"What if..?" she turned to Obinna. "Do they know about me? Could Doctor Greene have told them about me?" she asked worriedly.
Obinna was staring at her in shock instead of responding. She waited for him to answer her questions but he just kept staring at her.
"Obi? What is it?" she asked as she realized that something was very wrong with the way he was looking at her.
Obi blinked and dragged his gaze over her. "It's like...you...are glowing a bit brighter than usual. Pulsing even. Like a neon light. Oh just look in the mirror already!" he exclaimed, his voice sounding a bit panicked.
Sarah Jane snatched at the rear view mirror and it broke off in her hand. She had forgotten her abnormal strength when under pressure. She turned the mirror to her face and almost let out a scream of terror. Her face was streaked with various colours from platinum to an iridescent bluish-purple. Her free hand came to her mouth as she struggled to make sense of the image in the mirror. It was like lights, neon lights were flashing off inside her skin or behind her skin, she could not tell. Her pupils had dilated to the point that it almost covered her entire iris and it was light. Sarah had never seen any colour like it on a human body. Was grey, ash or platinum?
"What's happening to me?" she cried out and threw the mirror across to Obinna. He let it fall where it may as he was absorbed with watching her and her metamorphosis. Sarah Jane shrunk into her seat concerned for Obinna's welfare and confused as to how to act. "Obi what is happening to me?" she asked, her voice mewling with terror.
"Let's get you to Mahmoud and Umar. They are still in town. I'll call them to meet us up at the Centre. Don't panic! Calm down!" he instructed even as he got out of the car his phone already up and against his ear. He came round the car and opened the driver's door.
"Scoot!" he commanded, his voice brooking no arguments. Sarah Jane scrambled over to the passenger's seat and belted herself in. She could feel her nerves literally jangling as she tried to calm down as instructed. She was struggling for air and her breath was coming out in pants. She was fairly certain that she could see some kind of coloured air coming out of her mouth with each pant and her senses were hyper activated. She watched as Obinna struggled with the keys in the ignition. His hands were shaking so badly. Suddenly, she felt a sense of calmness steal over her.
"Obi, I think you need to calm down. We don't want to cause any accidents." she said.
Obi looked to her, his breath coming out in short gasp. Sarah Jane kept a soothing look on him, "Calm down please. We both can't be freaking out at the same time."
"Alright." he finally responded. "I'm calming down." He took a deep breath and turned the key in the ignition. The car started up smoothly and Obinna felt a thrum of appreciation for a finely tuned engine.
"Let's get you to those guys." he said as he set the car in motion and drove them both to the Centre.
CHAPTER 4
Mahmoud stood beside the bed and watched Sarah Jane as she slept. Her complexion had mostly regained its 'normal' hue. He remembered the first time he had met her very clearly.
She had been walking into the Centre from the parking lot while he had been lounging by the entrance trying to take a break from whatever craziness had been happening inside. He had never considered himself fanciful but it had seemed to him like nature had burst into song at her appearance.
His lips twisted into a wry smile as the memories played out in his head.
He picked up her hand gently and checked for her pulse. It was going strong.
"You need to stop worrying so much. It's giving me a headache."
Mahmoud looked at her face which remained quiescent with her eyes still closed but a small smile was playing on her lips.
"Glad that you've rejoined us." He said. "Your complexion has returned to...you know, your normal. You're no longer quite as colourful as you were when you came in."
"What happened to me?" Sarah Jane asked as she swung up to a sitting position.
"We are not sure." Mahmoud sighed.
"What have you been able to find out from your analysis so far?" She fired unconsciously slipping into her doctor mode.
Mahmoud shrugged sheepishly. "It's like nothing we've seen before. I do not think this briefcase is exactly the one that we first had from Jay. There are things in this one that were not in that briefcase."
"Or there were things added to it before the raid hit them." Sarah Jane shrugged. "So nothing at all?" she persisted.
"Nothing." Mahmoud agreed apologetically. "Umar is working on them too. He has more experience with some of this so...let's hope he's able to make some sense of it. We are all doing our best." He assured her.
