"Let's go to the police station immediately." I said to Pastor James after ending the call.
"Why?" He asked.
"Ken." I swallowed hard. The joy was too much for me to conceal.
"Isn't that the guy that died? What about him?" Pastor James asked.
I shook my head vigorously. "He isn't.... He isn't dead."
Pastor James was visibly shocked. "What?"
"He's alive. He's not dead." I said louder and hugged Pastor James tightly.
"Ken is alive and Amsey will be set free." I said as the tears of joy flowed in their numbers.
"How's that even possible?" Pastor James asked, obviously surprised.
I stopped hugging him. "I don't know yet. The person who called was a police officer who only told me he had received a call from the hospital in which Ken had been taken to and that Ken was in fact, alive and well. He said I should come to the hospital. Pastor, of a truth, God works in mysterious ways and miracles do happen." I said, wiping my tears.
"God be praised." Pastor James said, waving his arms to the Heavens.
"Yes." I agreed.
"What police station is he at? Let's go there." Pastor James said.
I brought out the complimentary card which had been given to me by Sergeant Tobiloba and scanned through it.
"Moshalashi police station, it's at Alimosho and it's along Iyana Ipaja road." I said.
"I know there. It's about 45 minutes drive from here." He said.
"Okay, let's go." I said.
"But you're going to be really stressed. Today has been quite a hectic day for you and you need to rest. We're already in front of your house. Once you've rested, you'll be fine."
"I'll only be able to rest once Amsey is free." I said.
He looked at me and without bothering to convince me to stay home again, he drove the car out of the driveway.
I was totally relieved. I wondered how Ken was still alive, I was somewhat scared of the whole call being a prank but I had to embrace this whole saga with faith.
I felt really tired and drowsy. I had barely rested throughout the day and I'm sure my blood pressure was likely to have risen.
I fought sleep for a while but soon, I had closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
"Wake up. Sandra, wake up." I felt a light tap on my arm and the sound of the voice woke me up.
I unwillingly opened my eyes and yawned out loud.
I stretched out my arms and stared distasteful at the person who had forcefully woken me up.
It was Pastor James.
"Why.... Why are you here?" I asked, my voice still sleepy.
He rolled his eyes.
I looked around and saw I was in a car. Pastor James was sitting in the driver's seat and the events of the replayed in my head.
"Oh. Where are we? Have we gotten to the police station already?" I asked.
"Yes, we just arrived." He said.
I stared out of the window. Everywhere was dark save for the street lights lighting up the streets.
I took my phone and checked the screen for the time. "But it's 7:30pm. You said it was just a forty-five minute drive. I thought we left by 6:05pm." I said.
Pastor James unfastened his seatbelt. He grinned. "This is Lagos. There's always traffic."
I laughed really hard and opened the door, likewise he and we left the driveway and entered into the police station.
"Miss Cassandra. I've been expecting you. What took you so long?"
It was Sergeant Tobiloba that had spoken. "Lagos traffic." I only said and he gave a knowing smile.
"Good evening." Pastor James said.
"Good evening sir. Is Amsterdam Ibitoye your son?" Sergeant Tobiloba asked.
Pastor James looked thoughtful. "Yes, he's my son."
So Amsey's full name was actually Amsterdam? I didn't know how it happened but I suddenly burst into laughter.
They all looked at me appalled.
"Amsterdam....Wow." I giggled.
"Ummm.... Sorry." I said.
"You're weird." A middle-aged man in baggy clothes said.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"He's Mr Gozie, he's a mortuary attendant. Ken had been taken to the mortuary he works in and when Mr Gozie here was about to take off his clothes and wash his body, he discovered Ken was breathing." Sergeant Tobiloba explained.
"What?" I was really dumbfounded.
"I'm as baffled as you are." Sergeant Tobiloba said.
A man wearing a corporate outfit came our way. "Hi. You must be ummm... Sandy, right?" He asked.
"You mean Sandra." Pastor James corrected.
"Yes. I'm the doctor whom my very good friend here, Mr Gozie called when he found out Ken was still alive." The man said.
