I suggest you read PUZZLED (part 1) before continuing……
“Hello, welcome back to the world of the living. I’m Dr.Ana. I understand you must be feeling out of sorts right now. It is because of the anaesthesia still working it’s way out of your system. You were brought in by a fellow runner like you,who found you at the crime scene. You had lost a lot of blood, and we had to perform surgery on you to remove the bullet lodged in your ribcage. You were shot in your leg also, but we didn’t find any bullet during the scan. It was a clean shot through and through.
I was thinking “definitely didn’t feel like a clean shot. Seeing as I pissed myself at the time from the combination of fear and pain” then grimaced at my thoughts.
“Are you okay? are you feeling any discomfort?” The doc asked, misinterpreting my grimace.
Since I couldn’t exactly tell her what I was thinking, I quickly played along.”Yeah, well… My chest is all bandaged, my leg is not feeling so hot either, so….”
“Oh, my bad. I’m so sorry. But to be honest, your wounds are pretty trivial compared to the alternate. You would be on a slab in the morgue this instant, but for your odd and very rare condition.”
“Rare condition? I’ve never been diagnosed with such doctor, at least not to my knowledge. I try my best to stay fit and eat healthy. What condition could that possibly be?”
The lovely doctor smiiled at me “it was not a life threatening situation that you could have been diagnosed for. Infact, most people with the same might not know about it during their whole lifetime. You are a ‘dextrocardiac’ dextro- [towards the right], cardia- [heart]. That is, your heart is more inclined towards the right side of your chest instead of left. Contrary to popular opinion, a normal human heart is not on the left side of the body; the heart is kind of centered with the apex pointed to the left. Your congenital–you were born this way. Only one percent of the world’s population can account for this anomaly; and luckily, you were one of those.”
“Wow, so this dextro-heart-tingy literally saved my life. Here I thought I had crossed over already. Thanks doc.”
“Some detectives came by to take your statement, but you were out of it at the time. I assume they will soon be back, so rest up and save your energy. I’ve ringed for an orderly to bring the med-cart.”
A man wheeled the said cart into the room, his face turned towards the floor. “Where do you need this?” He asked, and closed the door after him.
When the orderly raised his head, I gasped, seeing that it was the assassin after me. Before I could get out of the state of shock I was in and raise an alarm; I heard two muted shots ring out. The pretty doctor’s face went wide as I saw blood blossomed on her chest. She went down, tumbling into the medical cart with her hands still on the bullet wound that was cutting short her life.
My would be murderer smirked, with his gun pointed directly at my face. There was a silencer fitted to it. “Well,well,well….You, are one very lucky bastard. But as they say… The third time is the charm.”
As I saw him Start to pull the trigger, I closed my eyes and began saying my last prayers. Last thing I heard was the gun firing. Lights out.
**Alternative ending for Happy-enders 🙂 **
As I saw him Start to pull the trigger, I closed my eyes and began saying my last prayers. Then I heard a gunfire. But nothing happened. My brain felt quite intact, and my face whole.
“You can open your eyes now, the threat has been neutralized” I heard someone say. Tentatively opened my eyes and saw two police officers standing over the body of Mr.evilface. The detectives that the doc told me about earlier, arriving right on time. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’d been saved, again.

Written by
Ademola Zulaikha,
University of Ilorin, Kwara State, NIGERIA