SHATTERED

╣EIGHTEEN╠

Ethel dropped her cellphone hopeless on her study table. She has made tireless efforts in contacting her mother. She misses her so much. She ran away from home but now, she regrets her action, it made her lose her entire family. If she sees Eleanor, she won't be able to recognize her. Ah! How much she miss seeing her glowing green eyes and smile, she is so beautiful. It has been nine years since she left home. She has searched social media pages for her mother but she couldn't find anything to contact her. Oops! How could she make the mistake of checking social media, her mom wasn't the type to have social media account, she normally tagged it as 'Time waster'. Ethel stood up from where she sat, walking straight to the window, she stood there watching as snow fell on the roofs of other buildings. She was on the tenth floor in her dormitory so she had a better view of her school environment from where she stood. Aisosa had gone home for the Christmas holiday, leaving her all alone by herself in this cold dormy, it was boring staying here without her roomie. If Aisosa was here they would have sat near the fireplace with a cup of hot steamy coffee and Aisosa would have told her a story, she was known for that, story telling.
Ethel smiled when she saw a man pursuing a young girl around a snowman they had built, whom she presumed to be his daughter. Tears fell on her cheeks as she remembered her father. She could remember vividly how she and her father used to have a snow fight, by picking a handful of snow, hurling it at each other. She laughed, warm tears staining her cheeks as she recalled.
"Wherever you are daddy, I just want you to know I love you. I hope to see you someday." she muttered to herself, smiling. She walked over to her closet, grabbing her coat and walked out of her room to take a walk even though it was snowy. She strolled with no destination in mind. She passed through the coffee shop where she and Aisosa goes to have coffee or decaf. After contemplating whether to enter the coffee shop or not, she decided to enter to at least enjoy the company of other people.
"Welcome to Royalty coffee shop!" A waitress greeted her as she entered.
"Thank you, Pamela." Ethel grinned as she sat at a booth near the window.
"Compliment of the season. At your service."
"Thank you. I wish you the same. I'd like the usuals."
"Decaf and breadrolls?"
"Yes."
"Okay. You didn't come with your friend?"
"Yeah, she's gone for the holiday."
"Uh-oh, so it's just only you?"
"Yeah, it really sucks." Ethel pouted, faking a cry.
Pamela laughed, "Sorry," she said and left. Ethel was served almost immediately and she ate her meal in silence. She watched as people trouped in and out of the coffee shop, it was a busy place. A flier on the table caught her eye, she picked it up reading it's content. There was a vacancy for a detective. She beamed as she read. She only had this year for her to complete her master program in criminology. If she is able to get this job, she will be happy. At least she had something to start with to make a living for herself. She tucked her blonde hair behind her ear, dialling the number written on the flier. She is going to apply for the job.

➰➿➰

This was now Thelma usual habit, starring at Ethel's framed photograph on her nightstand. Three weeks since Eleanor ran away from home she had had sleepless night. Eleanor's friend had called to tell her Eleanor was staying with her, for now she was rest assured Eleanor was safe to an extent. She picked the letter Rex wrote to Ethel on her birthday, her thirteenth birthday. She read it over and over again. It was now everything was making sense, how she would wake up in the middle of the night, not seeing Rex by her side. He would come into the room panting, she would ask him where he was coming from, he would respond by saying, 'I heard Ethel scream so I rushed to her room to find out why, she is having constant nighmare. I stayed with her till she was able to sleep again' Thelma had believed all those lies.

"All those times...those night, he raped my daughter. Ha! Rex I will never forgive you for the destruction you've done to my family. I can't wait to see you rot in jail. I want to see you suffer the way you made me suffer!" She said through gritted teeth as she cried. She walked to the corner of her room where Rex's photograph was hanged on the wall, pulling it and smashed it on the wall, shrieking. "You are a demon! A demon!" she kept on hitting it on the wall until she was tired. She collapsed on the floor, resting her head on the wall crying. Her life was a totally huge mess, she felt like committing suicide. She hated her life... why was life mean to her? Why was she even born in the first place. As a child she was raised in a foster care home. She left when she was sixteen. While working in a restaurant to earn a living, she met Logan and since then her life has been a disaster. She should've ended it long ago just the way Trina did- a girl in her Foster Care home who committed suicide. All effort to contact Ethel had proved abortive, she doesn't know her whereabout and now Eleanor is repeating the same thing Ethel did.
"I am cursed!" she cried harder. "My life has been a mess all through. Why can't..." the vibration of her phone in the pocket of her denim trousers interrupted her.
"Hello," her voice was hoarse from crying.
"Good evening, is this Mrs Wilbur?" a voice said from the other end.
"Yes it's I speaking. How may I help you?"
"You need to come down here to St Mark hospital."
"Why? Is there a problem?" she creased her eyebrow, puzzled.
"Your daughter was brought in here some hours ago?
"My daughter? Which of them?" Thelma stood up abruptly.
"Ma'am save that question for another day. You presence is needed here urgently." the person said and hung up before she could ask the caller further question.

Could it be Ethel? No... no

Horrific thoughts crossed through her mind as she hurried out of the house. Within twenty minutes she was already in St Mark hospital. She ran into the reception like a crazy woman.
"My daughter was brought in here, where is she? Am her mother." she said to the receptionist, panting.
"Calm down, please have your seat." the lady who was the receptionist said politely.
"Excuse me, the person who called me said it is an emergency and you expect me to sit down!" Thelma snapped.
"No madam, the doctor will be out soon just be patient."
Thelma sighed heavily walking to one of the chairs in the reception and sat, squirming on her seat. She immediately jumped up when she saw one of Eleanor's friend come out of a room in the hospital.
"Janessa! What are you doing here?" she asked the petite blonde whose eyes were red rimmed from crying.
"E...leanor..." Janessa blubbered.
"Eh! What happened to Eleanor?" Janessa was crying uncontrollably, finding it hard to speak. The same room where Janessa came out from, a elderly man wearing a lab coat walked out. Thelma walked straight to him, asking,
"You're a doctor?"
"Yes, Doc Paul." Thelma ignored the introduction and asked him the question that was bothering her mind.
"Doctor, my daughter was brought in here an hour ago."
"Your daughter? What's her name?"
"I don't know, I think Eleanor... Eleanor Wilbur." she glanced at Janessa who was sobbing quietly like a child and then looked back at the doctor.
"Oh!" Thelma saw the expression of the doctor change, which made her scared.
"Is she okay? What happened to her?" Thelma panicked
"Madam, follow me to my office."
"Is there something you're not telling me?" Thelma asked the doctor as soon as they were seated in the office.
"Um... you see, Eleanor was involved in a car accident, the car got wrecked and she was brought in here with three of her friends. There are two casualties and the other two had minor injuries."
"Okay?" Thelma said listening attentively.
"Good so we are administering treatment to them and they are responding well."
"What caused the accident?"
"Drukeness. The driver was drunk."
"My goodness! But Is my daughter okay?"
"Eleanor?"
"Yes, Eleanor."
"Well, um......"
"Is she okay??" Thelma heartbeat quickened.
"Would you like a drink to calm your nerves, you are already worked up?"
"This is a matter of life and death and here you are asking me if I would like a drink. What sort of doctor are you?" she slammed her fist angrily on the doctor's desk.
"Eleanor is..."