The Container

I checked other patients after the treatment as it is what I usually do every day as a senior staff nurse. I checked James again, when I checked his temperature and his heartbeat, I recorded his new record on my patient record book but as I was about to leave his dormitory, he called me back. His weak eyes were just white without any red tiny vein noticed on them. I stared slowly at him, wondering why he called me back. His black face was folded with pain and grief. I wonder what he is grieving for.

"Sorry nurse..i …I just want to ..” he groaned in pain as he was trying to sit up from the bed. I rushed him, held his shoulders and made him lie back down.

"No! Sorry, you can’t sit up now and please don’t force yourself up again. You need to recover more” I convinced him and he lied quietly on the bed, breathing heavily.

"Is there a problem sir….”

"Yes nurse, I lost something and I don’t know if you have seen it” his stare caught mine.

"Or maybe…any other nurse” he added.

"What is that?”

"A small plastic container” he replied and I paused my stare on him.

"That must be the container Kate was holding earlier” I said to myself.

"Did you see it…by any chance?” he asked me again.

“No! no I didn’t” I replied slowly and gave out a low sigh.

"What’s inside the container” I asked him.

"You said you did not see it”

“Yes I didn’t but I just….

“It’s none of your business anymore, you can leave now” he said rudely. I was surprised after his rude reply but just as he said, it’s none of my business.

I got home at exactly 5:15pm, Jane was watching a new series on the television when I got home, our apartment was well arranged and cleaned, maybe Jane was in a good mode that she decided to clean the house.

“Good evening” she murmured after she noticed my presence.

“You were home all day?”

“David visited” she replied. David is her boyfriend who she doesn’t joke with. He is very handsome and taller than us. Despite the other boys Jane hangs out with, David is the only one she truly loves.

“Oh! how is he doing…by the way?”

“He’s always fine. I don’t know though. I didn’t ask him if he is fine or not” she replied and I chuckled. Her full attention was on the series she was watching. I stared at the television while hanging my uniform on the wooden hanger besides the bed.

“What series is that?”

“You don’t know it…it’s an American series” she replied. She was right, I don’t usually create time to watch long movies or series, only Jane does that. The only television show I watch are some surgical clips I finds on Youtube.

“At least…just tell me the name”

“You are a novice Jennifer, all you know is to inject and eject needles in and out of peoples body” she laughed slowly, still watching the television.

“Uhmmm, at least I know something, I’m not really an ignoramus” I laughed too.

“Who knows”

“Are you kidding me?” I said and we laughed slowly.

“So…how was work today?” she rose and sat on the bed, facing me.

“Big…very big” I said with a big sigh and lied on the bed.

“What happened…” she asked me, folding her leg together, still looking at me.

“It’s a long story but I will cut it short”

“Okay…?”

“A very injured man was brought to the hospital…I saw Kate holding something that belonged to the patient…all of a sudden, I didn’t see it again in her hands…when…when I went back to check the patient, he asked me about the something Kate was holding, he claimed it belongs to him” I narrated roughly, with few demonstrations I was making with my hands, still lying o the bed.

“I never like that Kate girl, she’s full of pretense and jealousy. Did you ask her about it?”

“No I only asked her if she is okay and she kept saying yes”

“What is this something you are talking about? Money?”

“It’s just a small transparent plastic container with red smokes in it” I replied and looked at Jane. I know she must say something about it.

“You see? This is why I always call you a novice; you don’t know anything happening in this world you are living in”

“Where are these words coming out from Jane?” I asked her, with a tired gaze.

“That container contains a voo-doo something. Maybe it fell off the patient’s pocket while he was been carried on the stretcher to the dormitory and luckily for that Kate girl, she saw it and took it” she narrated as if she was in the hospital with me.

“Luckily?...”

“Yes…assuming it’s really something voo-doo as I thought or as I am thinking… she might have opened the container and the red smokes went into her then….then she began to act strange that moment” she stopped talking, looking at me. I was also staring confusedly at her.

“What? I have seen such things in Nollywood” she added.

“What if she is right?” I asked myself.

“Juju in the city? Such thing only exists in the village and not in the city. Who does juju in the city? I just think that …maybe…” I was still thinking of what to say when we heard a knock on the door.