One wrong turn Episode 20 & 21

ONE WRONG TURN
EPISODE 20
 
 
Gradually, the anxiety I felt began to increase. Hannah’s abs£nce greatly disturbe-d me. All throu-ghout the period of fighting in the h0tel, she never c@m£ out neither did Samuel.
Negative thoughts began to sip throu-gh my mind. I feared something bad might have happened to Hannah. There was only one person who should know where she is. Even if we had just fought, I had no choice but to talk to Sarah. I looked around and sp©tted Sarah, she too had a worried look on her face. She had her phone to her ear for a while, obviously trying to call someone. The frustration and resignation after each attempt showed that she wasn’t getting any success. I marched towards her with obvious annoyance.
“Where is Hannah.? ” I demanded, Sarah noticed the fury in my voice, she too was scared. I expected her to reply harshly, but I guess she too saw the enormity of the situation, and her undeniable involvement.
“I don’t know where she went, I left her in the h0tel” she replied, with a shaky voice. She was almost crying. Her sudden change of emotion made no difference to me. As far I was concerned, she was as guilty as hell for all that might be happening.
“Why on earth did you leave her there? ” I inquired further, spitting out more anger.
“I didn’t see them any more when I wanted to leave, she wasn’t answering her phone either.”
At that point, Sarah began to sob. Something told me she knew more than she was letting out. She wasn’t just panicking, there was more to it. What ever it was, we had to find Hannah.
“Get up, let’s go and look for her” I ordered
“Where would we start from ” Sarah asked,
“The h0tel of course”
“They are not there, Samuel and Folorunsho took her away, I don’t know where they went. Non of them is answering their phones” Fear gr!pp£dme when I heard those words, I knew there was something wrong with those boys. Something must have happened to Hannah. I walked back to my seat with resignation, my heart pounded. I kept dialing Hannah’s number over and over again. It rang repeatedly but there was no response. I placed my head on my desk again, hoping to catch some sleep before the extra lessons began. I was almost dosing off when my phone rang. I picked it up in a hurry, I knew it had to be Hannah.
“Hello? Where are you” I asked in a hurry. The voice at the other end of the phone wasn’t Hannah’s. It was a lady who identified herself as a staff of the h0tel we just visited. She called to find out who owned the phone. Apparently, she found Hannah’s phone in the room while she was cleaning up.
It bec@m£ obvious to me that my friend Hannah was missing. I turned towards Sarah, she was still on her seat. This time, she was shedding tears. She definitely knows what was happening. I sprang up from my seat and ran to her, gr!pp£dher shi-t by the n£¢k line and demanded to know where Hannah was.
The Sarah I know would have fought back, but she looked up at me quietly with guilt written all over her face.
“Something happened to Hannah” Sarah confessed. My heart almost gave out. Goose bu-mps appeared on my skin, I have never been this scared of anything before.
“What happened?” I asked nervously
“While I was in the room with Ayo, he got a call from Samuel. He said they took Hannah to the hospital, he didn’t tell me why. When I insisted on knowing, Ayo excused himself and walked out of the room. He didn’t return until I decided to leave.”
“Which hospital?” I enquired
“I don’t know”
“And you left her? ” Sarah looked at me without saying a word, tears flowed freely from her eyes. The hatred I felt for her increa-sed. I felt like choking her to death. But then we had to find Ruth.
I dragged her up and ordered her to follow me. “Where are we going”?
“To find Ruth of course.”
She kept quiet and followed me sheepishly. It was almost time for extra lessons to begin, but I didn’t care about that. I just had to find Hannah.
We changed our clothes at the gate house, and boarded a taxi heading towards the h0tel. I hoped anyone there would have a clue to where Hannah was taken. I couldn’t help but wonder what could have happened to her, she did not look sick when we left school together this morning. She was quite active and full of life. I have never known her to have any health challenges either. I stared out of the taxi window, pla-ying up a lot of scenarios in my mind. I was convinced that those boys had a hand in whatever happened to Hannah.