Sarah Jane scooted into the bed and leaned against the wall. Mahmoud sat on the bed and turned to her.
"How have you been?" he asked quietly. Sarah Jane knew he was asking about the past year so she shrugged.
"I'm...I had hoped that the drug would have lost its potency or something by now." she sighed loudly and rolled her head on the wall. "I'm exhausted. Mentally and emotionally exhausted. I don't want to do this anymore!" she shut her eyes against the tears that seemed to be gathering and threatening to drop.
Mahmoud reached out to touch her hand and reflexively, she snatched it away. Her gaze shut up to his and she caught the look of hurt in his eyes before he blinked it away. She chuckled mentally at her dilemma. She had to go and become a freak for men to come out of the woodworks, attracted to her. What was it about a damsel in distress that drew men like moth to a flame? She wondered if a 'messiah' gene was worked into their DNA.
"I'm a little skittish about contact. I don't want anyone to have to go through something like this." she said by way of an explanation and an apology.
Mahmoud jerked a nod. "So Obi, why were you guys meeting?" he questioned.
"He was just giving me a status report. Mahmoud, leave it. I'm in no condition to contemplate a relationship with anyone just now." She spread her hand in a 'look at me' gesture.
Mahmoud smiled wryly. "I always wondered if you knew." he confessed.
"You have been pretty obvious about it." Sarah Jane said on a comfortable smile. She knew Mahmoud well. He would leave her be, at least for now.
The door to her room opened to reveal her mother and Andoah. Sarah Jane jerked in worry as they both walked in. Her mother let out a long breath of relief on seeing her awake and seated.
"Thank God." she said as she rushed to her bedside. Mahmoud stood up as she took a seat on the bed. "How are you feeling?" she said her hands reaching out to her daughter to comfort her. Belatedly, she remembered her newly developed phobia for being touched and put her hand down, her face looking forlorn.
Sarah Jane felt the ache in her heart tighten as she watched her mother's forlorn expression. "I'm as well as can be mum." she replied a small smile on her face. "Try not to worry so much." she consoled.
Andoah scoffed and turned around in a show of impatience at that. "How can she not worry?" he asked. "It would seem that just when we think it has done its worse, this drug just ups and does some other strange thing to you!" he blasted. Sarah Jane felt herself stiffen at the anger blazing out of him. Was his anger directed at her or at her circumstances? She couldn't tell. There was an awkward silence in the room after Andoah's outburst.
"Chrissa wanted to come." he said, his voice breaking the silence. "I told her you were worried about possible exposure."
Sarah Jane sighed. Her condition had taken a toll on her family. Everyone had been on edge for a year now and the discomfiture was beginning to burst out in little fights and quarrels which were hitting their familial bonds hard.
"I'm okay now." she said exhaustedly.
"Can we get you anything? How soon before they let you out of here?" her mother queried.
"Mum." Sarah Jane called and looked over her head at Mahmoud. "Mum, I think it's time I isolated myself. What happened to me today was really scary. I need to...we are running out of time. Perhaps we need to...do something m
ore. I'll stay here at the Centre for some time. At least long enough to run some test." she broke off as her mother began to sob quietly. "Mummy." she consoled tears glittering in her own eyes.
"What would you need?" Andoah broke in, his tone brisk even as his voice clogged with emotion.
"Toiletries and maybe a change or two of clothes, at least for now." she tried to imitate her brother's brisk tone. She looked up, from her mother, at him. "Tell Chrissa...a little patience. I'll...I'll see her soon." she said not sure of the veracity of her statement.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Kwesi." Mahmoud began to speak to her mother who waved him shut.
"I know. We need to leave soon. I know." she said as she wiped at her tears. Her hand reached out again to her daughter but stopped short of touching her. "Do not forget to pray." she admonished. "God...God does not forget His children." she sounded a bit dazed as she said that. Sarah Jane smiled as she did not want to worry her mother by asking the questions that bombarded her heart every day since that fateful moment when she had woken up.
Where had God been when Jay had been kidnapped? Where had He been when this drug had gotten into her system? Where was His omnipotent power to heal her?