"But how's that even possible?" I asked. I had been excited when I had been told Ken was alive but now, I doubted it. It was just so unrealistic.
The doctor smiled. "You see, Sandra, Ken suffered from Apnea."
"What's that?" Pastor James and I asked almost at the same time.
"It's cessation of breath. It happens when someone's breath is paused for a while, the person appears to be dead because there's no movement in the muscles of inhalation and....."
"I'm sure they're really not interested in that. Just go straight to the point." Sergeant Tobiloba interrupted his speech which was not only educative but also very informative.
The doctor looked slightly annoyed. "To put it simply, Ken was never dead. His breath only ceased for a while." He concluded.
"To God be the glory." Pastor James said as he heaved a sigh.
I was still in shock though. "But how? How did this happen?"
"Drug overdose. Ken was already high on cocaine at the time he engaged in a fight with...... what's his name?" He asked no one in particular and no one proffered him an answer. He went on anyway. "He was high on cocaine when he engaged in a fight and he had slipped into the state of Apnea."
"He'd be arrested as soon as he gets better for using cocaine and Amsterdam can be released on bail as soon as possible." Sergeant Tobiloba chipped in.
I heaved a sigh of relief. "This is good news. I'm grateful." I said.
"We would like to offer Mr Amsterdam Ibitoye the certificate of good citizenry also." Sergeant Tobiloba said.
"Why?" I asked.
"We went to Ken's apartment and we were able to find clues that led us to his partners in crime." He said.
"I don't understand." I said.
"He's friends with some notorious drug dealers we've been searching for. When we got to his apartment, we discovered he no longer stayed there with his parents but with those criminals and we found evidence of drug dealing in their house and they've all been arrested." Sergeant Tobiloba explained.
"Okay, but how does Amsey come in?" I asked.
"If he hadn't fought with Ken today, how would we have traced him?" He asked rhetorically.
I finally understood.
I gave a warm smile. "You're right. I believe this was where everything was actually leading to." I said. "Thanks for everything." I added.
"You're welcome." Sergeant Tobiloba said.
"I'm thankful to you all. You all had your roles to play, thanks for saving my child's father. I don't know what I'd have done without the help of you all." I said.
"You're welcome." Mr Gozie, the tailor and the police officers around all chorused.
"Can we bail Amsey out now?" Pastor James asked.
"No. You can come by tomorrow. It's already too late to grant bail, I'm so sorry about that." Sergeant Tobiloba replied.
"But why?" I asked.
"It's past 7pm. You can't bail someone after that. That's just the rule." He responded.
"But he's a good citizen, isn't that what you said? Can't you just bend the rules a little for him?" I asked.
Pastor James leaned close to me and whispered into my ears. "You're lucky they're not arresting him for inflicting damage on someone. Don't push this issue any further." He warned.
"Yes. Tomorrow will be fine." He said aloud.
I had seen reason with what he had said. It was best I kept my mouth shut before they changed their minds about releasing Amsey on bail.
"We'll be back by tomorrow. Thank you all for everything." I expressed my gratitude once again, we said our goodbyes and left the police station feeling really highly spirited.
We left for my home and we were stuck in traffic for about two hours before Pastor James finally pulled up in our driveway by 10:00pm exactly.
I had thought today was going to be extraordinarily boring but it had ended up being really full of surprises.
"You kept on yawning throughout the drive. I know you'd want to just hop into your bed and sleep but make sure you eat something first, okay?" Pastor James said.
"Yes, dad." I said, rolling my eyes.
He simply laughed. "I have to get home quickly. It's already late. Take care of yourself and sleep well." He said.
"Goodnight sir and thank you for today." I said.
"You're welcome." He responded.
I opened the door of the car and got out. Immediately, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach and I would have lost my balance if I didn't hold the car. "Ow!" I yelped in pain.
Pastor James alighted from the car in a hurry and ran to where I was.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
The pain came again. "I'm not okay." I said.
"You're... You're bleeding." Pastor James said, alarmed.
I looked down at my yellow dress. I saw blood stains on it. "No. My baby." I said and the tears started to fall.
"Get into the car. We need to go to the hospital." Pastor James said and helped me into the car.
