Chapter 2: The Woman Who Wasn’t Zara*
Morning came grey and heavy. The rain hadn’t stopped, and neither had Amaka’s shift. She was supposed to clock out at 8, but Room 12 kept her there.
Alfa refused to sleep. He refused pain meds too.
“Pain keeps you sharp,” he muttered, watching the door like he expected it to explode. “Who’s been in to see me?”
“Just staff,” Amaka lied. Dr. Ebube had been by twice, asking questions. So had a man in a suit who claimed to be from “hospital admin” but didn’t have an ID badge.
At 9:03 AM, the real problem walked in.
She was tall, in a red dress that looked too expensive for a hospital, with braids down to her waist and eyes that had seen too much.
“I’m here for Alfa,” she said to the front desk. Her voice was calm, rehearsed. “Room 12.”
Amaka intercepted her before security could. “Visiting hours start at 11.”
“I’m Zara.” The woman smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “His fiancée.”
Amaka’s stomach dropped. Alfa had whispered _Zara_ all night like a prayer. Like a promise.
“He’s not taking visitors,” Amaka said. “Doctor’s orders.”
“Then I’ll wait.” Zara sat down, crossed her legs, and pulled out a phone. “Tell him I’m here. He’ll want to see me.”
Room 12 went silent when Amaka told him.
“Describe her,” Alfa said, suddenly very still.
“Red dress. Braids. Says she’s your fiancée.”
His jaw tightened. “That’s not Zara.”
“Then who is she?”
“The reason I ended up in this bed.”
He told her then. Not all of it, just pieces. Zara was his younger sister, 19, scholarship kid at UniPort. She’d gone missing three weeks ago after testifying against a local chief’s son in an assault case. Alfa came to Port Harcourt to find her. The car crash wasn’t an accident. Someone ran him off East-West Road after he met with a contact who promised information.
“And the woman out there?” Amaka asked.
“Probably sent to check if I died. Or to finish the job.”
Amaka didn’t believe in heroes. But she did believe in stubborn. She walked back to the waiting area. Zara-not-Zara was gone. In her seat was a folded note: _We know you’re helping him. Stop. Next time we won’t miss._
Dr. Ebube found Amaka in the stairwell, shaking.
“You need to report this,” he said.
“And get him killed faster?” She showed him the note. “Someone in this hospital is leaking info. That ‘admin’ guy this morning asked about ‘the John Doe with the ring’. Alfa’s ring wasn’t in his chart.”
That night, Amaka made a choice. She changed Alfa’s name in the system to _Michael Okoro_, moved him to Room 17, and told only Dr. Ebube.
When she brought Alfa dinner, he was sitting up, staring at the silver ring on his thumb.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked. “You don’t know me.”
“No,” she said. “But I know what it’s like when no one looks for you. My brother disappeared in 2019. Police said ‘boys will be boys’. We never found him.”
For the first time, Alfa looked at her like she was a person, not a complication.
“Zara’s all I have left,” he said quietly. “If I lose her—”
“Then we find her,” Amaka cut in. “But first, you stay alive. Deal?”
He didn’t smile. But he nodded. And for a second, his hand brushed hers when she took the tray.
Outside, the woman in red watched Room 12 from a car across the street. She dialed a number.
“He’s alive,” she said. “And he’s got help. A nurse.”
A pause. Then a voice: “Handle it. Before Oga gets impatient.”
*End of Chapter 2*
