Chapter 24: Accident
After taking a cold shower, I changed into a light dress and climbed my bed to rest. Somehow, I couldn't sleep even though I was damn tired.
Every minute, I would turn from one side of the bed to another. And when I couldn't sleep after nearly half an hour, I decided to go through my social media applications.
There were many messages, hence I began replying them one after another and also checking new status updates, until someone pushed my door open and walked into my room.
It was Jessica, and she was wearing a weird face. "Hey, is everything okay?" I asked, staring at her. She didn't look like she was okay, she appeared as if she was disturbed.
"Everything is fine, just that I received a call now that Fred had an accident while on his way to his cousin's house" he apprised.
"What?!" I exclaimed, adjusting into a sitting position, "What did you just say? Fred had an accident?" I was totally stunned.
Actually, we communicated few hours ago and he promised to tell me something. I was supposed to call him as soon as I returned but somehow, I forgot. Probably because I was exhausted.
"Yes, and presently unconscious. I heard he's being operated on, that he had a broken rib and different fractures around his body" she explained further, making me to nearly broke into tears.
I had only known him for a day but to be honest, I could boldly tell how good he was. He was a very good guy, trying all his best to make his feelings known to the girl he loved, Shirley.
"Did she Shirley knows about it?" I curiously asked, I didn't even know I would be raising suspicion until after asking her. And by then, it was too late for me to draw the words back.
"Shirley? Why?" she wrinkled a brow at me as if to ask what was so special about Shirley and Fred.
"Nothing, just asking" I said, withdrawing from the bed to my feet, "I think we should be heading to the hospital"
"Now?"
"Yes, right now. Or what do you say?"
"Well, Laura, even though I am pained too I don't think going there now is the right idea. We could always fix another date, I mean time... but right now, I don't even feel like stepping out of the house" she complained.
"Okay, so..." I huffed, waiting to hear what she had to say.
If going there now wasn't okay by her, when then should we be going? In the evening or the next day? I really preferred going there now, I thought to myself.
"We go there when I and others decides, I will let you know when that happens. I really feel like the whole planet is on my head now, what is going to happen to Fred now? We had fun yesterday and we even chatted this morning" she lamented, I could see the pain in her face even though she was trying her possible best to be strong.
"That's life, we literally don't know what awaits us... that's why we have to always make the right decision, and do the right things at the right time. We can also change before it's too late" I indirectly tried preaching to her but somehow, she knew where I was heading to.
"Yeah, I see. And I get it" she muttered about leaving the room when I halted her, "Yes?" she wrinkled a brow at me, "Any problem?" she asked.
"No problem, although I was expecting you to ask about Frank's job offer" I said.
"I already told mom, I am not interested. Reade is going to help me secure a student grant, and he's going to help me get admission into Oxford" she said as I blurted,
"Reade? The guy from the motel?" I asked out of curiosity, even though he was the only Reade I knew her with. But, perhaps there might be another one to which I hoped so.
"Yes, him. From the motel!" she sqeualled.
"Oh, and you trust him? Jessica, Oxford isn't Marina College, it isn't Vinewood State University, it isn't Trinity College of Medicine, Oxford is a prestigious school from another continent, who does he know there? Has he even been out of this country before?" I bespoke, trying to bring her back to her senses but all efforts to no avail. She pissed off and quickly began thundering me.
"What the hell is all this about? Did someone asked you to probe me? What the hell is wrong with you? Did Reade look like your Frank, or whatever? To hell with whatever is it you have in mind, if you don't like Reade then fine. But keep your doubts to yourself" she said and walked over to the door. Surprisingly, she bumped into her mom who was obviously about coming into the room.
"Is everything okay?" Aunt Vicky asked her.
"You should ask Laura" Jessica muttered and left.
"Laura," Aunt Vicky walked into the room, shutting the door behind her, "what happened? Did you guys had a misunderstanding or something?" she aked.
"Aunt, I only asked about her friend... that's all. She started throwing tantrums at me, and before I knew it she was already heading out of the room" I briefly narrated.
"What did you say to her? What exactly happened?" she was curious, she probably wanted to know exactly what happened before making judgments or jumping into conclusions.
"I wanted to know who's going to help her with her admission into Oxford, the students grant... and she told me it was Reade. The same guy we met her with in a motel yesterday" I elaborated.
"Motel?" she wrinkled a brow at me.
"Yeah, motel. I don't really trust the guy because he didn't look like someone that has all those connections. I don't want her to end up being fooled by him, aunt Vicky. Please do something!" I begged her.
