to the hospital where she was being taken to.
I decided to stay because I couldn’t even follow Susan to the hospital. I didn’t know which hospital the ambulance was taking her to. I just stayed in my dorm room worried and sad. I didn’t know she was coming back to the school or whether she was going to make it out of her situation.
I bumped into Ethan during our prep session. I was so mad at him for putting my friend into that position. I confronted him out of rage. “What did you have Susan do!!?” I asked him.
“What are you implying, Martha? Do you mean I have a hand in what happened to Susan?” he asked back.
“My friend, don’t try to play games with me! You think I don’t know she is pregnant for you? You left her to decide for herself and now look!! I am even suspecting that you made her commit the abortion! Now I don’t know what to do or think! I don’t know if she is alive or dead!!” I flared up.
Ethan watched me for some time. He walked past me without saying a word. I think he thought I was creating a scene. I stood there perplexed. I never thought Ethan could walk out on me. He didn’t care. He was freely moving around with his friends while I could barely sleep. I couldn’t believe it. Anyway, I was glad it didn’t work out between him and me. This could have also been my story.
We were in class after one week of the incident when a taxi pulled into the compound. When the people got down, I realized Susan was part of them. She looked well. I was full of excitement that I wanted to run out of class and hug her, but that was not possible. A teacher was teaching in class and I couldn’t leave and besides Susan was with the headmaster, the senior house master and another teacher. Those circumstances made it difficult for doing what my heart and emotions really wanted to do. I watched as Susan followed them to the headmaster’s office. I just couldn’t wait for the class to end.
Finally, classes came to an end. I didn’t speak to anybody, but just rushed to my dormitory. I couldn’t wait to speak with Susan. When I got to the dorm, I was fortunate enough to see Susan sleeping. I couldn’t control my emotions of wanting to talk to her so I woke her up. When she looked at me, I could see tears in her eyes. I immediately knew that all wasn’t well.
“What is wrong with you Susan?” I asked out of worry. “Susan, please talk to me! What is the problem?” I insisted. She sat on the bed and buried her face in her palms.
I sat close to her on her bed and wrapped my arms around her. It was there and then she broke into tears. She couldn’t control herself from crying. I tried my best to console her. She stopped crying when she realized other students were trooping into the dormitory. She finally started speaking.
“Martha, I am done for,” she said.
“What do you mean by you are done for?” I asked.
“I know you know why I was admitted at the hospital. Yes, I tried to commit abortion after Ethan refused to accept the pregnancy coupled with the drama I thought I would go through with my parents. I really wish I listened to your advice, Martha. I have lost more,” she said as tears rolled on her cheeks.
“Susan, what have you lost?” I asked feeling uneasy with the whole situation.
“I have lost my womb, Martha. The doctor said the medicine I used had raptured my womb. They had no choice than to take out my womb if I were to survive. So my dear friend Martha, you are looking at a barren woman,” she said while sobbing.
The truth is that, I didn’t know what to say to comfort my friend. I was dried of words at the time. What at all could I say? All I could do was to hug Susan as hard as I can. People started gathering around us. All of them wanted to hear Susan. They all wanted to ask her about what really happened for her to be sent to the hospital in an ambulance. But as they could see, there was no way Susan could have satisfied their curiosity. She was so sad and disoriented that they just looked on her with pity. One by one, they left us to ourselves.
It was then Susan revealed to me the decision made by the school authorities. They agreed when she went to the headmaster’s office to expel her from the school. Abortion was illegal and there was no way they were going to allow her to continue schooling. A letter had already been sent to her parents concerning the new development. According to Susan, official announcement was to be made at the school’s assembly ground the following morning. She had to pack out of the school by noon the next day. Susan was devastated about how she was going to meet her parents. Two big issues at the same time. She has lost her womb and her education. I really felt sad for my friend, Susan.
We couldn’t sleep the whole night. I couldn’t believe that was the last time I was going to see Susan in the school. What a world!? And all this while, Ethan didn’t care about anything. He was just living his life while my friend was being rusticated from the school and more than that, lost her womb. It was at that moment, Martha made me make a vow not to disclose her location to Ethan no matter the situation.
“I don’t want to ever see that guy in my life!” Susan instructed me vividly. I made the vow not to disclose her location to Ethan.
We laid on our beds and spoke throughout the night till day break. We couldn’t sleep since we knew what was going to happen the next day. The tension was something else. I couldn’t bear it thinking of how Susan was going to be humiliated in front of the whole school. Alas, the announcement was made at the assembly grounds. Susan was asked immediately to go for her belongings and evacuate the school’s premises with immediate effect. Susan left the grounds with the wings of shame hovering over her. She couldn’t even look at the crowd gathered. She left the grounds with some teachers to the dormitory. I looked through the crowd and saw Ethan happily chatting with his friends. He cared less about the situation. It was then I made the decision not to date in senior high school.
I finished the story in tears. I looked at the last page of the diary and saw Susan’s number. I copied it to call her. I wanted to know everything.
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To be continued….
