Must Read: The Cartel (18+)

Episode 7 years ago

Must Read: The Cartel (18+)

IMA and EMEM

With the help of the few onlookers who gathered, Mrs Etuk who was now sobbing with Ima got her into a cab. Picking up her bag, she put it inside the trunk of the cab and moved towards the rear door.
“Mainland Hospital” she told the driver as she sat behind, next to the girl who held unto her like she was the only one she knew in the world. Both women kept sobbing in each others arms with the older lady consoling, apologizing and reassuring the younger one that she wouldn’t leave her by herself again. The cab driver while stealing glances at both women now and then, kept mute as her drove them to the General hospital.



At the Entrance to the hospital complex, Mrs Margaret Etuk saw her friend Caroline, who is a nurse working at the hospital and quickly called out her name “Caro”, while asking the cab driver to pull over. The lady who was on night duty was already on her way out of the hospital vicinity. She stopped on recognition of the voice calling out her name. She walked back towards the can which pulled over just behind her as she saw her friend alight.
“Maggie, na wetin?” she asked concerned as she walked towards her friend.
“Jesus!!!” She exclaimed, hastening her steps when she saw Mrs Etuk had been crying.



Hugging her friend, she asked “What’s the problem? Why are you crying? Is everyone ok? Is Emem alright? Faith*? Why are you here this early?” At the same time she bent and looked behind the cab to see the abused girl.
“My sister was abducted and abused by six men last night. We came from Calabar together yesterday night and she was supposed to met her uncle at Ojo barracks. (Now with teary voice) Thinking she could find her way, I left her at Berger to see Michael* and tell him I had just arrived, only for me to see a crowd gathered around someone this morning on my way to church at Jibowu……. (increased sobbing).. She didn’t deserve it, she’s a nice girl.
“Its okay. Thank God you found her. But right now there’s nothing going on here. Our doctors began their planned strike while you were away.


Only a few nurses are around and besides looking at her, there’s nothing serious we can do. So we’ll have to take her LUTH where she’ll get proper attention. Even if the Doctors were to be around, the teaching hospital are better equipped to handle this case”
“Because if you take her in there, my judgmental, moralistic and opinionated colleagues would be asking her questions like what was she doing alone at night, how was she dressed and all other infuriating comments you cannot imagine”.
“Right now she’s a victim of S#xual assault and might be blaming herself believing she somehow caused it. She needs to be reassured and rightly so, that she’s a victim and that it wasn’t any fault of hers. She can’t get that in there from those women (pointing at the hospital building). And you need to stop blaming yourself too Maggie” Mrs Caroline said.



At the end without difficulty, she convinced her friend to take the girl to LUTH. Joining the cab in the front passenger seat, Mrs Caroline who was already dressed in her casual wear told the driver to take them to “Idi-Araba”, which was the location of the University of Lagos teaching hospital.


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PS

* Faith was the little girl that traveled with Mrs Margaret and is her daughter. She’s a three years old girl Mrs Margaret had with her Lover Micheal.
* Michael, (who is from a non-Efik speaking part of Cross River) is the father of Faith and was the actual person she had stopped at Berger to see that night.
* He had began dating Mrs Margaret a few years after her husband died. As a young single mom, most of the men that came only wanted a piece of her cookie, but she wanted love.

Micheal showed her that love and not too long after she had a child for him, he became an abusive partner. Afraid of being single and lonely again, she endured the relationship.


**********


At the teaching a young female doctor was directed to examine and handle her. They were given a private room where the smiling Doctor tried to put her at ease. She didn’t want to be left alone so Mrs Margaret was allowed in the room while the examination lasted. The doctor assured her what had happened was in no way any fault of hers, and that she didn’t deserve it.



She assured the girl the boys would be apprehended and made to face the dull wrath of the law. After much counseling, the doctor asked a few questions.
“So right now Ima, I need you to write down as much as you can remember about the events of your assault, which will including a description of the suspect who’s face you still remember. Can you do that?” the doctor enquired from her
“I’m not sure I want to remember their faces again” She responded calmly
“But when it their leader asked the first guy who covered my nose in the car to Molest me, I made a decision that I wasn’t gonna die that, at least not that way. Though they were now masked, I could tell from his smell and the nervousness that he was the same person.
“Ok sweetheart, don’t worry about them.


You’ve got us here with yu and no one would ever hurt you that way again” The doctor said as she proceeded to examine Ima’s body and to get possible forensic samples.



The doctor using a Molest kit after stripping her, collected hairs, semen, clothing fibers, blood sample and any other evidence which the police might require. Then she examined for internal injuries, and the scratches on her body and b0s0m.



Done with the examinations, the doctor made her prescription which included pain reliever, drugs for sexually transmitted diseases(STDs), emergency birth control pills etc.



Later in her office, the doctor explained the her findings to Mrs Margaret one of which was Ima was a nursing mother and had sustained some vaginal injuries which would take a few weeks to heal properly. Not until the doctor asked about the baby, did she realized Mrs Margaret probably wasn’t aware the girl was a nursing mother.



Mrs Margaret went ahead to explain how they had met, what the girl told her and how they ended up at the hospital. The doctor then encouraged the lady that now wasn’t the time to confront the girl about their findings as she wasn’t in the best state of mind to be confronted which such. Also she pressed it upon the lady not to make or jump to conclusions just yet but instead should provide all the support the girl needed for now.
“You’ve already shown enough concern, which made me feel she was actually your blood relative or something. Only a few Nigerians can do such. I plead with you to just take care of her till she overcomes the trauma. The nursing issue would come later” the doctor added.


***


The third day, being Tuesday after she was admitted at LUTH, Mrs Margaret came in to see Ima but met her crying. It was obvious she had been crying for a long time.
“What is it Ima?” she enquired in Efik placing the food flask she had brought on a the bed side table.
“Mma” she began also in Efik. “I’m not exactly who I claimed to be. I have a daughter and her father was the person I had come to look for in Lagos….” Amidst tears, she narrated her whole story from meeting with Jama, when her mom discovered she was pregnant to her parents disowning and throwing her out.



She talked about how she stayed with her grandmother and how her labour contributed to her death, her near miss with her dad during the funeral, and how she finally decided to keep the child at the door step of a couple somewhere in satellite town in Calabar.



By the time she was through, the ever emotional Mrs Margaret was also crying with her while holding her close to her b0s0m. “The doctor found out you were a nursing mother and told me. So I’ve known also but was waiting for an opportunity to ask you”

Thinking about her late grandmother, her child whom she dumped, her Molest ordeal she kept sobbing.
“Here I am in your arms. You, a total stranger I just met in a car showing me the love and care my biological mother could never show me. I just couldn’t keep lying to you. I’ve been scared that you might leave me later when you find out or might be planning to send me back home. So I just chose to come clean and to beg you to please keep me” Ima sobbed on while the older lady held her tight, stroking her hair.
“Don’t worry my dear, I’ll not send you away. You’re moving in with me when you’re discharged” Mrs Margaret promised the girl.