I had a mentally draining day and decided to sleep very early so I would be well rested for the next day’s tasks. I forgot to eat dinner because I slept off at the spot where I was deliberating on what to cook. “If I had a deep freezer, it would’ve been easy because I most likely would have a meal to microwave there. (I also had no microwave)”. This was the last thought when I fell asleep.
I was deep asleep when I heard a loud bang at the door at some minutes past 2:00am. I laid there and tried to understand what was happening when I felt this sharp tightening pain on my chest, and the bang on the door this time got louder.
While I was trying to understand what was happening and who could be by the door at that odd hour of the day, the pain in my chest tightened, and my breathe was almost seizing.
I had locked the door from behind, and I had no strength to try to stand. The pain was excruciating, and it got worse by every second. I couldn’t talk, I could only groan.
The pain was so tough that I didn’t know when tears started rolling down my cheeks.
I had very good friends as neighbours who would come running as soon as they saw a text or call from me, but I didn’t want them to fall in danger because the loud bang on the door didn’t stop, and it didn’t feel like anyone was ready to see who was there. It could be dangerous.
The louder the bangs, the tighter my chest felt. I couldn’t think of what to do now but to find a way to help myself. However, my hands were getting numb, and I was gradually getting out of strength. “Dear God, is this how I’ll die? I whispered as the pain sharpened.
Suddenly, I heard the noise from the person at the door. “Yinka! It’s me, please open the door”, the voice said. “Oh, it’s this guy”, I murmured.
Somehow, I was relieved because I knew I could try to reach out to someone now without fear of the person being in danger. But, how? I could barely move from the bed, talk more of open the door. I would need to stand up to be able to unlock the door, but my strength already was on a trip. But I tried.
I usually wouldn’t have my phone far away from me, but because of the incessant window thievery within that community wouldn’t let me keep it close for some time, and it was so unfortunate that the day I had an emergency fell on such time.
Tightly holding my hands on my chest, I crawled towards the bag where I kept my phone. I finally struggled to hold the phone with my right hand while the left hand tightly held on to my chest. I lay flat on my tummy and unlocked my phone with the fingerprint option.
On the emergency dial list, I had one very close friend and neighbour, Ahmad, so I called him right away. The time was 3:00am. It was like he was expecting my call because the second ring didn’t last before he answered the call. “Hello”, he said. But all I responded with was a groan. I was in pain.
A few seconds later, I heard a light knock on my door, but I had no strength to respond.
Ahmad, on seeing the situation I was in, forced the door open and saw me flat on the floor. Immediately, he ran out to call another neighbour who had a bike, and I was rushed to the hospital.
Except it’s a case of kidnap or robbery, I definitely will choose calling over texting in an emergency situation.
This is my response to InLeo’s prompt for today. You can check the details here
Images are mine.