BLOODLINE Episode 2 by Ironkurtain

BLOODLINE Episode 2 by Ironkurtain

Esther Uzo was sitting at the dining table with a cup of coffee in front of her. She stared into space as she held the white ceramic cup of the drink that was getting colder. Eric isn’t home yet and she hasn’t called to know when he will be coming. And neither is she thinking of what to prepare for dinner. She just sat and seemed lost in thoughts.

She came back home almost three hours ago after meeting a regal looking woman who gave her name as Nina. Esther first met her during Eric’s karate tournament which was about two months ago. Esther saw her congratulating him after his final contest and they exchanged pleasantries.

Nina was so eager to have her number which she gave her because she seemed very nice, especially to Eric whom she constantly cheered up because he took the second position after losing the final contest. She promised to be in touch but never did until today.

Esther sighed and shift her weight on the seat, clasping the cup of coffee she is yet to drink with both hands. The creaking sound of the chair, as she moved her body is the only audible sound in the quiet apartment.

“Stick to the plan or risk losing him”, was Nina’s last words before she left her in the cafe they met.

Nina refused to give her the full details of whatever ‘sick’ plan she had made except saying that wanted Eric to do ‘something’ for her. What baffled her most, apart from Nina’s phone call demanding to see her, was what she was told to do. She was asked to take a paid vacation. To be frank, she had longed for it for a long time. A dream vacation after years and years of hard work. And the money Nina had offered was good with assurances of no harm to Eric.

But Nina’s refusal to give her the full details of the plan or the ‘something’ was the deal breaker even though she was yet to agree to it. Nothing is worth putting the safety of her son at risk. Not even an all expenses paid one month vacation to any place of her choice, her remaining mortgage paid in full and the equivalence of her six months salary deposited in her bank account.

Seeing that she wont ‘play ball’, Nina then brought out a file her chauffeur had been carrying in a brief case and placed it in front of her. Nina then apologized to her for reopening old wounds as she went through it. It contained documents about her past and other documents that could make her lose what she treasured most in her life. Her son.

Nina then got up and motioned the chauffuer to the car and told her that last sinister words before leaving.

Esther sighed again. She glanced at the clock on the wall and stood up, taking the coffee cup with her. She emptied it’s content in the kitchen sink and left it there. Then she moved to the living room and sat heavily on the brown english sofa, resting her head on it’s back cushion wirh her eyes closed. She remained like that for some seconds and then opened it.

She stared at the at the medium sized family portrait hanging on the wall, away from the mounted flat panel t.v facing her. The picture that was recently taken, had her, with a dark background, seated with her legs crossed and her folded hands on her laps. Eric stood slightly to the right behind her with one hand on her shoulder. Both of them wore all black outfit and gave their best smile for the photo shoot.

Esther stared at the portrait and wondered how it would have looked like if some certain past events never happened. She wondered how many faces that would have being there if Ernest had listened to her. Maybe if she had tried harder to prevent him from playing hero, he would probably be in the picture with her in his arms and surrounded by the number of children they would have had. And Eric might not be here.

– FLASH! –

TIME : 10:50PM ………19 Years ago.

“Excuse me young lady”

The pretty looking nurse in her crisp white overall uniform pretend not to have heard the call as she stood in front of a storage cabinet filled with labelled vaccine and hospital bottles. She readjusted the white bonnet worn on her braided hair after she was done applying her red lipstick with a small hand mirror.

“Hello miss”.

She slowly looked over her shoulder and saw the man leaning against the entry door post of the storage room. He is about 27, quite tall and handsome.

“Yes can i help u?”, she asked

“Am looking for a beautiful nurse that works here. She stole my heart”.

“Oh really?, and who is this nurse u are talking about…..whats her name?.

“I dont know”, the man said as he walked towards her slowly. “All i know is her beauty radiates like the morning sunshine”.

“Hm……..really?, she began as she opened the cabinet to take a bottle. “Well i dont think i can help u if u dont know her name”. she continued.

“Of course u can”, the man whispered in her ear and gently wrapped his strong arms around her waist.

“Excuse me…….”, the young lady protested playfully. “Do u think u can just hold me without my permission?”

“Yes i can and anytime”

“Then…….”, she turned and faced him. “U better give me a kiss”.

She put her arms around his neck and they kissed passionately for about half a minute. Then they looked into each other’s eyes and smiled.

“What am i gonna do without u”, the man said to her and pecked her on the cheek.

The nurse let go slowly and straightened the collar of the light blue scrubs the man wore and sighed with a worried look on her face.

“What is the matter?”, he asked after seeing her facial expression.

