Chapter Eleven

Hostility began to take its shape after Joe's departure but it was more intertwined around Bianca. Bianca actually experienced much worse things after Joe's departure. She was literally turned or tailored into a slave in the hands of Esther who decided to make her regret her action in accepting to stay in a house which she was never entitled to. Bianca knew it was her fault somehow, perhaps if she only had collected money from Joe the first day. By now she would have been in a calm state of mind or she would probably be on the road begging at this time. So, which was better. Was it to endure the sufferings of Esther or be in a state of misery? In her mind, the answer wasn't certain. A tear dropped down from her eyes. She pondered why she was born into this world. She cursed the womb that conceived her into the tragedy of life. She asked herself within if her story would ever change into a good one. Was she when was old, she would experience a turn around? Then a voice entered into her mind, "Is for a matter of time, everything will soon be alright".The moment the voice stopped, she smiled. This voice resembled her father voice, in the sense that it came with so much intensity and ardour that she began to imagine if her father ghost was right there in the room. Her phone vibrated after that, and when a light appeared, she realised it was actually ringing. She noticed that it was an unknown number when she looked at the name on it. She wondered if Joe would call from a different number. Maybe.

"Hello," she said, trying to know who the person was.

"Finally, you've picked up the call today, how are you?" a voice spoke out from the phone.

She tried recognizing the voice. Certainly, it wasn't the voice of Joe. Who will the person be? Maybe it's Lucky. No, that wasn't Lucky's voice. The voice was slightly thicker than any of them.

"Please, who is this?" Bianca asked.

"You've forgotten this voice," he said.

"I can't remember again, please remind me,"

"Do you still remember the man who registered a sim for you?"

"Oh, I do," Bianca replied.

"I am the person."

"Wow! So, you haven't erased my picture from your mind?"

"God forbid," he responded.

"Oh, how are you doing? It has been a long while ago."

"Probably, was it not last month?"

"Sure."

"Love, why didn't you pick up my call for ages?"

"I'm sorry, I don't pick up unknown calls. But I am sorry because I never knew it was you."

"Have you considered the request, Love?"

"Which request?" Bianca said, trying to rack her head. Just then Esther barged into the room. Her footsteps suggested she had been listening to their conversation.

"Who is that?" Esther howled.

Bianca didn't mind the intimidation or screaming of Esther as she continued the conversation. "Please remind me," she continued, speaking to the person in the handset.

"Who was the person that just screamed now," he said.

"My elder sister," Bianca uttered.

"Shut up, how dare you mention that I am your sister. Are you insane? In fact, let me have the phone right now." Esther shouted.

"Tell her to calm down, Love," he said, through the phone.

"Give the phone to me. Prostitute," Esther growled.

Bianca hung up the call immediately when she heard the last word Esther said. She was very angry and tried to show she was never an object of derision.

"Never. If it is this, I will never obey you. It is my privacy and you have no right to collect it. Mind you, I was never a prostitute. You might be talking to yourself unknowingly to you," Bianca said with so much anger.

Esther walked closer to her. Her mouth opened a little. This was to show she wasn't expecting this brave move from Bianca.

"Are you talking to me?" Esther asked, stretching the last word to lay more emphasis.

"Who else is in the room with me?" Bianca blurted out.

"Oh! Me." Esther said.

Esther approached her and gave her a forceful slap. The only sound Bianca could hear was a TV looking for a signal, which made her eyes dilate more than usual and nearly render her deaf. She quickly put her hands on the injured ear and was shocked when blood started to come out. Esther laughed mockingly when she saw the blood on Bianca's hands.

"I hope you turn deaf soon," Esther said, snatching the phone away from her hands.

Bianca was tranquillized. She was not even aware that her phone had been taken. Sadly, tears instead of a whisper came from her eyes as she was about to speak. Esther attempted to punch the locked phone as she tried to figure out how to reach the person who had called her. Ill luck had it that, the number called back just as Esther was about to drop the phone on the bed. She hurried over and answered the call.

"Love, what is going on between you and your sister?" the man said on the phone.

"So, you are the one that gave her this stupid courage, right?" Esther returned back.

The call hung up again just as he heard Esther's voice.

