CHAPTER 9: THE FIRST PATIENT
1139 Words
CHAPTER 9: THE FIRST PATIENT
*9:03 AM. Tuesday. FUEN College of Medicine – Week 2.*
Ada wasn’t in class.
She was in *FUEN Teaching Hospital, Emergency Ward*. White coat too big. Name tag new: *ADA C. OKORO – STUDENT DOCTOR – ETHICS BOARD*
Her first shift. VC Amadi’s orders: _“You audit us. But you also learn us. No doctor posts Chapters if she can’t check BP.”_
The ward smelled like Dettol and death. Real death. Not JAMB death.
“Okoro!” Dr. Binta, the Registrar, barked. “Bed 7. Vitals. Now. Don’t write a Chapter about it.”
Ada ran.
*Bed 7.*
Woman. 40s. Wrapper soaked in sweat. Chest heaving. Oxygen mask fogging.
Ada froze.
She knew that wrapper. Green. With brown flowers.
*Hauwa Bello’s mother.*
The woman who called Daddy last night. _“Thank you. Hauwa can rest now.”_
Her name tag: *MRS. AISHA BELLO – 43Y – ADMITTED 6:00 AM*
Diagnosis: *Hypertensive Emergency. BP 220/130.*
Ada’s hands shook. The BP cuff slipped.
“Miss Okoro,” Dr. Binta said, softer. “You know her?”
“She’s... she’s why I’m here,” Ada whispered. “Her daughter was #8. 28 in Anatomy. 2022.”
Dr. Binta closed her eyes. “Then you save the mother. That’s your Chapter 9.”
---
*10:17 AM. Nurses’ Station.*
Mrs. Bello was stable. BP: 180/100. Still bad. But alive.
Fatima found Ada in the locker room. Crying.
“Hey,” Fatima said. “You did good. Dr. Binta said your BP reading was correct. You didn’t panic.”
“I saw Hauwa’s face,” Ada said. “When I looked at her mum. I saw 28.”
Fatima sat. “My sister died on this ward, Ada. Bed 7. Same BP. Same day she got Prof. K’s letter. ‘Too dumb for medicine’. She refused drugs. Said ‘if I’m too dumb to be a doctor, I’m too dumb to live’.”
Silence.
“28 killed her,” Fatima said. “But 94 saved her mum. You see the pattern?”
Ada wiped her face. Nodded.
Fatima pulled out her phone. “DSS called. Prof. K’s trial starts Monday. They need you to testify. You, me, and the 47.”
“And the twins?”
“Kene Senior took a plea deal,” Fatima said. “15 years. He confessed everything. Room 304. The spreadsheet. The ₦4 million slots.”
“Kene Junior?”
Fatima’s face went dark. “No plea. He wants court. He says he’ll ‘expose the real 328 girl’. Says you cheated. Says he has proof.”
Ada stood. “Let him try. I have Dreame. I have 2.3 million witnesses. I have a dead girl’s mother in Bed 7.”
---
*2:00 PM. FUEN Senate Building – Ethics Board Office.*
First day. Ada + Fatima. Two desks. One mission: *Audit FUEN.*
VC Amadi walked in. Dropped a file. Thick.
*“2010-2025. ALL PROF. KENECHUKWU OBI STUDENTS. ALL SCORES. FIND THE 28s.”*
Ada opened it.
Pages. Names. Scores.
*2011: Chukwudi Eze – 29 – Expelled*
*2013: Maryam Sani – 31 – Expelled*
*2015: Tunde Adebayo – 28 – Expelled*
*2022: Hauwa Bello – 28 – Deceased*
47 names. All there. All real.
At the bottom: *TOTAL EXPELLED BY PROF. K: 312 STUDENTS. 15 YEARS.*
312 lives.
Fatima grabbed Ada’s hand. “We write all their names, Ada. Every single one. Chapter 6.”
---
*6:00 PM. Okoro Hostel – Room 12B.*
Ada didn’t post Chapter 6.
She posted something else.
*Behind The Scene – ANNOUNCEMENT*
_To the 312 students Prof. K failed:_
_FUEN is re-opening admissions for you. No JAMB. No test. Your 28 is deleted._
_Come home. We start clean._
_VC Amadi approved. DSS approved._
_I approved._
_– Dr. Ada Chioma Okoro_
_Student Ethics Advisor_
_MBBS 1_
*Reads in 10 minutes: 400,000.*
*Comments: 12,000. “I’m Chukwudi. I’m coming back.” “I’m Maryam. Thank you, 328 girl.”*
Her phone buzzed.
*Unknown Number – Abuja.*
She answered.
“Ada?”
That voice.
*Prof. Kenechukwu Obi.*
From DSS custody.
“You think you won?” he said. His voice was old. Broken. But still poison. “You saved 47. You saved 312. But you can’t save yourself, Miss Okoro.”
“Try me,” Ada said.
“My trial is Monday,” he said. “Kene Junior will testify. He has the USB, Ada. The _real_ USB. Not the one DSS took from Room 304. The one from my office. 15 years of names. And payments.”
Ada’s blood went cold. “What payments?”
“Every VC. Every Dean. Every Admissions Officer. 1998-2025,” Prof. K said. “FUEN didn’t rot because of me. I was just the butcher. The whole cow was sick. And your VC Amadi? Her name is on page 4. ₦2 million. 2009. To get her daughter into Law.”
Silence.
“You post that USB, Ada, and FUEN burns,” Prof. K said. “312 students come back... to a school with no lecturers. No VC. No accreditation. You save them, and you kill them.”
He laughed. “Mercy offer, Miss Okoro. Last one. Don’t testify Monday. Take the ₦15 million. Go home. Stay 328 girl. Or...”
“Or what?”
“Or I give Junior the order. And the _real_ 28 drops. Not JAMB. Not Anatomy.” He paused. “Your father’s farm. Your mother’s BP drugs. Your scholarship. All revoked. All... _glitches_. You become 0. Like Hauwa.”
Click.
---
*8:47 PM.*
Ada sat in the dark.
Phone in hand.
Two options:
*1. Don’t testify. Take ₦15M. FUEN stays open. 312 students come back. VC Amadi survives. But the Kene empire lives. In the shadows.*
*2. Testify. Post the real USB. FUEN burns. VC Amadi falls. 312 students lose FUEN again. But the truth lives. In the light.*
She opened Dreame.
New Chapter.
*Chapter 6: [BLANK]*
She typed one sentence.
_“28 is not a score. 28 is a choice.”_
Then she called Fatima.
“Meet me at Bed 7,” Ada said. “We ask Hauwa’s mother one question.”
*9:30 PM. FUEN Teaching Hospital – Bed 7.*
Mrs. Bello was awake. BP: 150/90. Better.
“Mummy,” Ada said. She held her hand. “If you had to choose... Hauwa alive, but 312 students stay expelled... or Hauwa gone, but 312 students come home...”
Mrs. Bello didn’t hesitate. Tears in her eyes.
“Hauwa died because of lies, my daughter,” she whispered. “Don’t let 312 more die because of more lies. Tell the truth. Even if it burns us.”
Ada nodded.
She kissed Mrs. Bello’s hand.
Then she walked out.
And posted Chapter 6.
*Title: THE REAL USB*
*Attachment: KENE_OBI_15_YEARS.zip*
Post.
- Writer
