SILENCE

At times life will hit you so hard to the point of wishing death upon yourself; but even death will not want you.

Larna woke up to an excreting pain in the leg, the pain she was feeling was unbearable to the point where she couldn’t lift her body up. Looking around the room she was able to tell that she was in a hospital bed.

After turning her head to the side, she noticed a button which she pressed and soon enough a nurse came rushing to her side.

‘You are awake.’ She said looking at her

‘Who are you? And where am I?’ she asked looking frightened

‘Ma’am stay with me, a doctor will be with you in a moment.’ She said rushing out

The nurse ran into Dr. Hamoonga in the corridor and told him about the latest development, he was just glad that she was out of danger and now all he needed to worry about was her healing process.

When he walked into the ward, he found her starring at the ceiling.

‘Mrs. Mwaba.’ He called but she didn’t look at him

‘Mrs. Mwaba!’ he called again but still there was no response from her

‘Larna.’

Still nothing

‘Lord I hope it is not what I am thinking.’ He said fear creeping in

He moved closer and shook her body.

‘I heard you the first time.’ she said looking at him then back at the ceiling

Joshua moved backwards trying to process what had just happened

‘I need you to tell me your name.’ he said

‘Larna.’ She responded not once looking at him

‘Ma’am your full cooperation is what will help with your healing process, I need you to tell me everything about you so that I am able to help.’ He said picking up his reading glasses

‘Who am I?’ she asked with blood shot eyes

‘Excuse me?’

‘You called me Larna right? But who exactly am I?’

‘You are telling me that you don’t know who you are?’ he asked now putting his glasses down

‘Dr.?’ she paused trying to read his name tag

‘Dr. Hamoonga.’ He said quickly

‘Yes, you called me Larna and that is how I know my name. But I don’t know anything else about myself.’

Joshua moved backwards and tried to process what was going on, this was bigger than he thought it would be.

He got his pager and paged Dr. Muhongo who came in minutes later.

‘We have a problem.’ He began

‘What type of problem?’

‘Amnesia’

‘Oh no; but how bad is it?’

‘We need to find out but she looks angry, very angry.’

He moved closer to her and sighed before he began talking.

‘What do you know about yourself?’

‘What sort of stupid question is that?’ she asked looking at him

‘Ma’am you don’t need to be vulgar.’ Dr. Muhongo said

‘And who are you? His mistress?’

She clicked her tongue after saying that.

The two doctors walked out of the room and went to Joshua’s office.

‘Dr. what do you think is the problem?’ she asked him

‘I am thinking amnesia but we still need to know which type it is.’

‘Her anger, are you thinking what I am thinking?’ she asked him

‘We can’t be so sure, but we will need her husband to see her. Only then can we know the way forward.’ He said

‘Okay, I think it is high time the two met.’ She said now on her feet

Joshua shook his head before going to Elisha’s ward, he called his wife outside when he got there.

‘Hey.’

‘Hai.’ She responded

‘You don’t look fine.’

‘It was hard seeing those kids, beautiful children.’

‘I understand but don’t get too attached.’ He warned

‘It is my job to get attached babe, my job deals with emotions remember?’

He kept quiet when some nurses walked past them

‘I think they like you.’ She teased trying to lighten the situation

‘Like me? Why would someone like this ugly looking monster?’

‘Boy please.’ She said laughing

‘You make me look good babe, honestly you do.’

She smiled shyly and he loved that about her. The city had not changed her one bit but everything she had touched, she had turned into gold.

‘Do you think we can borrow him for a few minutes?’

‘Why?’ she asked worriedly

‘It looks like his wife has lost her memory.’

‘Oh my word, did this woman wrong anyone in her past?’

‘Meaning?’

‘Babe she just lost her children, a leg and now her memory.’

‘That is not the worst part.’

‘There is more?’

‘Yes, she is angry. Very angry.’

The two kept quiet as they thought of how cruel things could just go for people.

‘But why do you want him?’

‘We want to see if she is going to recognize him, maybe we can rule out the kind of amnesia she has after that.’

‘Okay sure.’ She responded

She walked into the ward and explained that he had to go and see his wife, he tried so hard to put up a face but was taken back when he saw her.

She was nicely covered in beddings and had her eyes fixed on the ceiling. Elisha stood before her with Wangu and Joshua behind.

‘Larna.’ He called and she turned around and smiled before looking the other side

‘Baby I am so sorry.’ He began but the look she gave him scared the wits out of him

‘And who do we have here?’ she asked sarcastically

‘Why do you keep bringing strange people in here?’ she added before rolling her eyes

‘Larna this is me, Elisha. Your husband.’

She laughed, so hard they all thought she was losing it.

‘Now I will ask you to get out of here before I chase you myself.’ She yelled startling him but he didn’t move

‘Oh so you are stubborn?’

She moved the blankets and tried to move but noticed her leg was cut.

‘My leg?’ she said

‘What?’ Elisha asked trying to move close

‘What did you evil people do to me? Who are you? Who sent you? Where is my family?’ she asked with fury

Joshua moved forward and sedated her before asking the two to follow him to his office.

No one wanted to say anything, they were both lost in their own worlds.

‘What happened to her leg?’ Elisha finally asked

‘It was badly damaged and we had no option but to amputate it.’

More silence followed.

‘And her memory?’

‘It seems your wife has retrograde amnesia.’ Joshua said

‘What?’

‘It is a loss of memory-access to events that occurred, or information that was learned, before an injury or the onset of a disease. It tends to negatively affect autobiographical, and declarative memory while usually keeping procedural memory intact with no difficulty for learning new knowledge.’

‘Dr. are you saying that my wife will never remember me or our kids or anything we ever shared?’

‘She may have lost memories closer to the traumatic incident than more remote memories. The type of information that is forgotten can be very specific, like a single event, or more general, resembling generic amnesia.’

‘So what do I do now?’

‘Now I will advise she goes through counselling, you will need to be strong for her and if she has any surviving relatives; I will ask they become more active in her life now for a quicker recovery.’

Elisha nodded his head.

‘Can you sign my discharge papers now, I need to prepare for the funeral.’

‘I will, sorry for your lose.’

‘Thank you Doctor.’

‘Ah sorry to ask Mr. Mwaba.’ Wangu began

He turned to face her

‘Your wife seems angry; is that how she was before the accident?’

‘Larna is the most calm person I know but.’ He paused

‘Never mind.’

‘Sir, whatever you have to say please say it if you want her to heal.’ Joshua added

‘I will be back, but she had a tough childhood.’ He said walking out