August 25, 2005 – 9:50 PM
[Mombasa Hospital – Children's Wing, Room 7]
Tak… tak… tak… tak… tak…
Nurse Elli: "Dhalik!! Come back here, young man!"
Now you're probably wondering what the hell is going on…
Tak… tak… tak… tak… tak…
Dhalik: "No! I'm not going back, Nurse Elli! I'm sick of all these tests you keep running on me. I'm sick of this place—and I'm sick of you! So stop chasing me. I want to go home!"
Tak… tak… tak… tak…
Yeah… that's me. The younger me—running.
Why, you ask?
Well…
Tak… tak… tak… tak…
Nurse Elli: "There's a reason for those tests! You were in an accident. For God's sake, you fell from a building!"
Tak… tak… tak… tak…
She wasn't wrong.
Three weeks ago, I was playing football with some kids from my neighborhood. I kicked the ball a little too hard… and it landed on the roof of a nearby house.
Now, you might think we'd go get an adult.
If you did… you'd be wrong. Big, fat F.
Because like most reckless kids—I went to get it myself.
Next to the house was a tree with low branches. Easy enough to climb. From there, I pulled myself onto the roof.
Tak… tak… tak…
I grabbed the ball… threw it back down to my friends…
And that should've been it.
But it wasn't.
Tak… tak… tak…
"Sto—!"
—CRASH—
Dhalik: "Agh!!"
Dr. Mwenyeji: "Agh… indeed."
[Five minutes earlier]
Dr. Mwenyeji: "Well… I suppose I should check on the troublemaker first."
Tak… tak… tak…
He moved through the corridor, adjusting his coat.
Still this energetic three weeks after such an accident… he thought. Kids are resilient.
Tak… tak…
Dr. Kale: "Evening, Doctor."
Dr. Mwenyeji: "Good evening."
Dr. Kale: "You're in a hurry."
Dr. Mwenyeji: "You could say that."
Dr. Kale: "Let me guess… the boy again?"
Dr. Mwenyeji: "You're not wrong. Dhalik is acting up again."
"…Oh."
—CRASH—
Dhalik: "Agh!!"
Dr. Mwenyeji: "Yes… quite painful, I imagine."
Tak… tak… tak…
Nurse Elli: "Doctor! Are you alright?"
Dr. Mwenyeji: "I'm fine."
He straightened his coat and looked toward the chaos.
Dr. Mwenyeji: "Now then… young Mr. Dhalik. Why are you making it difficult for Nurse Elli?"
Dhalik: "Because I want to go home! She said I could yesterday!"
Dr. Mwenyeji: "Did you?"
He turned slightly.
Dr. Mwenyeji: "Nurse Elli?"
Nurse Elli: "I told him he could go home once you cleared him, Doctor… but he's been impatient."
Dhalik: "That's because I'm a child. That's kind of the point."
Nurse Elli: "Wha—!"
Dr. Mwenyeji: "Enough."
Silence followed instantly.
Dr. Mwenyeji crouched to my level.
Dr. Mwenyeji: "I spoke with your mother today. Do you know what she said?"
Dhalik: "You talked to my mom? What did she say?"
Dr. Mwenyeji: "She'll pick you up the day after tomorrow."
A pause.
Dr. Mwenyeji: "One more test tomorrow… and then you go home."
Dhalik: "…Fine."
(Not like I can escape anyway.)
Dr. Mwenyeji: "Good. Back to your room."
Nurse Elli: "Come along."
As we walked back, I continued my story in my head.
The roof.
I climbed up, grabbed the ball, threw it down.
Easy.
But getting down… that's where everything changed.
I needed to jump back to the tree. A short run-up.
What I didn't realize… was that the roof wasn't stable.
As I ran—
For a second… I felt it give under me.
Crack.
My leg went through the roof.
Something caught it.
And just like that…
I fell.
Five meters.
Head first.
Like I was diving straight into the ground.
In that moment… I was terrified.
Completely frozen.
Then impact.
Everything just… stopped.
Later, I was told my friends ran for help. Adults came. I was rushed to the hospital.
And then—
I died.
Yeah… I died.
Funny how that sounds, right?
I was clinically dead for eight minutes and thirty-one seconds. The doctors had already given up.
Until…
I came back.
But while they were trying to save me…
I wasn't there.
Not fully.
I was somewhere else.
Not a place… more like a state where everything looked stripped of meaning.
No sound.
No movement.
Just awareness.
Fragments of everything I was:
My past.
My present.
And things that felt like they could be my future.
All overlapping.
It felt like time had stopped—
And I was standing somewhere between everything at once.
To be continued…