"Coward, why can't you speak? I told JK that he had brought a prostitute into this house, but he would not believe it, can you now see it? Who knows whether he is also enjoying himself with her?" Esther warbled to nobody in particular, because Bianca was already rolling on the floor sobbing profusely as she uttered some words to express her pain.

"I'm not worthy of being alive, God. I am supposed to die. Death, come and take me from this dreary land. I have suffered a lot, I have endured for a long time, my father's death I saw, my mother has left me…Spirit of death, take me, I have suffered too much on this earth. Who else would hear me?" Bianca wailed, rolling haplessly on the floor.

"I can hear, what again do you have to say. Prostitute."

"Esther," Bianca called, "Anyway. I have offended you. I am sorry, I know I am going to meet my creator, so anything that would not allow me to see my creator I had better remove it from the way. Esther, this may be the last word you might hear from me." Bianca snapped out.

"What a joy would it be if I should see you give up the ghost. In fact, I will do a ceremony."

Just then, Lucky crashed in and was shocked to see some spills of blood on the tiles. He was also shocked to behold Bianca lying down hopelessly.

"Madam, please what went wrong?"

"Shut up and walk out!" Esther ordered.

"I'm sorry- that can't happen."

"Do you want to see the other part of me?" Esther threatened.

"Empty threat!" Lucky exclaimed, "Hope she is alright."

"So, you have the effort to reply back, just watch and see if you don't regret what you just said. She can tell you the story if she is still there."

"Madam, I hope it is not what I am thinking? If not, I will surely make sure you pay for every bit of what you did. I know that you are powerful, but today or the next, if Bianca dies, both of us will die. Bet me," Lucky dared.

"From now on, you are also on my radar. Execution follows," Esther responded.

Lucky disregarded her advice and walked right up to Bianca as she was sprawled out on the ground. He called out "Bi-bi," but got no answer. She didn't answer when he called her again. As soon as he had her hand, he began to check her pulse. Sadly, he was unable to recognise the beat that emanated from it. Esther laughed once more as she gave him a look. Lucky gave her an aggressive glare. Maybe he would have shot her down right then if he had the ability to do so. Lucky called her by her full name, "Bianca," but nobody answered.

"Hell!" he exclaimed.

"My phone," he said, searching through his pocket and taking it out. Brims of sweat covered his face. He punched the screen of his phone, searching for the home doctor's number. He eventually saw it and quickly dialed the number. The phone rang, luckily the doctor picked up the call.

"Hello Kenneth, your attention is badly needed now," Lucky panted.

"What's gone wrong?" DR. Kenneth replied.

"No time for explanation, come right now. In fact, come along with the ambulance," Lucky briskly said.

"Alright then, expect me over there five minutes from now."

"If possible two minutes from now."

"I am on my way. Since it is urgent, there is no need to call for an ambulance, my car can do that," Dr. Kenneth hung the call up.

"I will kill you. Bet me if it is another story." Lucky shouted.

"Are you referring to me?" Esther asked.

"Damn you! Esther is the person I am referring to."

Lucky paced back and forth in the space while muttering what appeared to be profane words and perspiring heavily. He finally gave up on walking and knelt down to call Bianca solemnly, looking as though he was about to cry. He gazed at Bianca's face while holding it. Once more noticing the blood, he made the decision to follow the trail of it. It was coming from her left ear, he realised.

"What is this, Esther?" he asked.

"Shut up! If you dare call me by my name, I would call someone to slaughter you right now." Esther voiced out.

"I hope you know that your phone has been destroyed. Have you forgotten?"

"Shut up."

Lucky picked up his phone and dialed the doctor's number again. He shook the phone vigorously.

"30 seconds to get into the building," the doctor said.

Lucky hung up the phone and was about to run outside when he abruptly stopped, as if he had been stung by a scorpion. Before shutting the door and sitting down on the tiles, he cast a wide glance Esther's way. Esther was attempting to unlock Bianca's phone in the meantime, but it appeared to be a challenge. She considered formatting the phone, but sadly, she was unable to do so without Bianca's email address's consent.

