If I Can Hate You, Why Can't You? A Nigerian Story

If I Can Hate You, Why Can't You? Chp 77

She stirred slowly feeling sore all over her body. What was wrong with her, why was she so weak? All her limbs had given up and she couldn't even move a muscle. The last thing she could remember was collecting her medicine from Anisah and then... nothing else. Wait a minute..... did Anisah.... No no no she won't do that, she trusts her. She tried opening her eyes but it was dark in the room so she couldn't see anything. She managed to walk to the door with the help of her hands and finally, as she made it to the door, she turned the knob but it was locked. She tried multiple times but to no avail. Suddenly she heard some muffled voices coming from the other side of the door and she pressed her ears to the door to hear but she really couldn't make out what they were saying.

As the footsteps began trooping closer and closer, she ran to the bed pretending she was sleeping and the door flew open.

"You see, I told you she's safe and sound. She's still sleeping, the drug I gave is still effective and will wear off soon but before she wakes up, I wish to be out of here. I don't want her to know that I have a hand in her abduction. She trusts me" that sounded so much like Anisah's voice she would have confirmed it if she wasn't pretending to be asleep but her instincts were very clear and never wrong. Almost, never wrong.

"If you really mean what you just said, you wouldn't even think about the idea in the first place when I brought it to you". She heard a man's voice. She was sure she didn't know that person but whatever the case may be, she just hopes she wasn't going to die. Because, she will hate it if she dies without seeking vengeance.

"Let's leave her for now, he will come and check up on her later. I spoke with him earlier today" she heard what seemed to be Anisah's voice. What was happening? She was sure that was Anisah's voice. Living with her for almost two years and she wouldn't be able to distinguish between her loyal handmaid's voice and someone else's would be like a slap on her face. She was sure as hell that that lady was Anisah and no one else. Later on, a knock came on the door and without waiting for her response, it flew open revealing an annoyed lady with a strange frown on her face.

"Here is your breakfast lady, hurry" the woman said without looking at her.

"I'm not hungry, take it away," Kulthum said, facing the other side.

"You can't have your way here lady, this isn't your palace. So get up and eat if you want to live" the woman said angrily.

"So you can poison me? No thank you, I've had enough of everything. Just let me go please" at first, Kulthum thought she got the lady and was about to proceed with her blackmail when she said,

"Get up and eat now" the firm look on the woman's face made Kulthum think otherwise and swallow her words. She reluctantly walked to the table searching for anything to protect herself against the angry lady and her eyes only settled for a table knife. Table knife? Really? Was that all she could get?

"Are you searching for something?" The lady asked

"No I'm just.." she sat down and stared at the food in front of her thinking about all the possibilities about poisoned food.

"Here," the lady collected the fork from her hold and took a forkful of the pasta in front of her. "You see? No poison, now eat" why has she been forcing her to eat? She nodded her head and took a morsel slowly keeping eye contact with the woman. When she was done, she offered her some juice but Kulthum was still skeptical so the woman took a generous amount of the juice and gave her the rest. She took a few sips then dropped the glass and the lady took the used dishes away. Five minutes later, Kulthum fell asleep.

When she finally woke up, it was past 7 in the evening and she felt extremely sick. She ran to the bathroom to throw up whatever was in her stomach and after she was done, she felt a little better. She had her bath because she felt dirty since she didn't bathe the day before and this morning. When she came out, she found some clean, fresh clothes spread on the bed for her. She wore them and surprisingly they were her size.  After washing and dressing up, she felt like herself again then a knock came on the door again and like earlier, the same lady pushed open the door without waiting for her response.