Chapter Two

Beverly, assisted by the woman, struggled to her feet and they both moved en route to the woman’s house. The woman had removed her headscarf and wrapped it around the wound. It didn’t stop the blood from gushing out, but she just had to manage it until they get home.

When they arrived at a stone's throw to the doorstep, she called out to her house help who came running down towards them.

“Go get the first aid box ready,” she said to her house help, Alice

“Yes Madam Pat,” Alice replied and ran back upstairs. 

She went to retrieve the first aid box from where it was kept, she dusted it and brought it out for easy reach. She then ran down the stairs again to assist the two of them who she met halfway down the stairs. 

They were not in motion this time. Instead, they sat still on the stairs with Madam Pat trying to pacify Beverly as her whimper suddenly spiraled into a loud incessant cry. 

Beverly had lost too much blood, and she felt her strength ebbing away. In the past twenty-four hours, she had tasted hell. At a point when she was on the stairs she stopped and looked back a little bit. What she saw were drops of blood that stained the stairs as she mounted them. 

Instantly, the ugly incident of her Dad’s blood Scattered around his car flashed through her mind as it commensurate with her present plight. This was what led to her outcry.

It was 2:30 am, and darkness still filled the air. At this odd hour, one should not be found staying out so late. Anything could happen. She’s still curious as to what a young girl like Beverly could be doing out here by this time, but now is not the time to ask. 

Madam Pat wanted them to leave the stairs as soon as possible, and get into the room so they could feel safer, but with Beverly’s cry and total weakness, no one needs to tell her how much Beverly was in pain. 

She suddenly died her worries that they were still outside the house and anything could happen at such an odd hour. She had no choice but to gesture to Alice to go bring first aid to them. 

With the help of Alice and the first aid box, Madam Pat was able to clean and treat Beverly’s wound mildly. The blood stopped rushing out and Beverly soon fell asleep due to the sleeping pills she popped alongside some painkillers. 

Madam Pat and Alice watched Beverly sleep. 

There were so many questions running through their mind but they were not heartless to see someone in so much pain and choke her with so many questions instead of helping out first. 

They decided not to sleep, but stay up for her instead, ensuring that she was alright. 

This was their intention until nature took advantage of their tiredness and overwhelmed them. It didn’t take long before they slept off too.

It was six in the morning when Alice woke up. She was the first person to wake up among them. She headed to the kitchen to begin her morning chores. This, she tried to do quietly so as not to startle Madam Pat and Beverly – especially Beverly. 

She wanted them to get enough rest. Alice was relishing the silence while she was carefully washing the dishes until Madam Pat’s phone rang and the silence of the house was shattered.

Madam Pat and Beverly jolted out of their sleep immediately. There were some minor faults in one of their bathrooms which Madam Pat had recently contacted the house plumber for. It was the plumber who called to inform her that an emergency came up and he wouldn’t be able to make it there that morning. He’ll have to find another time.

Throughout her conversation on the phone with the plumber, she kept gazing at Beverly as if trying to survey her wellness. The gaze was accompanied by a smile on her face too in admiration of the young ravishing girl sitting tenderly on the Beverly noticed this and she simply smiled back.

“Good morning ma,” Beverly greeted when she saw that the call had ended.

“Morning, my dear, how are you feeling this morning?” asked Madam Pat

"I feel much better ma. Although the pain is still there, it’s abating now," Beverly replied.

Relief swept over Madam pat to see Beverly looking better compared to the previous night. She can’t imagine herself losing so much blood. 

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine,” Madam pat reassured. I’ll be taking you to the hospital soon where you’ll get other necessary treatment that you might need. You know I only used first aid.

“Thank you very much ma,” Beverly nodded and said.

Don’t mention dear, Madam Pat replied. so tell me, what’s your name? and why were you………….

"Good Morning Madam Pat," Interrupted Alice, who just finished up in the kitchen and came to join them.

“Morning Alice, how are you?”