“Ernest, aren’t u overworking yourself?”, she asked and took out two vials of morphine injection from the cabinet. “U have been working all day. Can’t they get another surgeon to perform this surgery?, u really need some rest”.

“Esther u know how it is with this occupation. Sometimes it could be crazy hectic. This is an emergency and the other surgeon is out of town”, he said.

“So what is it this time?”.

“A female patient, probably in her late teen…….”, the surgeon began as he took one of the vials from the nurse hand and read it’s label. “…….checked herself in last week, heavily pregnant and quite sick. She was diagnosed with fetal distress and had to undergo a caesarean section to give birth. She had twins. One was healthy while the other had complications here and there. And had to be placed in the intensive care unit”, he handed the vial back to the nurse. “The condition of the baby in the I.C.U seems to be getting worse so the doctors decided that an emergency surgery had to be carried out”.

“So will the baby make it after the surgery?”, the nurse asked with indifference.

“That’s the point. It has like 30 percent chance of survival”.

“What about the mother?”

“Still in a coma. She is yet to see her babies. It wont be good for her to wake up and hear that one of them didn’t make it”, the surgeon sighed

“What about her relatives, husband or perhaps boyfriend”, the nurse asked

“None have visited her”.

– FLASH! –

TIME : 2:15 AM.

The surgeon walked into the coffee room wearily with a paper cup in his hand and sat heavily on one of the empty chairs. He was visibly exhausted as he placed the cup on the table in front of him and sighed. A few nurses and E.M.T workers on night duty were on separate tables and discussing among themselves in a low tone.

“How did it go?”.

The surgeon looked over his shoulder and saw the nurse standing behind him and holding a file. He wondered how she got to the coffee room that fast.

“It went smoothly”, he answered rather weakly with a faint smile. “That baby is one hell of a fighter. The complications was much more bigger than what was thought but it kept holding on to life”.

“Aw…….the hospital have a new hero”, the nurse said nonchalantly.

The surgeon didn’t like her tone. “It’s like u dont care what happens to the baby?”, he asked.

“No its not that i don’t care. Honey look at u. U know very well what alot of stress can do to the body”.

Then she sat on the chair next to him and placed her hands over his.

“Honey u know our wedding is in two weeks time. Maybe it is the reason why i worry so much about u”, she said with a concerned voice.

– FLASH –

TIME : 4:23 AM

The nurse opened her eyes and saw herself looking at the hospital ceiling as the florescent lights flashed by. The surgeon was staring down at her and saying something as he and another man, probably an E.M.T worker pushed the stretcher trolley she was lying on. His mouth kept moving but the uncomfortable ringing sound in her ear made it impossible to hear what he was saying. The warm sensation on her forehead made her to reach out and touch. She did so and saw blood on her fingertips.

The ringing sound was now fading away and being replaced by the screams and sounds of chaos. The nurse tried to sit up but was prevented by the surgeon whose voice she can hear clearly now.

“Esther are u okay?”, he asked. He was frantic with fear.

“What happened?”, she asked as she looked at the blood on her fingers and also saw more on her white overall.

“I don’t know…….some kind of explosion…….”, the surgeon replied as he and the other man wheeled the stretcher to the next corridor leading to the exit door of the building. “…….the hospital is on fire. We have to get u the hell out of here!”.

The nurse looked around and saw the place was in total chaos. The nurses were trying their best to control the crowd of patients from all the hospital wards. The elderly were being wheeled out or carried by the male E.M.T staffs.

“Please u take her out of here. There is something that i have to do”, the surgeon told the other man who nodded and took control of the trolley.

Sensing what he was about to do, the nurse grabbed his scrubs that had gotten dirty. “Where are u going?”, she demanded.

“I have to go get……..”, he began but the nurse cut him short by telling him not to go. But he managed to breakaway from her grip and forced his way through the incoming crowd. The nurse kept screaming his name as he disappeared.

– FLASH! –

“Mom…….mom!”.

Esther flinched on hearing the call and saw her son, Eric, standing near the refrigerator with a bottle of water in his hand

“Oh…..Eric”, she began, pretending to be looking for something. “When did u come home?”, she asked.

“I just did”, Eric replied, curiously staring at his mother. “U seem lost in thoughts when i came in. I hope everything is ok”.

“Everything is okay”. Esther placed one of the sofa pillow on her laps and rest her elbows on it. She smiled at Eric on seeing that he wasn’t convinced by her response.

Eric shrugged and drank some water directly from the bottle.

“I told u several times not to drink from the bottle. Use a cup Eric!”, Esther said firmly.

“Mom, i don’t see anything wrong with drinking from the bottle or any health issue”, Eric protested as he put the bottle back inside the refrigerator.

