LOVES NOT IN HER DICTIONARY

Melancholy

The 37 military hospital emergency ward went dead silent and still as though time had been frozen in one place. The air was chilly cold in the ambiance in disregard of the hot wheather, not a word uttered nor sound heard! The drop of a feather could be clearly heard with the sound echoing through the ward audibly, this was the kind of silence the room held. The (OPD)' Out Patient Department' where her treatment began as well as ended, with the patients in progress to be discharged, the doctors, family members coming to take their relatives home after a bout of one ailment or another, nurses, all present was still.

I fell to my knees like jelly on a plate set haphazardly on a dinning table, clenching my chest tightly because it felt like it was combusting, shivering in a manner seeming of a person having an episode of a heart attack with a faint whimpering whisper sounding like a sigh- sob escaping my lips. One would notice I was making the very best of effort with all my might to hold myself together whiles shattering into fragments of bits and pieces of debris on the inside shrouded to the naked eye. if only how I felt was visible to the present at that moment? I believe they would have begged my to shout it out. Emphasising the 'AKAN' saying

"Berima nsu" ↔️

( "A man does not cry".)

'AKAN!' one of the tribes in 'GHANA' a people that spoke twi or akan . My world was in turmoil, the center of my being was falling apart yet I was unable to exhibit this excruciating emotion as loud as I would have wanted, taking great pain in exercising self restraints. I wanted to scream to a destructive deafening full length like a banshee with all my strength, even to the extent of unrepairable damage to his vocal chords! Not forgetting my lungs which was now making the simplest task of taking in oxygen whiles letting loose carbon dioxide mission impossible! due to immeasurable pain.

Tears came streaming down my face unhinged as though it was the Ghana water company that opened their reservoirs after a prolonged period of shortage of water due to drought. Two things escaped my lips faintly in an agonizing mournful manner wrecking all the much work put in high built wall of self restraints coming down into nothing but dust ...

"Aaaaaaaa.... Enyonam!"

The pain was unbearable! I died that moment though, i was breathing alright and looked kk.. but i was dead! Just an empty vessel right there! that particular moment! no mass! I wished it was not real but just an elusion.

Immediately the time snooze trance which seemed to hold the ward bound; broke! Everyone began to recover from the shock of the unfathomable incident that just took place, Giving credence to the saying

" LIFE IS BUT A FLEETING MOMENT"!

Today you here! the next you no more.

In disrupted thoughts they wondered if she had really been with them a while ago all lively and bubbly? In a state of doubt, in contemplation if they were confused in any way due to a palpable chemical or gas leak, which they had been exposed to over an extensive period of time without noticing. For instance 'CARBON MONOXIDE (CO)' which was both colorless as well as odorless and could cause great damage such as inducing hallucinations.

However in a unanimous concesus, the doctors agreed they couldn't be feeling any better than they were in that instant and were aware of their environment, but for the lifeless body of Enyonam in thier stare on the hospital bed, was the mystery they could not put a handle on.

Although the undeniable hard evidence

was gawking them in the face! it was

difficult to digest the truth of her lose! Melancholy engulfed each and every one of them present that day producing an unsettling feeling in thier stomachs literally.

In introspect of the unthinkable conditions evolving around ENYONAMS death.

The doctors decided to do an intensive and extensive analysis to unearth the authentic rational behind her demise. Her father, who was still in gloom! But not at fault because truthfully no one could shake of such a lose easily, feeling as if he had ingested a slow poison unknowingly, which was coaxing through his system breaking down the defense of his immune system delivering enormous wreck to his heart and body, gave the nod.

They conducted variant examinations, varying from ' Dermatology, Bacteriology, Hematology, Neurology.... which revealed nothing. She was truly fit as the fiddle! This development further agrevated their already unsettling misunderstanding. How could all this test prove there was nothing wrong with her? if so! the what really happened?

Radiology was suggested by one of the doctors, a CT scan was done which revealed a broken skull yet there were no unusual growth in her head neither was there swollen membranes nor a visible tear on the skin of her head or the sign of violence on any other part of her body preceding her acclaimed experience, everything looked good. How this phenomenon was possible baffled the experts! There had to be an underlying condition which was not registered in time to have made he die in the manner she did. we could say on arrival, yet nothing. With all the commotion arising coupled with my tiny detailed knowledge about spiritism married with my background of hailing from a traditional home? I suspected the fowl play was one not connected to clinical comprehension. But of the old ways some how.

With all the pandemonium her remains was creating, further plunging the medical experts into confusion with her non-corresponding results, nudging them into a debate of thier knowledge possessed over their period in medical school, coupled with their years of experience after that and the dynamic case at hand plus my unconfirmed suspicion with the inconsistencies.

I decided she had, had enough.

Enyonam suffered a gruesome end. To continue the pursuit of the unresolving bewildering circumstances that led to her death by extending dissection of her mortal remains further, just to arrive at a chaotic dead end is an exceeding torture to me and disregard to her resting in peace. He had a brief meeting with his colleagues to oust his decision. After critical consideration he spoke to his colleagues....

"Comrades! I appreciate the dedication and devotion showed me in this trying times, I am confident Enyonam is well pleased wherever she is now and acknowledges your efforts".

He pauses with his head bent down to focus on his boots to hold back the tear that was adamantly trying to escape his eyes, hands akimbo.

"I now know I am not enclosed by just colleagues but family... am grateful but unfortunately, I am closing the dock on Enyonams autopsy ... regretfully....thank you all...... Ahhhooooaaaah! a chant the arm men responded in vigor in unison as it supposed to be"

"Ahhhooooaaaah!" it is meant to shake up the mood boosting morale.

I ended my speech with an attempt of a forceful smile which didn't go well by looking awkward and walked away swiftly - briskly before anyone caught on.

I soon reached my office,dropped in my chair defeat written all over my countenance. Opposed to the upright straight sitting pose I was usually in on normal days, this time I slouched in my chair weakly, with a weighty melancholic heart, I thought finally everything was going to be put to rest! A heavy lengthy sigh eschews my mouth.

I vividly remember, I was preparing myself to say my farewell to my little princess so she could rest in peace: i was going to begin all the arrangements necessary for her burial, when my phone rang to jolt me out of the trance of my heartbreaking thoughts back to the present.

In an attempt to pick up the phone which was buried in a heep of files I had neglected on my desk since the unforseen occurrence, in my partially awakened state of mind, l unintentionally clicked the answer button of his analog nokia 3310, In an attempt to push the pile blocking his access to the handset. Picking the call without taking a glance at the caller ID first. An incident i regretted instantaneously but appreciated the fact i deed as Time elapsed

I was greeted by the 'Voice' i could not mistaken even under the influence of a potent substance that altered ones ability of recognition of sound at that moment, also sight if the case was that of looks. The thing was i wasn't in any way, in my wildest dreams expecting to hear the person on the other side of the line. Although the break in communication and interaction was solely his choice. But it seemed all his efforts were in vain. As some pasts can never truly be left there. It always find means to resurface in the present.