<h4>Chapter 605: She Heard Me</h4>


    "...Somto made sure that, in the event of his death, everything would continue smoothly.


    "Of course, it’s never exactly the same without him, but Carl and I have been helping to keep things running. We didn’t n a formal funeral for Somto at first, because you couldn’te to terms with what happened. But... I think it’s time we do. It’s been six months already. If he were still alive, the search party would have found him."


    Arthur hesitated, his voice dropping. "I probably shouldn’t be telling you this... but Carl said you can’t hear anything..."


    He paused again, eyes unfocused, though his gaze remained on the monitors tracking Nnenna’s heart rate, which flickered slightly with the unspoken tension.


    "They found pieces of the clothes he was wearing that day... below the cliff... just a week ago," Arthur finally said, his voice tight.


    He swallowed hard, visibly weighing each word. "The forensics... they say..." He trailed off, unable to continue immediately, before forcing the words out. "...that his body must have been eaten by a wild animal."


    "When you called me, I thought... I thought it was about the news, maybe someone had leaked it. But no. Your reason for calling... it was much worse." Arthur’s voice trembled slightly, though he tried to steady it.


    "You have no idea how d I am that they got to you on time. If I had made the same mistake I made with Somto... I don’t even want to think about it. I just... I don’t know. If we had found him sooner, maybe his body would have at least been intact for a proper burial. I am so thankful... so thankful that God didn’t let me go through that again. That day, when you called... I believe He let me get help to you in time."


    Arthur paused, blinking, trying to collect himself. "Nnenna... we don’t even have a body to bury for Somto’s funeral. No ce to go, no ce to say he wasid to rest."


    His voice softened, almost a whisper, heavy with grief. His eyes, unfocused, stared at nothing in particr. He didn’t notice the monitors, the steady pulse that had been calm, now climbing rapidly, spiking with each shallow breath Nnenna took.


    Suddenly-


    Beep! Beep! Beep!


    The shrill rms tore through the room, yanking Arthur out of his haze. His head snapped to the monitors, Nnenna’s vitals were crashing.


    "Carl!" His voice was sharp, raw.


    The door burst open before he could move. Nurses and doctors flooded in, equipment rattling as they wheeled it to her bedside. But the moment Carl stepped inside, the chaos bent around him. He didn’t raise his voice, but his presence pulled every eye.


    "Startpressions. Push one of epi, now. Oxygen, full flow. Prepare the pads. Clear that line," he ordered, already at Nnenna’s side.


    They moved. No hesitation. No one argued. He was the anchor, and everyone knew it.


    Arthur stepped back on his own, silent, cold on the outside. His eyes, though, never left Nnenna. His jaw locked, hands curled at his sides, but he didn’t interfere. He would not risk disturbing the rhythm Carl had built around her.


    "Clear!" Carl barked. The defibritor whined and shocked. Nnenna’s body jolted. He didn’t flinch, he had done this countless times, but his eyes flickered, a storm hidden under calm waters.


    "Again. Another milligram. Keeppressions going."


    Minutes stretched like hours. Sweat trickled down Carl’s temple, but his tone never wavered. Calm. Steady. In control. And yet, every beat that failed toe back wed deeper at him.


    This wasn’t just medicine.


    This was his little sister slipping away under his hands.


    Arthur stood frozen at the wall, watching the line on the monitor stutter, then tten, then twitch again. He looked coldly calm, but the faintest tremor in his clenched fists gave him away.


    "Come on...e on," Carl muttered under his breath, too quiet for anyone but Arthur to catch.


    Fifteen grueling minutester, the monitor beeped steady again. A rhythm. Weak, but there. The room let out a breath, but Carl didn’t. He leaned closer, checking, confirming, unwilling to believe until he saw her chest rise on its own.


    "She’s stable," one of the other doctors said, relief in his tone. Then, carefully, "But given the time without oxygen, she may have neurological deficits—"


    "Enough," Carl cut him off, his voice sharp. His shoulders stayed steady, but his eyes burned. He didn’t want those words spoken, not now.


    Arthur’s gaze flicked from the doctor to Carl, reading the silence. "What’s going on?" His voice was low, even, but the weight behind it was unmistakable.


    Carl didn’t answer. He kept his eyes on Nnenna, his lips pressed in a thin line, his silence heavy with a pain he couldn’t voice.


    The other doctor cleared his throat, stepping in. "She may suffer some deficits from theck of oxygen, cognitive, motor. We won’t know the extent until she wakes."


    Arthur’s eyes darkened, flicking briefly to Carl. He understood then, Carl knew. He had known in the first ten minutes, but the words were too heavy for him to carry aloud.


    The needful was clear, but impossible to him.


    He couldn’t let her go, not even if peace waited on the other side.


    After a few seconds, Carl forced himself to steady. His voice came out clipped but firm.


    "Run every test. Figure out why this happened. She was stable half an hour ago, how did she crash so fast? I want answers, and I want them before the end of the day."


    "She heard me."


    Arthur’s voice cut through the room like ss.


    Carl froze mid sentence, turning toward him. "What?"


    "She heard me," Arthur repeated, his tone steady but certain.


    Carl frowned. Arthur’s head lifted slightly, his gaze sharp. "You told me yourself she could not hear anything. But she heard me. I was talking about Somto, what happened to his body, and she reacted. Why else would her BP spike like that?"