“I’m fine, thank you ma,” she replied as she turned to Beverly.

“Top of the morning to you too, Mrs……..” 

I’m Beverly…. Beverly said, cutting her short, and stretching her hands out to Alice for a shake. Alice gladly embraced her instead.

Madam Pat watched the two and smiled.

Beverly was already getting absorbed in the love that was being showered on her she almost forgot her worries. She soon wore her sad face again the moment Madam Pat asked her why she was out there all alone at such an odd hour. 

Beverly’s face transitioned from looking a bit lively earlier to looking very downcast as she began to narrate her ordeal in the past 12 hours. Madam Pat and Alice who had also sat down in the living room with them were deeply touched by the terrible experience that Beverly had passed through.

At some point, they opened their mouth aghast and didn’t remember to close them for a while. By the time Beverly got to the point where she sustained the injury on her feet that led Madam Pat to her, she rose her head to see that she was not the only one crying at that moment. 

Madam Pat and Alice were touched so much they didn’t even know when their eyes became teary in commiseration, especially when she told them how her mother died after her birth – as her dad told her.

It was indeed a moment of tears, and if it were possible, their house should be named 'the house of tears' at that moment.

Even Madam Pat who seemed to be in the position to Pacify Beverly had her sorrows and she was so bowed down in it that for some time, she felt glued to her seat as she remembered her missing son too.

She and Alice later wiped their tears and went to comfort Beverly, assuring her that everything will be fine and her father would come back to her – as they believed.

“But why not let us try and find the way back to her home to know what exactly is going on back there?” Alice suggested 

 “No, we don’t know the kind of danger that could be awaiting her back there,” Madam Pat disagreed. “For now, it is better for her to still lay low here.”

Alice nodded in agreement

There was silence for some moments as the three had consoled themselves enough and stopped crying. But still in the emotional aura, Madam Pat suddenly broke the silence by clearing her throat.

She began….. 

“Beverly, Look up the wall before you and tell me what you see.”

“A wall clock,” Beverly responded as that was the first thing she noticed when she raised her head.

“What else do you see my dear?” asked Madam Pat again.

“Okay, I see a picture somewhere close to it,” Beverly replied after another observation. 

“Very good,” Madam Pat remarked. “That’s my son up there. He has been missing for about 10 years now.

Beverly’s eyes dilated in astonishment and a question popped up in her mind: "Why do bad things keep happening to good people?"

This is a question she had been asking herself lately and she has not found a satisfying answer yet. 

“I’m so sorry to hear this. But how did this come to be?” Beverly asked

“It all happened one night,” Madam Pat began. “My boy, Patrick came down with a fever and I rushed him to the hospital. He had just been given some injections for the night. We were both preparing to leave as thunder was already rumbling intermittently, heralding the arrival of the rain.” 

“En route to the doctor’s office to confirm when the next treatment would be, I had only gotten halfway when I heard a sudden noise on the roof. Before I knew it, a large exodus ensued in the hospital. 

It was when people were running helter-skelter that I heard people discuss on the run that a nurse had just fallen from the window of the third floor of the hospital to the ground and she had died. They also added that she must have been pushed.” 

Beverly was confounded at how related all these happenings appeared to her.

Madam Pat continued….

“When I got back to my son’s hospital ward, I couldn’t find him there anymore, I combed everywhere for him but it was all to no avail. I had stayed the rainy night alone in the hospital hoping my son would come back to me but he didn’t."

It was then it dawned on me that my son was gone and my sorrow gave way into despair. It was just me and him since his father left us for another woman and was never seen again. People knew I was so fond of my son, Patrick that they decided not to call me by my name (Patricia) but nicknamed me after my son 'Madam pat'.

Madam Pat whimpered, and this time, Beverly was the one patting her softly on her back, trying to pacify her.

She continued….

"Well, I still believe my son would come back to me. I was making a prayer for him outside as I do occasionally when I heard your cry last night."

Beverly and Alice consoled her again, assuring her that everything would be alright.