A VAL OF VOID (2)
Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash
…Continued from Part (1)
I was told that the police arrived at the scene after that.
“You’re awake now, Prisca” it was mummy Philips. She was sitting beside me on a bed in the hospital where I’d been rushed to.
“You brought me here?”
“Yes dear” she nodded and continued. “You almost made a scene there, we’re glad it didn’t exceed that,” she said.
I knew she was lying; she just didn’t want to paint the situation to be a bad one. I knew so well that I’d been shouting and nearly pulled off my clothes. It was already more than a scene.
She spoke again and interrupted my thoughts.
“The police arrived after I brought you here. They discovered that the kitchen window had been shattered; someone came into your house through there” she said.
I only stared at her, as usual. She continued
“They also picked up a golden bracelet which lay on the floor. And also, a bottle of insecticide was found on the floor too.”
I knew about this one. I’d seen it too when I flicked on the torchlight. I only kept staring, so she continued.
“Beside it, was a used syringe which contained some substances, which they identified to be sedatives.”
I widened my eyes in shock. Sedatives?
“My daughter, I should get you something to eat,” she said wearily as she stood up to leave. I felt she was trying to avoid a question. I knew she was. So I asked.
“I want to see Felix, where is he? What hospital was he taken to?”
She stopped. She turned and looked at me in sympathy.
“I’ll be back dear, I’ll tell you about him,” she said softly.
Maybe I understood the message, maybe I understood why she was trying to avoid such a question, why she was being indirect. Anyway, I didn’t want to conclude. I watched in tears as she shut the door behind her.
I muttered his name severally; he was all I had.
“Wherever you are, Please come back to me, Felix”
————————————————————————
There was a knock on the door, it wasn’t mummy Philips, It was a doctor.
“You have a uniformed visitor ma’am”
He meant the police.
A hefty-looking man came in. He held a big envelope in his hand.
“Do you have his phone?”
“Whose phone? What do you need it for? Who are you?” I fired back. These policemen never had a good manner of approach. They would just barge into a room and start a conversation without greeting or at least saying Hi, as if they were the ones who created humans.
“Forgive my manners, ma’am, I am Inspector Jacob, the head of the investigation team. We are just coming from your house. And we’d like to know if you have Mr Felix’s phone in your custody because you’re believed to be his closest confidant since you are his wife”
“I don’t have his phone” I replied.
He only stood, like he didn’t know what next to do.
“What was the outcome of the investigation?” I asked.
“They’re all contained in this document,” he said as he handed me the envelope. He stepped back and continued.
“We found some human hair which got stuck by the window. They were long, thin and curly. Mrs Prisca the killer is a woman.”
I froze.
“Killer? What killer? Which killer? What do you mean?” I asked in shock. I knew what he meant. I was only asking because mummy Philips didn’t want to tell me directly.
“I beg your pardon ma, the Perpetrator of such an act is a woman,” he said, trying to correct himself. He suspected that I hadn’t been officially informed.
That was all I needed to hear. I now clearly understood why she had been avoiding my questions about him. Felix was already dead.
I went berserk again.
“Felix you have killed me!!” I said as I pulled out the drip connected to my body through the syringe. There were about four of them. At that moment I didn’t know what I was doing.
I felt a firm grip.
“Ma’am are you alright?!, Doctor!” He shouted, and then I blacked out.
———————————————————————
(The Killer)
The moment the plane took off, she heaved a sigh of relief and smiled to herself. A smile of triumph.
“Wasn’t it sweet?” she asked herself silently.
Her plans had worked. It was much easier than she had thought. Jane Applauded herself for such success.
She turned to stare out through the window. “Would you care for a drink?” The hostess asked, bringing her back to reality.
“No, I’m fine”
And when the hostess walked away, she continued talking to herself.
“Who’s the loser now Felix?” she asked rhetorically and chuckled silently.
Anyways, her right arm hurt badly from the injury which she had sustained while jumping out through the glass window earlier that morning.