“Of course there is. Premature aging”

“How?”.

“Do u want to have those deep wrinkles u see on old women’s lips?”.

Eric paused and licked his upper lip with the tip of his tongue. “I think u are being too dramatic”, he said and rubbed it with his index finger.

“Anyway, this is my house so u have to abide by my rules”, Esther stated.

“Ok boss mom”, Eric teased with a smile and sat next to his mother. She felt his weight drop on the sofa and knew he might have gained some weight.

“So how was ur workout?”, she asked as she removed a loose thread from his shirt.

“Hm…….”, Eric began as he checked his android phone. “……..free training day so nothing eventful”, he said

“What about your master?, Mr Jason”.

“Not yet back from his trip”.

“When will he be back?”.

Eric pursed his lips and shook his head. “I don’t know, he didn’t say”, he replied, still busy with his phone.

“So how did it go with dave?, did u guys have fun?, he asked his mother.

“Dave?”, Esther didn’t know what her son meant.

“Yeah, u missed him so much that u just couldn’t wait to wake me up and tell me that u were going out to see him”, Eric said.

“Oh…….i wasn’t meeting David”, Esther said, almost laughing

“Who then”

“Nina……do u remember her?.

“Nina?”, Eric murmured thoughtfully with a furrowed eyebrow. “Oh that woman we met during the competition”.

“Yes”.

“I see……and what was the reason for meeting her?”

“Nothing important”, Esther sighed and looked away. “She just wanted to see because she had promised to do so”, she lied.

“Hm. That woman is kind of weird though”, Eric murmured, still busy with his phone.

“How?”, Esther asked with a little bit of eagerness in her voice.

“Well…….after the competition, she had this strange look on her face…….i mean like…..someone who just found what she had been looking for”, Eric said as he stopped what he was doing with a thoughtful look on his face. “And that hug she gave me. It was so tight that i began to wonder what was going on. People dont hug strangers like that. She got quite strong arms for a lady”, he glance at his mother and continue what he was doing.

Esther said nothing. With her elbows on the pillow on her laps and her small hands folded under her chin, she stared at Eric thoughtfully. Eric didn’t seem to notice because he was focused on the bright screen of his smart device. This went on for quite a while.

“Mom u are acting quite strange today”, Eric said without looking at his mother. He knew she was gazing at him. “Did anything happen between u and this Nina?”, he asked.

“There is nothing strange about me today and nothing happened between me and Nina”, Esther replied, trying her best so sound positive.

“Well explain the blank stare u had when i stepped in the living room and u gazing at me like there is something wrong somewhere”, Eric demanded and looked at his mother. Something is definitely wrong and he could sense it. And he disliked the fact that his mother is trying to convince him that everything is okay.

Leaning towards Eric, Esther took his phone from his hand and rest her head on his broad shoulder. “I was thinking about my son, or is there any problem for a mother to do that?”, she asked. Then she looked at him. “Are u hungry?”, she asked again, trying to change the topic.

“Starving”, Eric replied.

“Let’s go out and eat. Which restaurant is your favourite place?”

“Really?!…….mom u want us to have dinner at my favourite restaurant?”, Eric’s face lit up with a smile.

Esther nodded and smiling too. “Infact i want us to do something interesting today. After dinner we go to the pub”, she added.

Eric’s smile fades away

“Go to the pub?.”

“Yes”.

“And do what?”.

“Do what people do in the pub and i can use a few glasses of martini”. Esther had alot on her mind and wanted a little boost in her system to calm her nerves.

“Mom, alot of things do happen in the pub and half of them are not good”, Eric reminded her

“I know and we will be doing the good half”, his mother said.

“So u really want us to go to pub?”

“Yes……am i too old and wrinkly to go there with u?”, Esther asked. “U don’t want to go to the pub with your ‘old woman’?”.

“No i just want to hear u right”, Eric replied. “And u can’t be an old woman when most of my friends ask me if u were my sister”.

Esther laughed at what Eric just said. But she wasn’t surprised at all. Most of the people she had met still dont believe she is forty-three. Even David. At that age, she still have those beauty that defined her during her youth. Small frame with curves at the right places. Her behind still look firm like that of a girl in her early 20’s and face that men describe as rare beauty with lips that every man would want to kiss if given the slightest chance.

“Okay then……..”, Eric began as he got up to go change his cloths. “I think am gonna have scotch and later on some hard stuff”.

“No….no…..no”, Esther protested, gesturing her index finger at him. “U may have reached the legal age limit to drink but u are having only light beer”.

“We might decide to escalate things mom”.

“No there is no escalations and please don’t dress like a thug”.

BLOODLINE Episode 2
#OpraDre

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