The taxi pu-ll-ed up in front of the h0tel, we handed the driver his money and went in. I recognized one of the receptionist, she was there when we c@m£ earlier. I walked up to her, and asked if she knew about a girl who was rushed to a hospital from the h0tel earlier. Unfortunately, she had no idea. She only gave us a list of hospitals around the h0tel, they were five in number including a psychiatric hospital.
We hurried out of the h0tel into the street, hoping to move from hospital to hospital in search of my friend Hannah. I prayed silently that nothing bad happens to her. The first hospital was just a few meters away from the h0tel. Sarah and I strolled along. She walked rather sluggishly behind me, almost as if she was scared of finding Hannah. No doubt, she alre-ady knew how much I hated her at this point.
As we walked by, a lot of thoughts gathered in my head. I was preoccu-pied with the thought of what could have happened to Hannah, but on the other hand I couldn’t keep my mind off my broken relationsh!pwith Matthew. I wondered if he would ever forgive me. The identity of the girl in the room also troubled me. For someone who claimed to love me and he has within few minutes gotten a new girl to himself. Is this what love is all about?
Matthew moved on really fast. Images from the past few hours continuously flooded my mind. I wondered if Matthew actually knew I was in that h0tel, at the same time I cursed myself for not leaving sooner, and not seeing the similarity between Folorunsho and Matthew. I would have saved myself a lot of heartache.
At that point, I realized that I knew very little about those boys at the h0tel. I slowed down a little, to allow Sarah catch up with me. I wanted to satisfy my curiosity.
“Did you know that Folorunsho was Matthew’s cousin? “I asked, facing Sarah.
“No” she replied, shrugging her shoulder unconvincingly. she was obviously lying I could tell. But I did not border to press further, because it would make no difference at this point.
“How did you know Ayo?, and what arrangements did you have with him? “I queried further.
“We were friends before he traveled to Canada. This morning, he called to inform me that he was around. He wanted some girls to spend time with himself and his friends. So I collected sixty thousand naira from him to ‘arrange’ two girls. I didn’t know it would be like this I swear” I looked at her with disgust written all-over my face. She faced down, probably embarras-sed over her actions. I turned away and headed into the hospital complex.
We walked straight to the reception, to meet an angry-looking girl in her early twenties.
“Good afternoon” we greeted simultaneously.
“How may I help you? ” she asked, without replying our greeting.
“We are looking for a patient who might have been brou-ght here today, her name is Hannah.” She made several cli-cks on her mouse before informing us that they had no patient with that name. I felt a little more disappointed and worried.
We left for the next hospital, which was just a few minutes away. We searched helplessly for Hannah, until there was just one hospital left. I took out the list of hospitals the h0tel receptionist gave us, and glanced throu-gh it. I was greatly shocked when I realised that the last hospital is a psychiatric hospital. Could Hannah have gone mad? I wondered. I turned toward Sarah and announced to her that we would be checking a psychiatric hospital next.
ONE WRONG TURN
EPISODE 21
The sullen look on her face pres£nted a kind of guilt I couldn’t un-derstand. She avoided eye contact with me. I was very sure she knew something that she wasn’t telling me. My heart raced as we entered the psychiatric hospital. The sheer magnificence of the building wowed me a little. But it still did not shew my anxiety. I know that mad people were usually admitted here, hence I did not know if I should pray to find Hannah here or not.
As we walked in, Sarah began to drag behind. Her unwillingness to enter the building gave her away. I looked suspiciously at her and left her behind. Unlike the previous hospitals, this one had no reception.
I looked around for a while, hoping to find someone to talk to. I ran towards a nurse who seemed to be hurrying out of sight.
“Excuse me ma, plea-se help me I’m looking for someone ” She neither less£ned her pace nor st©p to look at me. She was focused on the file she was carrying. She walked and spoke at the same time.
“Who exactly?” she asked, fli-pping throu-gh her file and walking briskly.
“It’s my friend, her name is Hannah, I don’t know if…….. ” She st©pped abruptly and sh0t a horrible look at me immediately I mentioned Hannah’s name. I stole a glance at the file she was holding, it had” Hannah Balogun” written on it, with a tag next to it stating clearly “Emergency”
“Are you the Sarah? ”she asked, gr-abbing hold of my hand.
“No ma, Sarah is just outside, I’m Ruth” I replied, trying to wriggle free from her grip.