Mrs. Kwesi got up and dusted herself. "Let us say a word of prayer." she invited and everyone bent their head respectfully. Sarah Jane smiled again as she thought that she had yet to meet anyone who could refute Mrs. Kwesi when she got going.
CHAPTER 5
"You look horrible!" Mahmoud exclaimed when Obinna opened the door of his apartment to him and Umar. They both walked in spritely. Just watching both of them doing so hurt his head. He shut the door and turned back to them.
"What's up guys?" he asked.
"Called your desk today and they said you were ill." Umar said with a look of concern on his face.
Obinna sighed and held his hand to his head as he walked to the nearest seat and sat down. "I think I caught the flu or something." he remarked.
"You look...off colour, faded out." Mahmoud said a matching frown of concern on his face.
Obinna's had snapped up at the Mahmoud's tone. "It's the flu. Sarah Jane is not contagious." he snapped.
"Why are you so certain?" Umar asked him.
"She's been staying at her parents, right? Don't you think if she were contagious, there would have been some weirdness going on there by now?" Obinna responded.
Mahmoud shrugged. "He has a point there. The family seems unaffected by any 'weirdness' for lack of a better description."
Obinna sent him a small glare. "How's she?" he asked. "I haven't come to see her because of the flu. Didn't want to add to her potpourri of issues."
Umar took a seat opposite Obinna. "She's okay I suppose." Mahmoud took another seat adjacent to both Umar and Obinna. There was a pause. Apparently, this visit was not as innocuous as it had seemed. Obinna looked into the faces of the two doctors. None of them seemed inclined to say anything at the moment as they seemed lost in their own internal head space.
"Okay, you guys are scaring me. What?"
"I don't think anything in that briefcase can help her." Umar said. He did not need to clarify who her, was.
"Why is that?" Obinna asked cautiously disappointment settling in his heart.
"We ran some test that we should have run when she first woke up. Maybe then...but who knows."
"Technically, she should be dead." Mahmoud blurted out. Obinna jerked his head in shock towards him. Only then did he see clearly the strain with which he was holding his emotions under check.
"What does that mean?" Obinna asked in confusion.
"Yes, all her organs are functioning seemingly. They are functioning but it's like her nervous system is in some kind of inertia but it is not. I can't understand it! I have never seen anything like it!" Umar said in a stymied tone.
"Guys, speak english. Inertia, nervous system? Come on, communicate." Obinna said, his flu, temporarily relegated to the background.
"Like Mahmoud said, technically she should be dead but she is not. Whatever Doctor Greene's serum contained...it's like she, her body is in some kind of cocoon...I can't explain what I barely understand myself! But whatever it is, it is keeping her alive. For how long? We can't figure it out. What will happen should the serum begin to wear out? What kind of changes could it have made to her DNA? We don't have those answers and we don't know if we even have the capacity to find out. Are they reversible?" Umar shook his head sadly. "I don't think we can. I don't think it would be a good idea even if we could."
Obinna slumped back in his seat, his headache returning with a worse intensity than before. "So she's a walking dead?" he questioned on a whisper.
No one answered him. No one needed to. They were all extremely intelligent men after all.
"There is a problem then." Obinna continued after awhile. Both Umar and Mahmoud turned to him with questioning looks on their face.
"I think there must be a rogue faction of the cartel." At first neither doctor understood what he was saying then their expression cleared as understanding came.
"Did something happen?" Mahmoud asked.
"I went back to that address that Doctor Greene had given her when she visited him. As I was walking round the perimeter, I saw fresh tyre tracks at the back of the building. There's a road there hidden by the bushes around it. It leads out to the next street, the one before. I think someone was in that building and left hurriedly when they saw me coming up." Obinna concluded and went on to tell them about the small odd occurrences that had him convinced that he was being stalked.
"Do you think they know about Sarah Jane?" Mahmoud asked.
"I have to go with the assumption that they do indeed know about her. She is not safe. But you know Sarah-J. With all of this, how do we convince her to...just stay safe?" Obinna gestured his exasperation. "How did she take the news?" he asked.