The horizon of night was getting closer and closer. The rain was pouring down heavily as the wind fluttered, blowing the branches of trees to make pestilence noise, the rustling of leaves became more audible, and then the cold wind flushed in through the closed windows. Esther went to the window and flung it open wildly, letting the wind blow raindrops into the space.

"Wicked soul," Lucky muttered, almost with a closed tooth, as he went over to Bianca's box and brought out a blanket to cover Bianca's body from head to toe. He picked up his phone again to dial the number of the doctor when he heard a knock on the door. He dropped his phone immediately and went to open the door.

The doctor entered on a mufti while wearing a stethoscope around his neck and holding a first aid kit in his right hand. He had bushy, curly hair that was fair in complexion. Despite having a protruding belly, his stature was acceptable; bulky in stature. Lucky declined his offer of a handshake when he extended his hand to Lucky. That's when he noticed a covered object; however, he wasn't entirely certain that it was a person until Lucky motioned for him to pay attention to that area. Instantly startled, he sprinted closer to the person being covered. He immediately knelt down, took his stethoscope out of his neck, plugged one end into his ear, and then carefully placed the other end on Bianca's heart while paying close attention. He took a moment to scan the space before him. He suddenly became aware of Esther's presence.

"Evening, Madam." Dr. Kenneth said.

"I thought you were blind." Esther responded.

"I'm very sorry, Ma." Dr. Kenneth replied, bowing his head to the floor.

"There isn't any problem with that," Esther spoke out, "At least you show a little bit of humility. Is she dead?"

"She needs to be rushed to the hospital very quickly. But there is some life too in her." He stopped talking for a while and looked at Lucky, "Come over, let's take her up to the car."

Tears rushed down Lucky eyes immediately, if anyone would have told him that this was presently happening, he wouldn't have believed that Bianca would be rushed into the hospital. The person he saw in the morning smiling, was to be rushed to the hospital.

They took her to Dr. Kenneth's car and then placed her lying flat in the back seat while Lucky sat down beside Dr. Kenneth at the driving seat. Mark just looked at them motionlessly perhaps he might have thought that Bianca was dead already. Dr. Kenneth started the car and pressed his horn alerting the absent Mark back to reality. Shockingly Mark went to the gate and locked it from behind.

"Open the gate, Mark," Lucky shouted, inside the car.

"Never!" Mark exclaimed.

Lucky exited the vehicle fuming with resentment. He moved a little while feigning to be on his way to bring about peace. He ran towards Mark and struck him on the nose with a deafening blow as soon as they were in close proximity. This came as quite a shock to Mark, who immediately covered his face with his hand. Lucky attempted to free him from the gate, but he was a mountain firmly rooted in the ground. When Mark took his hand away from his face, he saw a blood clot on his hands. He was irate over this. He tightly folded his hands and attempted to punch Lucky, but Lucky deflected the blow. The punch only managed to graze his shoulder. Mark chased Lucky as he fled the gate and headed toward the house. Unaware of them both, Dr. Kenneth hurried to open the gate as soon as he got out of his car. He ran for his car, stepped on the gas, and sped away while honking the horn to indicate that he was leaving.

"Mission accomplished," Lucky shouted, dribbling Mark everywhere and there in the compound.

The following day, at four in the morning. Lucky got out of bed and realized his forehead had been hurt. He initially experienced such intense pain that it felt like a hundred hammersmiths striking his head. He sank to his bed and put his hand on his head. Though it worsened, he was still able to get to his feet and reach the Panadol beside his bed.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, "Bianca is missing. I pray she isn't dead."

He rushed out of the room, then ran back again like a madman. He took up his phone beside his bed and dialed Dr. Kenneth's number.

"Hello," the doctor greeted.

"Where is she?" Lucky asked, immediately trying to guess where she was. If she might have recovered.

"Under the ICU." The doctor responded, "We've resuscitated her and she is alive. I can't tell you everything right here on the phone. You can come over. The only thing I can tell you is that we couldn't sleep throughout the night because her problem is complicated. Thank God she is alive."

"Alright. I am coming right now," Lucky hesitatingly voiced out with severe palpitation.

Lucky hung up the call and threw his phone on the bed. "Damned" he voiced out. He quickly put on his shirt buttoned up within seconds and dashed out of the gate.