“Take me to her” she ordered, as she pu-ll-ed me towards the door. My anxiety increa-sed, at this point I was certain that Sarah had a lot to do with what was happening.
“Do you know your friends Parents or anyb©dy we can contact ?” she st©pped and asked. I thought about it for a while, if Hannah wanted them to contact her family, she would have volunteered those information. I decided to withhold answers myself.
“No ma, I don’t know anyone ”
“What about your school? ”
“School has closed” I replied.
She resigned from her questioning and continued towards the door, till we were out in the open.
“That’s Sarah” I said, pointing towards her. The sight of the nurse holding my hand firmly, and pointing at her frightened Sarah. She began to retreat towards the gate as we approached her.
“My friend st©p there! “the nurse ordered.
Sarah froze, with a frightened look on her face. The nurse approached her and gr@bb£d her by the hand.
“Come with me, you have some explanation to do” she said, as she led us all the way up to her office. Sarah was shedding tears alre-ady.
We pas-sed throu-gh an open ward to her office. The sight of mentally challenged people gave me the creeps. Some looked calm and well behaved, you’ll rarely notice their madness. Others were obviously unruly and disorderly. Some showed waxy flexibility. I wondered why Hannah was in a psychiatric hospital. Has she suddenly become mad? I wondered. I began to recollect stories of young girls who have been used for money rituals by boys of this kind. My own thoughts s£nt cold shivers down my spine. But I knew my curiosity would soon be satisfied, as we entered into a small office with three chairs and a table. She pointed at seats for Sarah and I, while she sat across the table facing us. I looked around the office uncomfortably, wondering what was about to happen. Sarah on the other hand was sobbing. Her face was soa-ked with tears. For what reason, I had no idea.
The nurse placed her file on the table, and fli-pped throu-gh several pages, clearly searching for something. She looked up, staring into our eyes, alternating between I and Sarah.
“Lets hear your own side of the story” she said, pointing at Sarah. Sarah shrugged, and turned away from the nurse. She directed her gaze to the floor, sobbing profusely. I was getting more agitated and worried, I desperately nee-ded to hear what happened.
“I didn’t know it was going to be like that, I thought she would agree” Sarah said in between sobs.
“But why did you not offer yourself instead, or at least return their money?” the nurse replied, in a stern voice. She was getting impatient and angry too.
“Ayo wanted me to himself, I have spent p@rt of the money. Hannah was the only option left” Sarah continued.
“So you sold your friend for how much?” She shouted, springing up from her seat and ban-ging her fist on the table. Sarah’s head dropped to the table, her sobbing had become weeping. I turned my head from side to side, trying to decipher the situation. I just couldn’t gather the story in my head.
“Pray nothing happens to your friend, you prostitute.”
“And you” focusing on me
“how did you become friends with this girl?” I looked sullenly at her, if only she knew how much I regret knowing Sarah.
“What happened ma? ” I asked almost inaudibly.
“Your friend here was paid sixty thousand to arrange three prostitutes for a boy and his friends. She took you and Hannah to them. Obviously you were not open to the arrangement, I guess. I heard you threatened one of them with a sharp object”
“Yes ma, ” I replied.
“When you left, he demanded for his money or another girl. But I guess your friend here has spent all the money. So they settled for Hannah instead, without her knowledge. Apparently Hannah refused to ‘accommod@t£’ two guys at the same time, so they resorted to coercion. They f0rç£d a substance into her mouth and nose. I’m not sure what it was, but from the description, it might be cocaine. Anyway Hannah pas-sed out, she had no idea what happened. When she woke up, she was bleeding and acting abnormally. So they brou-ght her here and disappeared. Well, your friend suffered from the effect of cocaine and the trauma she also pas-sed throu-gh. She had a miscarriage too.” Her last s£ntence shocked me, I almost jumped out of my seat.
“How is that possible?” I asked, with tears falling freely from my eyes.
“Well she told us she was six weeks pregnant, and Sarah here has been giving her pills to terminate it. I guess she has succeeded now” I stood up from my seat with uncontrollable anger, and gr@bb£d Sarah by her collar. I wanted to choke her badly.
 
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 22