"Hmm," she heaved a sigh looking speechless, "do you know what?" she finally spoke, "I will talk to her, but don't say anything to her again about it. Just let me handle it"
"Okay, aunt" I gulped.
"Good!" she uttered and left.
Hopefully, she would be able to convince her daughter to think twice. She should reason, because Reade... I don't think he has anything good for her. When yesterday I heard him talking on the background while speaking with Jessica on phone, he was kind of weird. I didn't know what exactly happened but something told me he was taking advantage of her.
Guys like him, women should be wary of him. But how was he even able to convince her to be this attached to him? I didn't believe in voodoo but I was beginning to think she was under his spell.
As soon as I returned back to bed, the thought of Fred came into my mind. I quickly checked the group Jessica created and went through all the previous chats. It was indeed true, he had and accident. And Suzanna was the first to hear about it, and was the same person to announce in the group.
The other group members were shocked to hear the news, especially Shirley. She expressed how sad she was, and so did the rest. In a bid to know how he was, I decided to ask Suzanna if he was fine – by tagging her in the group.
But when I did that, I ended up being removed from the group. I didn't know who removed me though, and why. But the fact that Jessica was the main admin, I didn't need to ask.
There were actually three admins in the group, the creator – which was Jessica, then Suzanna and Jack. And out of the three admins, only Jessica was online at the moment.
She probably decided to remove me from the group because she was angry with what I said to her earlier. She really thought removing me from the group would hurt me, but to be honest I wasn't hurt... not even a bit.
However, I was surprised because I wasn't expecting it. It came unexpected. Nevertheless, that wouldn't stop me from making inquiries about Fred.
I searched for Shirley contact and called her. Her phone ran but there was no answer. I had to try again, and when I did it was picked.
"Hello, Shirley. Good afternoon" I greeted her.
"It's not Shirley," A strange voice bellowed, "it's her dad" The person said.
"Oh," I blurted in puzzlement. I was surprised, you know? I didn't actually expect someone to pick the call, let alone her father. "sorry, I mean," I cleared my throat, "I was trying to reach Shirley..."
"It's okay," he cut in, "I will give her the phone"
"Alright, thank you sir" I heaved a sigh of relief.
"You are welcome" he said. Thus, he took the phone to Shirley while I waited humbly.
After handing over the phone to her, she huffed and said, "Hello"
"Hi, Shirley. How are you?" I curiously asked.
"I am... I am fine" she stuttered, " How about you?"
"I am fine too. What happened to your voice?" I was curious to know why she sounded so different, I mean her voice. Had she been crying? Was it all about Fred?
"Fred had an accident, he's in a coma" she said in what seemed like a whisper, "I heard his brake fluid failed, and now he's down with multiple fractures and a broken rib"
"Same thing I heard, Jessica told me. I am even thinking about checking on him soon. When are you going to the hospital?" I asked.
"I was at the hospital earlier, hoping to see him but the doctors were against that" she huffed, "They didn't allow me or anyone else to see him, but maybe they will... tomorrow"
"Are you going there tomorrow? If yes, I would like us to go together. Or what do you think?" I uttered.
"It's fine, whenever I am ready I will let you know" she said.
"Okay Shirley. I know you are troubled but please, don't let this get into you. Okay?" I said.
"Okay, I heard you. Thank you. I should be going now" she said.
"Okay, be safe..." I said as she ended the call. Wow, that was fast. I understood her pain, actually, she was obviously scared of losing him. I just hoped she doesn't cry all night, or stop hinder herself from sleeping by thinking about him.
I believed he would be fine, it might take some time though but since no head injury was mentioned then I guess he would soon wake up from his unconscious state.
Talking about unconscious state, some people are awake but they still unconscious. People like Jessica, she was blinded by Reade into believing he could get her heaven and earth.
She even had to throw tantrums on me and also remove me from her group just because I tried to wake her up from her unconscious state. Like seriously? I was still surprised by what she did, it was so childish.
If she was my sibling, younger sibling to be specific, I would have taught her a lesson and would have chased that monstrous human being called Reade; away.
But since I was just a cousin to her, all I could do was to fold my arms across my chest and watch as mysteries unfold. If luckily her mother was even to talk some senses into her or convince her, that would be great. But if her mother failed, sorry for the poor girl.
I sighed, dropped my phone aside about forcing myself to rest when the phone buzzed. I quickly took the phone and realized it was a text message from Frank asking me to rate his chamber, he was talking about their house.
"It's superb" I texted back while smiling. If there was something better than the word superb, well, I would have used it. The whole mansion was superb to be honest, I couldn't imagine myself living in such a big house with practically all the luxury you may think of.