He raced over to the driver's seat and started off the car again.
"Nothing must happen to my baby." I said, crying profusely.
"And nothing will happen." He assured me.
That was the last thing I heard before waking up in the hospital the next morning.
I looked around for a while. Everywhere was blurry at first but soon became all clear.
I was on a hospital bed with a drip attached to my left hand.
I felt really weak and I had this throbbing headache. I tried to sit up and I finally did after several failed attempts.
As I remembered what had happened the previous night and how blood had oozed from my vagina, a bad thought crossed my mind and I immediately ran my right hand over my tummy. It was still protruded. "Thank you God. My baby's safe." I said inaudibly.
"Cas! Cas!!" Amsey yelled as he rushed into the ward.
He knelt by my bedside and touched my cheeks with both hands. "Are you okay, Cas? How's the baby?" He asked.
He didn't even give me the time to answer. "Cas, I'm sorry. I never should have fought, I shouldn't have made that silly mistake. Now, you're hurt. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Cas." He said.
He stood up and sat by my side. "Pastor James came to release me on bail this morning and he told me you were here. I did something stupid and that almost cost you your life and that of the baby."
I chuckled. "It's all good. Stop exaggerating, Amsterdam." I said.
He arched his brows. "Who's that?"
I laughed. "I know you're only feigning pretence. I know your real name now."
"How'd you know?" He asked.
"You obviously had to fill in your real name at the police station. Sergeant Tobiloba told me your name." I said.
"Don't dare call me Amsterdam anyway. I'm Amsey." He said.
"I won't, Amsterdam." I teased.
"Stop calling me that."
"But that's your name."
We were going to keep arguing if not for the door that opened, revealing a doctor and two nurses.
"I'm sure you're happy now seeing that she and the baby are in a stable condition." The doctor told Amsey.
"He had been making a fuss about everything and was so worried about you." One of the nurses chipped in and Amsey flashed her a warning glance.
"Easy." I told him.
"But what exactly happened to her, doctor?" Amsey asked.
"She suffered from Placental abruption." The doctor said..
"What's that?" Amsey and I both asked.
"It's when the placenta of the child gets detached from the wall of the uterus. It made you lose blood and you passed out before you were brought to the hospital. We are grateful to the Pastor who had brought you in. Your blood group is quite rare but his matched with yours so we were able to administer the blood to you." The doctor explained.
I was really terrified.
Amsey looked deeply in thoughts for sometime. "So how's the baby doing presently?" He asked.
"The mother and child are stable for now but we have to keep a close eye on them for at least, a month so she'd have to stay here for the next one month. It's really compulsory so we can really observe her. Placental abruption could cause the loss of both mother and child if care isn't taken. She's lucky she was brought in quite early." The doctor said.
Amsey sighed deeply. "Thank you, doctor." He said.
"You're absolutely welcome." He said.
The nurse went to check my drip and pressed something there. "You'll be fine." She said.
"Thank you." I said and smiled at her.
"We need to check on other patients. Nurse Tolani here, will come back here in an hour's time. Click on the bell attached to your bed if you need anything." The doctor said.
"Thank you sir." I said.
"Please, see me later in my office, Mr Amsterdam." The doctor said.
I burst into laughter.
"It's not funny." He told me.
The doctor and nurses didn't understand what was going on but they didn't bother to ask as they obviously had more pressing issues than what we were talking about, so they just left, closing the door behind them.
"Where's Pastor James anyway?" I asked.
"Oh. He said he had some urgent work to do." Amsey told me.
"We owe him a lot."
"We really do." Amsey said.
Amsey took my hands and squeezed it. "I missed you and I never thought I'd walk as a free man again."
"I missed you too and I'm glad to see you free." I said.
"I feel guilty. If only I had listened to you when you said we should just go and hadn't fought Ken, you wouldn't be in this mess. Even if you were, I'd have been there for you." He said.
"We're both perfectly fine and that's what matters." I told him.
He sighed. "I'm scared of losing you."
"And me too." I said.
He drew me into his arms and I felt safe.
He was safe.
That's all that mattered.
At least, for now.