I awaken to Anna’s angry voice shaking me by the shoulders, “where the hell have you been? I texted, called, and searched for you!” I blink feeling groggy, “I’ve been here. What time is it?” “Five!”
“Oh, I must have fallen asleep.” I rub my eyes underneath the sunglasses. She looks behind her at Andy, “Call them and tell them we found her.”
Andy shakes his head, “You had us so scared.” He pulls out his phone and starts calling everyone.
“Who’s he calling?” I ask defensively.
“Hotel security for one, they were looking for you too,” says Anna. “Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“I threw it out.”
“You what?” she asks in disbelief.
“You heard me, I keep looking at it, longingly, it was driving me crazy,” I whisper.
“Oh,” she says understanding. She covers her lip with her finger telling me not to say anymore. She pulls her phone out and texts I assume Jeremy and Lara telling them I’m okay.
I look at her smiling, “Why would you text them? They’re in Lagos!” “We were panicking,” Anna explains.
It is sweet that they are so worried about me, “I’m sorry you worried. From now on, I’ll make sure you know where I am.”
“You better,” she says, “now, go get dressed, you’re coming to dinner with us, we’re not taking no for an answer.”
I shrug, getting up from my lawn chair, “I wasn’t planning on saying no. I’m famished.”
She smiles, “I’m glad you’re getting your appetite back. Jeremy said you haven’t eaten in twenty-four hours and Scott didn’t even notice.”
I lied about being famished to Anna. I still have no appetite, but I don’t want her to worry about me even more than she already has. I know I’m ruining her honeymoon. I go back to the room and select an elegant sundress to wear for dinner, Scott and I picked it out for me at a boutique in Owerri after a show one day. They are waiting for me at the entrance of the hotel restaurant. Andy is dressed in a white linen shirt and beige shorts with a fanny pack wrapped around his waist. Anna looks the best I’ve ever seen with her golden tan and a pretty purple dress. She glows with happiness and I can’t help envying her for it.
The two of them spend the entire meal chatting about their frantic search for me. I listen more than speak, picking at my food, happy to be with them rather than alone. The waiter comes by at the end of our meal asking if we want dessert and I feel Andy’s foot touch my leg in a very sensuous manner, I shake him off and started laughing, “That’s my leg, Andy!”
Andy looks shocked and then moves the tablecloth to see under the table for himself, “Oops! Isn’t this awkward!”
Anna started laughing hard at Andy, making snorting noises.
When I hear her snort I break out into hysterics, laughing so hard that tears come rolling down my cheeks, and that’s when my laughter turns to sobs. Looks of worry wash over their faces as I break down in front of them at the dinner table. No matter how hard I try to regain my composure, I’m unable. The next thing I know they were rushing me off in a taxi to the hospital. Andy is on his phone while Anna holds my hand and strokes my arm trying to soothe me. I cry continuously until I’m seen in an emergency. The emergency department has no choice but sedates me.
I hear Anna whispering to the doctor, “I don’t know how to help her, she’s so depressed.”
“We can admit her until you fly back to Nigeria but without coverage, you’re looking at four hundred a night.”
Andy looks up from his phone, “The money won’t be an issue. I think she needs the help.”
“You need professional help,” Anna explains to me apologetically. “Andy and I don’t know how to help you. We’ll pick you up and take you back to Nigeria when we go.” Then the sedation kicks in and I didn’t remember anything after that. The rest of the week is a haze. A nurse will wake me up and help me with my morning care and breakfast, she brings me to a counselor who forces me to talk about what is ‘troubling’ me, then when I get too upset, the counselor has no choice but re-sedate me and take me back to my room. It’s a vicious cycle. On the third day, they noticed my level of dehydration and hooked me up to an intravenous preventing me from becoming dehydrated.
On the last day, they stop the sedation and the nurse helps me shower and dress before Anna and Andy pick me up. I remember waiting for them in a wheelchair at the patient pick-up. Anna gasps when she sees me covering her mouth with her hand. Andy is staring at me like I have three heads. Anna touches my shoulder gently and then talks to Andy like I’m not even there. “She looks awful Andy. Oh my God. She’s so pale and gaunt-looking. We never should have brought her here.”
“It would have happened to her there too. Let’s just take her home,” he encourages. They walk me to the cab and we head to the airport. Anna slips more sedation under my tongue when we are seated on the plane. She has to shake me out of my sleep when we landed in Lagos.