chapter 7

The room was alive. Maybe because people were there. Maybe it was because I was thought dead. Still the room boomed with life. The women and few men dressed in uniform clothes seemed to wander aimlessly. Their eyes were the only part of their faces that were visible. Their heads were also covered, just like their hands. The woman with a stethoscope only watched. Another beside her kept switching a shiny long piece from one hand to another. Then there was a third, a man. He had the same outfit like the women that were standing behind him, different from the rest. He was frantically trying to get the woman on the bed before him to respond. Her stomach was bloated and a sort of fluid spread around her legs. I was well covered with the same fluid I noticed. 

"Can you hear me? Say something Tina!" His voice was shaky though he appeared to be anything but that. There were on the walls, paintings and pictures. One of the uniformed women approached him. "It's ready." She declared as she motioned another to come. As he turned to meet her, a man in uniform came to where I was and took me away from the room. He was followed by others like him in uniform. I could only hear the man that was asking questions call out at intervals, "clear!" 

***

"Thank you so much doctor for agreeing to meet with me and my daughter on such a short notice." Mrs Rose Raymond was saying. She gently patted me on the head. I forced a weak smile. 

"Tina, why do you keep calling me that? We've been married for years now." Mr Zachary Raymond began. He bent over the table and took a look at my arm. His eyes met with mine and I smiled again. This time, I liked it. 

"How's my little angel today?" 

"I am fine daddy." 

"Oh, that's lovely then." He chuckled softly. 

Coming around the leather decorated table between him and mummy, he carried me and gently set me on the table. He took my arm and examined the little purple lines that aligned themselves near my left elbow. Like small razor cuts. He touched the area gently. I flinched. His eyes rose up to mine as if in question. 

"It stings everytime mummy applies that balm." I averted his obvious gaze. Moments later, he kissed my forehead and reassured me. 

"It's healing sweetie. That's why it stings. Even that will soon be gone."

"Mummy says so too." I said. My voice almost a whisper. 

"Yes baby, mummy is always right." He shifted his eyes and they searched the room till they fell on the woman right in front of him and stayed there. He did that a lot. Mrs Rose smiled coyly. Her eyes smiled too. 

"What?" She teased. 

He beamed like he was the happiest man alive. "You both are my miracle. Always have and will always be." His eyes sparkled as tears welled up in them. 

"And you are ours too darling." She took him in a hug. They looked so cute together. Daddy tells me I'm his little miracle. Mummy tells me I'm her world.  She saved me and he saved her. Together, we saved him. I couldn't love them less. I looked at them a little longer and called out to them. 

"I want a hug too." 

Daddy stopped and with one motion, scooped me up to mummy and himself. "Of course my sweet angel." 

Mummy chuckled softly. "Certainly baby, we didn't forget you." 

I was in between as we hugged. They both felt so warm. That hug like many others was full of love and comfort. I was certain that I would live in it forever. 

"Awwwn, such a lovely sight." A voice came from the door. Daddy was the first to lift his head. "Olivia. You should knock you know, even if you succeed in sneaking past my secretary." He wasn't the least surprised. None of us were. Olivia was a friend who ran laboratory tests. She enjoyed playing stealth mode around daddy's unwary secretary. I found it amusing. We all did. "I'm sorry about that." She fought back a laugh. "What was he doing now?" Daddy was smiling as he gently untangled himself from my little hold. "Poor thing was sleeping." She couldn't hold the laughter. Mummy laughed too. "In any case, I'm sorry for the being sneaky. Just thought it best to see you myself. Hello Mrs Rose and hi there Thelma." Olivia continued. She had a brown envelope in her left hand. Mummy was the first to ask though I felt she knew. "Is that–" 

"Yes, it is." She smiled back.

Daddy had returned to his chair and was rummaging through the top drawer of his desk for his pen. Olivia handed mummy the envelope and winked at me. "That'll be all Sir." She shove her hands into her long white lab coat and waited. "Got it!" Daddy displayed the pen like he just won a prize. Then he noted a few things in the jotter on his desk and handed it to me. "Sweetie, do give this to the nice woman." He winked at me and smiled at mummy as they watched me carry out my task. "Here...for you miss Olivia." I handed her the note and she smiled. "Why thank you very much Thelma." She took the note from my outstretched right hand. "Do take care of mummy and daddy okay?" 

"Okay." That earned me a wave of awwwns from all three. She was soon gone. Mummy and daddy opened the envelope and exchanged looks. Minutes later, daddy kissed my forehead again and hugged mummy and I. "I'll be home by evening." He told mummy and kissed her. As we left, I noticed the U-curve on his lips turn upside down. That night, I woke up at the sound of rustling outside my room by the window side. I looked out the window and saw nothing but a starry sky. I heard the rustling again. Unsettled, I went back to my bed. I tried to think of nice things to lure myself to sleep. I thought of the hugs and kisses that awaited me by daybreak from mummy and daddy. Soon I was asleep. 

"No! It can't be." Daddy was saying. "She's just a baby, nothing's wrong with her." Mummy added. I opened my eyes to see myself on a bed in a room filled with nurses. Daddy was calling out to me. "Thelma, can you hear me? Say something." He was gently squeezing my hands.

"Daddy, I feel fine." I was flustered when I noticed he couldn't hear me. Nobody could. He took the defibrillators from a waiting nurse bedside him. Once connected, he rubbed them together and turned them towards me.

"Clear!"