A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE
It was a few hours before Agnes left for Canada. She was so excited amid the pains she had been getting from time to time in her lungs. As she was locking the door to her apartment, sadness took over her emotions; she was moving to a new country and leaving all her friends behind. Well, her farewell party was quite a party to remember so she had enough memories to treasure for the rest of her life. On her way to the airport she let out a big cough onto her handkerchief. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw blood stains on it. She deliberately coughed hoping that the blood was not from her mouth but the ugly truth is that it was from her mouth. She alighted from the taxi at the entrance of the airport and stood perplexed mesmerized and shocked like she had just seen a ghost. Her fear of hospitals was so great that she could not stand the sight of a nurse. Bubbles of confusion burst within her, salty sweat trickled down her visage and her spine as she wondered what she was going to do next. “I just smoked for the first time yesterday…could this be a side effect? Do I have cancer? Did I take illegal drugs last night? Could I be arrested for that if the doctors found it in me?” she asked herself.
The previous night she had thrown a farewell party. It was dubbed as the party of the year by most of the guests. There were no restrictions; alcohol and drugs were in plenty, this was something she had never done before but peer pressure and the urge to break the rules and have a wild night led her into doing such a thing. Her parents had travelled and her friend had offered her her apartment to throw the party. The plan was full proof. She was hesitant to go to hospital because of the fear of drugs still being in her system. By this time her coughing got even worse and it was weakening her. She started nose bleeding and had heart palpitations. She got into the check in area and convinced herself that it was just a hangover that would...