"Menzi, what are you doing here?" I asked. I was happy to see him but at the same time I was surprised that he had actually come to see me. He kept on saying "I can't" and I didn't understand what he was on about. "I'm not marrying Zodwa, my mom came back from the conference and my uncles are so adamant on us paying lobola for Zodwa!" he said. I didn't understand what Menzi expected me to do about the situation because it sounded to me like it was a done deal. "What do you want me to do Menzi?" I asked. "Go to my house and tell my uncles we're together!" he said. He was mad. He was literally going insane. I really wanted to help him get out of the situation but the least I did, the better the situation would be. Menzi wanted me to take the fall for him and I couldn't agree to that. It was a very cowardly move so I refused.
He then stormed out of my room. The way I was so tired, I didn't even try to follow him. I immediately went back to sleep, this time locking my door because I didn't want any more disturbances. Six hours later, at around 9pm, I heard a number of people knocking on my door and calling out my name. I tried to get up but I was so dizzy. I couldn't even lift my head off of the pillow. I tried to move my legs and it hit me at that point that I was suffering some form of temporary paralysis even though at that time I didn't know whether it was temporary or permanent. I opened my eyes and when I tried to speak, nothing would happen, I'd hear myself talking but nothing was actually happening. I then started to cry because I was panicking. I calmed myself down and tried again for the 50th time to get out of my bed but I couldn't. Eventually the guys in the house managed to break my door down. KG was the first to rush in followed by Lincoln and then everyone else.
"Earl wake up!" KG said. "Earl what's going on?" Lincoln asked frantically. I could see them, my eyes were wide open but I couldn't move nor say anything to them, the only signal I could give to show them I was in some form of trouble was to cry. Lincoln then picked me up and together with KG, Sihle and Morithi; they rushed me to the hospital.
KG drove with Lincoln in the front. I sat at the back with Sihle and Morithi. Sihle was trying his best to keep me warm because I had started shaking. Morithi on the other hand was crying. "Please don't die Earl" he cried. I really wanted to laugh. Lincoln kept turning back to brush my head, apparently because that is a calming technique and KG was trying hard not to notice what Lincoln was doing.
When we got to the hospital, the doctor performed some checks on me and realized that my blood pressure had gone up the roof. My diagnosis: depression. The doctor had me sedated and the guys left to go back to the commune. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and realizing I was in hospital, I was thirsty and all I wanted was a glass of water but I couldn't talk and I couldn't even maneuver my body to press the call button. I peacefully passed out again…
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