Francis couldn't believe. This man was looking completely healthy when he had met him, how could he have had the dreaded Ebola. He couldn't think yet though, his father was talking again "Did you meet him at all when you went to visit Israel?"
Francis now understood why this meeting was holding and it was really scaring him "No he wasn't back from work yet" He lied.
His mother asked again with worry written all over her face, "Are you sure? "
"Yes. I didn't meet him"
He was allowed to leave eventually after assuring them that he won't go back there and that he won't discuss the issue with anyone else.
Francis rushed to his bathroom and had a second bath that evening. Everything was adding up in his head now. The headache, the fatigue, both symptoms of Ebola. He remembered the man giving him a solid handshake when they met. He still wasn't sure of anything yet, he went back to his room and did a thorough online research about the virus. He knew he could very well be infected with what he had read, but he chose to believe that he wasn't. He set both of the one thousand naira notes Daddy Israel had given him on fire, just incase they were carrying the virus. He really wanted to tell Steven, but he didn't want Steven to feel scared for his life. So Francis just slept on it.
He woke up the next morning, and he just knew he was going to die. He was running temperature and now and the headache had escalated into something else, he was feeling like death already. Now he was torn between putting his parents through the agony of seeing their child die, or killing them by keeping the news from them, he knew what he had to do. So he went to his mother, ready to tell her the truth, but he met her coming towards his room.
"Francis, have you had your bath? "
"No"
"Your uncle just called from Abuja, he said we should all bath with salted water, it will kill the virus and make us immune "
"Mummy, are you serious?" He couldn't believe his ears.
" Go and do it and stop asking me questions".He almost shed tears of joy on hearing the news. A cure. Salt. Francis was not very religious but he thanked God as he washed every square inch of his body for the third time in fifteen hours. He would later find out that almost everyone in the country did the same thing that morning. He dressed up and moved around feeling better without the fear of infecting his beloved family. That feeling was short lived, however, when his father called the whole house to watch the news broadcast saying that the salt cure was a complete sham and that salt had no effect whatsoever on the Ebola virus. Francis couldn't take it anymore, he knew he had to tell his father there and then.
"Daddy, about Israel's father..." He started.
But his father quickly cut him out "Aah, that reminds me, he has been released, if was just fever".
Francis fainted.
The End
Sam
Francis now understood why this meeting was holding and it was really scaring him "No he wasn't back from work yet" He lied.
His mother asked again with worry written all over her face, "Are you sure? "
"Yes. I didn't meet him"
He was allowed to leave eventually after assuring them that he won't go back there and that he won't discuss the issue with anyone else.
Francis rushed to his bathroom and had a second bath that evening. Everything was adding up in his head now. The headache, the fatigue, both symptoms of Ebola. He remembered the man giving him a solid handshake when they met. He still wasn't sure of anything yet, he went back to his room and did a thorough online research about the virus. He knew he could very well be infected with what he had read, but he chose to believe that he wasn't. He set both of the one thousand naira notes Daddy Israel had given him on fire, just incase they were carrying the virus. He really wanted to tell Steven, but he didn't want Steven to feel scared for his life. So Francis just slept on it.
He woke up the next morning, and he just knew he was going to die. He was running temperature and now and the headache had escalated into something else, he was feeling like death already. Now he was torn between putting his parents through the agony of seeing their child die, or killing them by keeping the news from them, he knew what he had to do. So he went to his mother, ready to tell her the truth, but he met her coming towards his room.
"Francis, have you had your bath? "
"No"
"Your uncle just called from Abuja, he said we should all bath with salted water, it will kill the virus and make us immune "
"Mummy, are you serious?" He couldn't believe his ears.
" Go and do it and stop asking me questions".He almost shed tears of joy on hearing the news. A cure. Salt. Francis was not very religious but he thanked God as he washed every square inch of his body for the third time in fifteen hours. He would later find out that almost everyone in the country did the same thing that morning. He dressed up and moved around feeling better without the fear of infecting his beloved family. That feeling was short lived, however, when his father called the whole house to watch the news broadcast saying that the salt cure was a complete sham and that salt had no effect whatsoever on the Ebola virus. Francis couldn't take it anymore, he knew he had to tell his father there and then.
"Daddy, about Israel's father..." He started.
But his father quickly cut him out "Aah, that reminds me, he has been released, if was just fever".
Francis fainted.
The End
Sam
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