Umar shook his head, "We haven't told her anything yet. But then Sarah Jane is an extremely smart girl. I suspect she's beginning to figure it out. She seems numb right now."
"We have to get her to safety." Obinna said. Mahmoud could not help the scoff that came out of his mouth. Obinna turned sharply to him.
"She's...she..." he stuttered sorrowfully as he struggled to contain his emotion.
"She's alive and breathing. Whatever else may be wrong with her, she's still with us." Obinna reprimanded. Mahmoud's facial expression was stoic.
"Does Jay know?" Obinna asked.
Umar shook his head. "He has enough on his plate. He doesn't need this guilt trip as well." he responded. Obinna nodded.
The conversation lulled after that as each man fell silent, wracking their brains for ways to keep a lady they had each come to love in their own way, safe.
CHAPTER 6
Sarah Jane sat on the bench soaking in the sunshine. These days it seemed that she could not keep warm enough. She had worn three layers of clothing but still felt chilled. It was a good thing that the sun was out with extreme intensity today. Everyone else had run indoors to escape the baking heat of the sun. They had turned on the air conditioners to high cool and Sarah Jane had run out to sit in the deserted lawn.
She was so still that if it were not for the occasional flutter of her clothes and hair, it might have seemed she was a part of a sculpture placed in the lawn as garden art.
A lot of questions were buzzing through her head. She knew that Mahmoud and Umar were hiding something from her. She supposed she could demand that they tell her what it was but she was scared to hear the prognosis. There was no way it was good. She didn't understand all of what was happening to her, but the part she did understand was enough to tell her that it was futile. She could never be what she was before. She had been irrevocably changed.
"Sarah Jane?" came the quiet questioning voice. Sarah Jane jerked even as she turned around. She would recognize that voice even in her dreams.
"Chrissa?" she said looking stupidly at her friend and the little baby she was carrying. "Chrissa what...how...C
hrissa you shouldn't have come!" she said plaintively.
"I couldn't stay away anymore. Andoah..." there were tears running down her eyes as she looked her friend over.
Sarah Jane stood and backed away from her a few steps staring longingly at her friend and her niece.
"How are you?" she asked, her voice a choked whisper of love that she was scared to express.
Chrissa nodded her head. "We are good." She came round to sit on the bench that Sarah Jane had just vacated. "I wanted you to meet Maya." she announced as she sat. "I don't want to...I need you to meet her." she concluded raising her eyes imploringly to Sarah Jane.
"You..." Sarah Jane smiled wryly at the unspoken words, 'just in case you don't make it.' She shook her head at Chrissa.
"You should be more concerned about her welfare. Yours too."
"Can I not be concerned about yours as well then?" she parried.
Sarah Jane felt her smile widen. That was Chrissa, her Chrissa! "Chrissa no one knows what exactly is wrong with me. What if...?"
"You aren't contagious. At least I overheard Andoah speaking with someone on the phone and he was saying your doctors don't think you are contagious." she disagreed gently, patting the baby gently on her back as she began to get antsy.
Curiosity pulled Sarah Jane to the farthest end of the bench from Chrissa. "What else did they say?" she asked pleadingly.
"You mean they are keeping you in the dark? Why?" she asked in her usual direct way. Sarah Jane smiled even as her heart ached. She missed her life. She wanted her life back. She wanted to be able to pull both Chrissa and her niece into a big come-to-mama hug without being so petrified of hurting them.
"Well, I think it's getting worse. I didn't listen to the entire conversation, just bits of it, but it seemed dire. That's why I decided to come see you anyway." Chrissa said gently, tearfully. "I just couldn't imagine... you...I wish this had never happened!" she wailed.
Sarah Jane relaxed back on the bench. Chrissa was not telling her anything that she had not already suspected herself. "You know what they say about wishes and horses." she commented drily.
Chrissa continued to juggle the baby who was by now making whimpering noises.
"It's so hot out today Sarah, why don't we go in and sit instead?" Chrissa said as she grabbed the handle of her bag.