She had bandaged it before boarding her flight that morning.
The right side of her human hair hurt badly. She had lost some of them and was bleeding a bit from that area. Her golden bracelet was missing too.
“That’s the sacrifice Jane” she muttered to herself with great discomfort.
Her mind drifted to what the environment would be like; the police, the murmuring crowd, the devastated helpless Wive of Felix, confused friends and well-wishers of the deceased.
“Sorry my dear Prisca” she mocked, never ceasing to imagine how the police would try effortlessly to track her. She knew that the hefty man called Jacob would try all he could. He would dig and dig, he would search and search; he would try to join every puzzle together. Because he was an inspector, because that was his job, because he loved being committed and diligent. Diligent Inspector Jacob
“Good luck Diligent inspector” she mocked again and then called out to the hostess who was long gone.
“I need my drink now!” She didn’t care who turned to look at her. Why should she care? She had paid so much for the flight fee. Why should she care?
She scanned through Felix’s phone; it had no password. That was how he was, a free-minded fellow. She checked his account balance, then his gallery which was filled with pictures of him and Prisca. Irritating pictures.
They only mattered less to her; because all she wanted was for him to be no more. And he was no more.
After the angry-looking hostess served her Chivita, she quickly opened it and began emptying the contents into her mouth. Staring through the contacts on his phone, she checked for hers. He had saved her name with Jane.
“After all I did for you” she cursed. She had sacrificed so much for Felix, and all he could save her name with was JANE. Just Jane, no emoji, nothing to signify any kind of interpersonal relationship or connection or gratefulness.
She checked the last text message she sent to him the previous night.
“If you’re not celebrating your Val with me, then you wouldn’t live to enjoy it with anyone else, not even your stupid wife”
And all he could reply her with, was…”You’re not serious, I paid you for your service the other day. Stop disturbing me.”
After receiving such a reply, she promised to stick to her words, no matter the cost.
She switched off the phone and put it in her hand luggage. She would discard it when she arrived in London.
She adjusted herself on the chair to rest her head well. She would treat her minor injuries once she arrived in London.
Soon she was asleep.
————————————————————————
(Prisca)
“Where is Felix??” I asked her quietly.
Mummy Philips only stared at me and wept. She tried to hold herself and then moved closer to me before speaking.
“He didn’t survive it Prisca; he was confirmed dead right inside your house”
Oh! My Felix, my partner, my husband, my one and only lover, who was killed on a Lover’s Day. A day which we had planned to do a lot; just like the previous years.
I only bit my lips in wonder and dismay.
“You shall know no peace,” I said
“Is it me?” She asked; this time she heard me.
I shook my head; “whoever did this” I said, as tears flowed through my eyes.
She placed her hands on my shoulders;
“You almost took your life, you shouldn’t have removed the syringes which were connected to your skin, Prisca”
Why not? Why shouldn’t I? If he was dead, what then was the reason for my existence? Didn’t she understand what had just happened?
I only stared at the ceiling. I solely and only wished for death.
I didn’t know if I was angry or happy with her for prolonging such news. Felix was dead a long time ago; she knew it but refused to let me know earlier. Maybe she feared that I’d run mad just like I’d done in the stuffy sitting room, or when the inspector had mentioned “killer”.
“He left when you were calm and asleep”
“Who?”
“The inspector” she replied.
After a few seconds, she continued.
“He said that the woman who did this to Felix had known him so well”
I turned to look at her; my mind couldn’t think of any.
“Felix knows the person well, too.” She ended.
The wall clock hanging on the wall interrupted our short conversation. It began playing a song; It was 6 pm on that fateful day.
If Felix was around, he would have sung a better song for me, then he would draw me closer to him and sing me more songs.
I took in a deep, painful breath. It was too much to handle. I closed my eyes and became unconscious once again.
————————————————————————
That night Mummy Philip texted her on WhatsApp;
“She’s asleep now, hope you arrived in London safely, when will you settle me?”
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