SCARLETT’S KNIGHT: Miracles do happen

Chapter 4

Kaz

Six weeks. Six weeks of endless beeping, seizures and doctors coming in and out of Red’s hospital room. It is driving me crazy. What is even crazier is that they have no idea why she hasn’t woken up yet. Red has been in a coma for the past six weeks and these fools have no idea why she hasn’t woken up yet!

Just be patient, they tell me.

Maybe she isn’t ready yet.

Her body needs time to heal.

Problem is, I am not the best at being patient. The patient lying on the bed in front of me seems to be patient, I mean, she is taking her sweet little time to wake up. So stubborn. Me on the other hand, not so much. I need her to wake up so I can continue with my life.

In the past few weeks, I have found myself caring about her much more than I should. I mean I haven’t gone home yet since Alex and I came to the hospital. I haven’t been to work either and for someone who is a workaholic, that is saying something.

Day one, the doctor started asking questions about who she was and her medical history. Well, it made sense. I was her fiancé, and fiancés are supposed to know everything about their other half, right? Wrong. I knew nothing. Zilch. Nada. But the day I finally knew about her, I swore I would protect her, even if it meant protecting her from me.

“Mr Kaz, my name is Dr Kirwa. I am the doctor assigned to your case. May I ask a few questions about your fiancé?”

“Yes, sure doc. How is she? Is she going to be okay?” I ask worriedly.

“We don’t know, sir. That is one of the reasons we wanted to speak to you. Has your fiancé had a history of abuse?” Dr Kirwa asks.

“Abuse? What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, physical abuse. During our preliminary checks, we realized she had some scaring on her torso and back. Her ribs seem to have been broken thrice at one point, but they did not heal properly. It is going to be a painful healing process, I am afraid.”

“Well, I knew she had gone through some rough patches when she was younger, but I did not know it was this serious. She didn’t like talking about it,” I say. It’s a lie, but he doesn’t know that. I look at Alex and we share that secret nod. He starts typing on his phone and I know that in a few hours, I will know everything there is to know about Red. Those fuckers who hurt her will pay. Dearly.

“Is there any sign of sexual abuse?” I ask dreading the answer.

“We don’t know for sure. Only she can tell us when she wakes up.”

“And when will that be?”

“We don’t know. She will wake up when she is ready.”

“You are a doctor and you don’t know? I need you to give me answers or I will find someone who will. It seems those quacks from Cuba know what they are doing more than you do,” I say angrily.

“With all due respect sir, any specialist you bring will give you the same answer. The problem is psychological, not physical. Her body seems to be responding well to the medication we have administered so far. The brain is the most complex organ in the body. We will find out more when she wakes up.”

“What about her other injuries? Is there anything we need to worry about?”

“Well, that is another thing we need to talk about. There is a swelling in her brain. We had to remove a portion of the skull to give space for the swell do down properly. She also has a fractured skull, but it is a linear fracture, nothing very serious. It will heal on its own, with time.”

A fractured skull is nothing serious? This guy.

“Her legs are swollen at the moment, so we can’t tell if they are broken.”

“Aren’t that what x-rays are for?”

“Yes, but they are swollen,” he says looking at me as if that answers everything. “Anyway, she also has bruises on her back and arms from where she was dragged. These will heal, but they will scar, at least for a while.”

“Of course, this whole experience will leave her scarred doctor, both mentally and physically” I snap. I have concluded that this doctor is stupid. A stupid smart doctor, otherwise he wouldn’t have become a doctor.

“Anything else I need to know?” I ask impatiently.

“That’s it for now, in case anything else comes up, I will let you know,” He says.

“You better,” I say, and he hurriedly leaves.

Once he leaves, I signal Alex to come and sit next to me.

“I know you have heard a lot of confusing things today, and more confusing things are going to be happening because of the confusing things you have heard today. Do you understand?” He looks at me like I have grown horns. I roll my eyes.

“Not really, sir,” he says.

“Okay. You heard me saying Red is my fiancé. I know you know the truth, that today was the first time we met. Not a word to anyone, and I mean anyone. Inform Rachael, Tony and George and remind them of the non-disclosure agreements they signed before they came to work for me. I expect full discretion.”

“Yes sir, understood.” He says.

“Good, now what have you found out so far?”

“She was born Scarlett Kimani-Ngwenya. Raised up in Mama Margaret Children’s Home till she was ten. She was adopted by Joe and Jaqueline Muraya in 2004,” he says reading from the file.

“Wait, the politicians?” I ask in disbelief.

“Yes, but they were not politicians then. They worked for a parastatal. In the period she stayed with them, there weren’t any hospital records. It seems suspicious to me that a ten-year-old didn’t go to the doctor, not even once. Kids hurt themselves all the time when they are playing.”

