THE BITTER DRINK 3

By the time Ekene opened her eyes, she knew she had no secrets left. Her vision was still blurry and eye bags had deposited below her lower eye lid on each eye. She blinked continuously as if the blinking would scratch the scales that blurred her vision out of her eyes and though it did help clear her vision up a little, it didn’t solve it completely. “This sucks!” she said to herself biting her teeth under her breath. She had been admitted in one of the hospital’s private wards and having just herself to contend with at the moment was exactly what she wanted.

Beatrice walked into the ward, bearing a basket that contained a food flask and a big bottle of water. She set the basket down on the table beside Ekene’s bed and sat on the bed, close to her feet. As soon as Beatrice’s buttocks touched the bed, Ekene pulled her legs away immediately and readjusted the rest of her body to give Beatrice some good distance on the small bed.  Fortunately, no amount of hatred could make Ekene resist Beatrice’s cooking at that time as the hunger in her system had overtaken her entire being.

Thirty scoops of rice later, Ekene’s blurry vision had cleared up perfectly and she had gathered enough energy to speak.  She set the flask aside in the basket, gulped some water directly from the big bottle of water and heaved a sigh of relief as she put the bottle back in the same basket. “I’m moving out” Ekene said, staring daringly at Beatrice. “I’m sure you already know that I have cancer. Or don’t you?” She said again with a rude stare. “The doctor only said that you have a tumor, he never said anything about cancer” Beatrice replied in a cool voice. Ekene’s hate-drama had come to the point where it bored her to non-challance. “He also said that you have refused to show up for the continuation of the diagnosis. I’m not surprised by your actions in any way. You hate me so much that you destroy yourself for it.” Beatrice continued as she stood up to leave and then she said, “You’re sick, Ekene and you think living alone right now is a wise descision?”.  “I won’t be living alone” Ekene replied, “I’m going back to Abuja to be with my parents”.

Ekene’s words hit Beatrice like the slap of an agbero. “You wicked ingrate” Beatrice retorted, face swollen and throbbing from anger, “After all that I’ve done for you! After everything you dare to call them your parents! I’ve dedicated my life to trying to win your love but because of those bloody thieves you hate me so much no matter how I try!”. Ekene sat in her bed overtaken by fear. She had never seen Beatrice that angry in all the years she had lived with her. “This cancer or tumour or whatever it is, is your curse! It would eat you to death, you wicked curse of a child” Beatrice concluded and stormed out of Ekene’s ward weeping.