Behind Closed Doors

Chapter 30

"I can handle the cleaning," Emily said to the care assistant who was wiping Mrs. Waterfield clean.

"You should go home and take a rest, ma'am; your eyes are tired," the woman responded as she swiped her towel over Mrs. Waterfield's arm.

"I will, when I'm done with this one," Emily argued, reaching for the warm towel. "You should take a rest or attend to another patient."

"Ma'am..." the woman paused her speech midway and gently handed the towel over to Emily. "Take care; I'll come to check on you later."

As the care assistant opened the door to walk out, she collided with two women entering the ward.

"I'm sorry," the younger woman apologized with a soft voice to the care assistant.

"It's nothing," the woman said before walking out. Emily stared at them as they spoke and then looked back at Mrs. Waterfield's body. The women walked toward the body and paused.

"Oh, so it is true that the harlot is back," the older woman commented while staring at the body in the bed, as if she wasn't addressing anyone. She let out a loud chuckle after, and the younger girl bowed her head, frozen and trying to take a peek at Emily seated. Emily had looked at both of them after hearing that statement from the old woman.

"Shame, they run around and when the life doesn't favour them anymore they come back crying carrying untreatable STDs" she said again and shook her head in disappointment before looking at the younger woman by her side. "Brittany, you shouldn't talk to people like this; she's your predecessor and a bad one at that. I'm sure you can see how old she looks; it never ends well for promiscuous women."

The younger lady, head bent, continued to nod her head.

"Be a good wife for Pastor Smith, and you'll reap the benefits," the older woman said.

Emily swallowed. Her eyes diverted from the older woman talking to the younger woman. Her small and slender body told her all she needed to know. It was like she was looking at herself eight years ago, being convinced by Mrs. Waterfield on why getting married to Mark was the best thing ever. A young girl, no idea of what the future holds for her, shy and quiet, her head bowed. Emily immediately looked away and continued cleaning the body. She felt some type of way upon hearing the subtle information that was passed down to her– Mark was getting another wife, a beautiful young lady. She couldn't place what she felt, but one thing was for sure– her breath had ceased for a brief moment.

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Staring into her phone, Emily remembered she hadn't spoken to Andre in days. She knew he would be very worried. There were no visitors in the ward so she felt as though it was the right time to make her move. She went to her phone and dialed his number.

"Hola, it's Andre...if you can hear this I'm kinda not available right now, please leave a message, ciao"

Were the words she heard before the beep.

She redialed.

The automated message repeated.

After the beep, she spoke into her phone.

"Hey Andre, it's Emily. I just wanted to know how you were doing. How is it going over there? How's your sister? The entire family? I'm with my mother here and her situation is critical..." she paused and caught her breath. "But you should not worry, I and Lucas are fine and we'll push through, please don't come. Thank you"

She sighed and put her phone down. She needed water, her throat was getting dry and the one in the bottle she drank from was finished.

"I'll go get some water Mrs Waterfield" she touched the unconscious woman's hand before standing up and leaving the room.