“They are probably the ones who were abusing her and didn’t want the doctor to ask questions.”

“Excuse me, sir?”

“The doctor just told me she was abused as a kid,” I say gritting my teeth. I see him make a fist, his knuckles tightening.

“It says here she ran away after staying for them for three years. The fuckers…I mean, The Murayas never even bothered to report the matter to the police,” He says angrily.

“She resurfaced again in 2010. Tony found a record of her attending St Joseph’s high school in Nyeri for three years. Apparently, she was so smart, they skipped her one class. She did her final exams in 2013 and then she went off the radar, until now.”

“Thank you, Alex. Is there anything else I need to know?”

“Yes, sir. Intimate things like her favourite colour, food, hobbies and dislikes,” he says deadpan.

“And how do you suppose I should do that?”

“I have no idea, sir. You should have thought about that before you told the doctor you were engaged,” he says smirking.

“You do remember I am the one who signs your cheques, right?” I ask, frowning. The dude is right, though but am not going to tell him that.

“Yes, sir.” He says laughing. He is lucky he is good at his job, and that over the years, we have become friends.

“Glad you are enjoying my predicament. Tell Tony to complete that background check. I need it handy for later. Also, have Rachael prepare me some food. The food here tastes like a combination of sand and sawdust.”

Two days after she was admitted, I had Lisa my PA to bring my laptop to the hospital so I could work remotely while keeping an eye out for her. I could have had Alex do it, but like I said, there is something about this woman. Of course, Lisa being the loud mouth she is, found out that it was my “fiancé” who was hospitalized and proceeded to tell everyone at KazTech. I can imagine the shock, considering she was the one who had to ward off my one-night stands from entering my office after I was done with them. Seriously, what don’t women understand in the concept of a one-night stand? I thought it was supposed to be self-explanatory. I could have fired her for her indiscretion, but I knew she was one of a kind. She is one of those people who actually did her job right. So, I just tore her a new one. She promised it would happen again, I told her it better not.

The private room I secured for Red has a shower, so Alex ferries my clothes and food prepared by Rachel for the day and George, my other security guy ferries them back. It is tiring, I know, but I pay them well to act on my every whim.

On the third day, the doctors had Red x-rayed and found out that both her legs were broken. When I asked them why they hadn’t done it when we first arrived, they said the legs were swollen so they couldn’t see anything, something Dr Kirwa had told me, but couldn’t grasp anyway. Never mind my background in IT. I argued that it was an x-ray and it was supposed to see through the muscle. Turns out, these fools know what they are doing after all. They put her legs in a cast and they predicted she would heal well. Provided she underwent physiotherapy, she would walk again.

Day six she flatlined. Yes, twice. It started with a seizure. It was at three in the morning and I was asleep. So, you can imagine my shock when I was woken up by monitors beeping and doctors and nurses rushing in with this huge piece of equipment that is meant to shock your heart. They managed to revive her but then two hours later they had to do it again. It was like I was watching an episode of ER. At that point, the doctors said there was no hope for her. I almost knocked down the fuckers. How dare they say that? Then they had the gal to send Dr Kirwa to ask if I could authorize Euthanasia. He explained that after the two seizures, she could be brain dead with no hope of waking up. I told him to go fuck himself and I that would sue the hospital. That put the fear of God in them. I moved into Red’s room and set camp there. I showered, ate and worked there. You never know when a stupid doctor decides to switch off the life support machine. And yes, I had to watch Grey’s Anatomy, The Resident, The Good Doctor, ER and The Night Shift to understand that it is fairly common in the medical world for doctors to just switch off the machine. Who made them God? Well, anyway, I resolved to wait. God works miracles, right? Six weeks later, am still waiting.

My parents just left. They have been stopping by to see how Red was doing. My mom thinks it is sweet that I have left everything else and to take care of my fiancé.

I wish you knew, mom. I wish you knew.

My dad is more amenable, although when they first found out, he was a bit sceptical. He also questioned the fact that I had told them Red was in Kisumu but a few hours later she was suddenly at the hospital. I told him she wanted to surprise me so she came home without telling me, and he let it be.

I sit on the chair beside Red’s bed, and for the first time in a long time, I pray. I pray for a girl I hardly know but I desperately want to. I pray for a girl who has been through so much but hardly complains and I pray for the man who desperately wants to show affection but doesn’t know how to.

The minute I am done, the papers that were on the bed suddenly drop to the floor.

I must have left the window open.

When I get up to close it, I find it is locked. WTF?

Then I hear a groan. I turn. Another groan. I race to Red’s bed. She is struggling to open her eyes.

Finally, I sigh. She is waking up. And it only took her six weeks!

Image credit

The confusing statement is from Teen Wolf, by Stiles Stilinski. 🙂