At the gate, tears rushed out of his eyes, but he didn't know what made him cry and who made him cry. Something within him told him that he was taking Bianca's spirit gradually. He quickly rejected it.

"No, I can't allow her to die," he said, ferociously opening the gate and running outside.

Everywhere was silent like a graveyard. He walked in the cold weather shivering profusely with the headache trauma going on his head. Suddenly, a cab showed up on the road.

"Hey, wait for me" Lucky shouted, running towards the cab. The driver seemed not to hear his voice. He then increased his voice louder, "Wait. I am coming."

It seemed the driver heard the voice and slowed down the car. Finally, the cab ground to a halt. "I'm the one," Lucky shouted, catching the cab. The driver took out his head from the window to confirm the identity of who was to enter his car. He pressed a button to unlock the car.

"Let me in," Lucky shouted, almost pulling out the door handle of the car.

"Are you in a rush at this early dawn?" the driver calmly said.

"Take me to Vintage hospital, urgently." Lucky said, breathing hard and fast.

"What's wrong?" The driver asked, slowing down the cab a little bit.

"Move! Move faster, No time." Lucky shouted.

"Hey, this is too early for the shout or do you want the security to stop us," the driver said.

"I said move faster!" Lucky exclaimed, "That's all."

"Alright, I will do that," the driver said, stepping on the accelerator.

The driver stretched his right hand up, pretending to be stretching his body as he maneuvered his way to switch on the light. Lucky was caught by surprise.

"What? You want me to die. The light wreaks havoc on my system."

"Oh, sorry. But Hell is that bandage wrapped around your forehead?" the driver said, taking note of it before switching off the lights.

"Injury, of course," Lucky replied.

"How long? Hope no total loss of blood," the driver echoed, having signs of sympathy in his voice.

"I am not a physician. How do you expect me to know?"

"You might have lost quite a large pool of blood."

"Alright then. That is why I am off to see the doctor. Bi-bi," the last word he said was by mistake, perhaps a sleep of the tongue. He wished the driver wouldn't have heard it or perhaps he might have heard it and thought it to be the doctor's name.

They finally approached Vintage hospital. Lucky thrust his hand into his pocket and took out the money, but the driver rejected it.

"Go, use it to treat yourself. I can't be wicked," the driver said.

Lucky appreciated him and hopped out of the cab. He dashed down to the receptionist's room, ignoring the security men. The receptionist was very empty, except for chairs and the TV off. He looked up and sighted the rolling fan. Just then he felt a slight touch on his shoulder. He turned and saw a woman standing, all in a gown. He bowed his head, greeting her.

"Please, I need to see a patient," Lucky said briskly.

"Please, your card?" the woman asked.

"Card?" he repeated, "I need to see a patient immediately."

"A card to show that you are not a gate crasher," the woman reiterated.

"This is not a ceremony or fanfare? Why use the word gate crasher?" Lucky said, getting pissed off.

"I retract my words. Very sorry if it hurts," the woman pleaded.

"Then I want to see a patient."

"Name of the patient, please?" the woman calmly said.

"Bianca."

"Sorry, no one bears that name."

"Alright, call me Doctor Kenneth. I want to see him right now."

The woman was shocked at the manner in which he talked authoritatively with no trace of trepidation. She looked at him from head to toe to be sure if he was someone that could be recognized. Apart from that, "How did he know our boss's name?" she thought.

"Any problem, Sir?" the woman said with a calmer tone.

"Just call him. since you said that you don't know any patient bearing that name I called earlier."

"Sir, he is on a busy schedule. You can sit down and wait for him," she said, pointing her hands to the empty chairs.

"I can tell you for a fact that the case he is involved in is related to JK."

"What?" she exclaimed with a great shock, "JK." She went backwards a little. "Are you a messenger from him?"

"Of course," Lucky responded.

She quickly went over to a table placed beside the wall of the reception and brought out a telephone. She punched the screen and then placed it on her ears, speaking to someone, probably Dr. Kenneth.

"He is coming to attend to you now, sir." she spoke.

Lucky nodded his head and went to sit on the chair waiting for his arrival. He felt a sharp pain in his head, reminding him of the injury he had.