GONE ASTRAY
EPISODE 10
get up, lets go and look for her” i ordered
“were would we start from ” Hannah asked,
” the hotel of course”
“they are not there, Ramsey and Mesode took
her away,who is Ramsey? i asked, the guy who introduced himself as Mrcoded she replied, i don’t know where they went. Non of them is answering their phones”
Fear gripped me when i heard those words, i
knew there was something wrong with those
boys. Something must have happened to
Ruth.
I walked back to my seat with resignation, my
heart pounded. I kept dialling Ruth’s number
over and over again. It rang repeatedly but
there was no response. I placed my head on
my desk again, hoping to catch some sleep
before the extra lessons began.
I was almost dosing off when my phone rang.
I picked it up in a hurry, i knew it had to be
Ruth.
“hello? Were are you” i asked in a hurry
The voice at the other end of the phone wasn’t
Ruth’s. It was a lady who identified herself as
a staff of the hotel we just visited. She called
to find out who owned the phone. Apparently,
she found Ruth’s phone in the room while she
was cleaning up.
It became obvious to me that my friend Ruth
was missing. I turned towards Hannah, she
was still on her seat. This time, she was
shedding tears. She definitely knows what was
happening.
I sprang up from my seat and ran to her,
gripped her shirt by the neck line and
demanded to know where Ruth was. The
Hannah i know would have fought back, but
she looked up at me quietly with guilt written
all over her face.
“Something happened to ruth ” Hannah
confessed
My heart almost gave out. Goose bumps
appeared on my skin, i have never been this
scared of anything before.
” what happened ” i asked nervously
” while i was in the room with Aj, he got a call
from Ramsey. He said they took Ruth to the
hospital, he didn’t tell me why. When i
insisted on knowing, Aj excused himself and
walked out of the room. He didn’t return until i
decided to leave.”
“which hospital?” I enquired
“i don’t know”
“and you left her? ”
Hannah looked at me without saying a word,
tears flowed freely from her eyes. The hatred i
felt for her increased. I felt like choking her to
death. But then we had to find Ruth. I dragged
her up and ordered her to follow me.
” were are we going”?
“to find Ruth of course ”
She kept quiet and followed me sheepishly. It
was almost time for extra lessons to begin,
but i didn’t care about that. I just had to fund
Ruth.
We changed our clothes at the gate house,
and boarded a taxi heading towards the hotel.
I hoped anyone there would have a clue to
where Ruth was taken.
I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to
her, she did not look seek when we left school
together this morning. She was quite active
and full of life. I have never known her to have
any health challenges either.
I stared out of the taxi window, playing up a
lot of scenarios in my mind. I was convinced
that those boys had a hand in whatever
happened to Ruth.
The taxi pulled up in front of the hotel, we
handed the driver his money and went in. I
recognised one of the receptionist, she was
there when we came earlier..
I walked up to her, and asked if she knew
about a girl that was rushed to a hospital
from the hotel earlier. Unfortunately, she had
no idea. She only gave us a list of hospitals
around the hotel, they were five in number
including a psychiatric hospital.
We hurried out of the hotel into the street,
hoping to move from hospital to hospital in
search of my friend Ruth. I prayed silently that
nothing bad happens to her.
The first hospital was just a few meters away
from the hotel. Hannah and i strolled along.
She walked rather sluggishly behind me,
almost as if she was scared of finding Ruth.
No doubt, she already knew how much i hated
her at this point.
As we walked by, a lot of thoughts gathered in
my head. I was preoccupied with the thought
of what could have happened to Ruth, but on
the other hand i couldn’t keep my mind off my
broken relationship with Ehis.
I wondered if he would ever forgive me. The
identity of the girl in the room also troubled
me. For someone who claimed to love me,
Ehis moved on really fast.
Images from the past few hours continuously
flooded my mind. I wondered if Ehis actually
knew i was in that hotel, at the same time i
cursed myself for not leaving sooner, and not
seeing the similarity between Mesode and
odion. I would have saved myself a lot of
heartache.
At that point, i realised that i knew very little
about those boys at the hotel. I slowed down
a little, to allow Hannah catch up with me. I
wanted to satisfy my curiosity.
“did you know that Mesode was Ehis’s cousin?
” i asked, facing Hannah.
” no” she replied, shrugging her shoulder
unconvincingly.
she was obviously lying i could tell. But i did
no border to press further, because it would
make no difference at this point.
“how did you know Aj?, and what
arrangements did you have with him? “i
queried further.
” we were friends before he travelled to
Malaysia. This morning, he called to inform
me that he was around. He wanted some girls
to spend time with him and his friends. So i
collected fifty thousand naira from him to
‘arrange’ two girls. I didn’t know it would be
like this i swear”
I looked at her with disgust written all-over
my face. She faced down, probably
embarrassed over her actions. I turned away
and headed into the hospital complex.
We walked straight to the reception, to meet
an angry looking girl in her early twenties.
“good afternoon” we greeted simultaneously.
“how may i help you? ” she asked, without
replying our greeting
‘we are looking for a patient who might have
been brought here today, her name is Ruth
Nosakare”.
She made several clicks on her mouse before
informing us that they had no patient with
that name. I felt a little more disappointed
and worried.
We left for the next hospital, which was just a
few minutes away. We searched helplessly for
Ruth, until there was just one hospital left. I
took out the list of hospitals the hotel
receptionist gave us, and glanced through it’s
content.
Cold shivers ran down my spine when i
realised that the last hospital is a psychiatric
hospital. Could Ruth have gone mad? I
wondered. I turned toward Hannah and
announced to her that we would be checking a
psychiatric hospital next.
The sullen look on her face presented a kind of
guilt i couldn’t understand. She avoided eye
contact with me. I was very sure she knew
something that she wasn’t telling me.
My heart raced as we entered the federal
psychiatric hospital. The sheer magnificence of
the building wowed me a little. But it still did
not shore my anxiety.
I know that mad people were usually admitted
here, hence i did not know if i should pray to
find Ruth here or not. As we walked in,
Hannah began to drag behind. Her
unwillingness to enter the building gave her
away.
I looked suspiciously at her and left her
behind. Unlike the previous hospitals, this one
had no reception. I looked around for a while,
hoping to find someone to talk to.
I ran towards a nurse who seemed to be
hurrying out of sight.
“excuse me ma, please help me I’m looking for
someone ”
She neither lessened her pace nor stop to look
at me. She was focused on the file she was
carrying. She walked and spoke at the same
time.
“who exactly?” she asked, flipping through her
file and walking briskly.
“it’s my friend, her name is Ruth, i don’t know
if…….. ”
She stopped abruptly and shot a horrible look
at me immediately i mentioned Ruth’s name. I
stole a glance at the file she was holding, it
had” Ruth Nosakare” written on it, with a tag
next to it stating clearly “emergency”
” are you the Hannah? ” she asked, grabbing
hold of my hand.
” no ma, Hannah is just outside, I’m Ella” i
replied, trying to wriggle free from her grip.
“take me to her” she ordered, as she pulled me
towards the door.
My anxiety increased, at this point i was
certain that Hannah had a lot to do with what
was happening.
“do you know your friends Parents or anybody
we can contact ?” she stopped and asked.
I thought about it for a while, if Ruth wanted
them to contact her family, she would have
volunteered those information. I decided to
withhold answers myself.
“no ma i don’t know anyone ”
” what about your school? ”
” school has closed” i replied.
She resigned from her questioning and
continued towards the door, till we were out in
the open.
“that’s Hannah ” i said, pointing towards her.
The sight of the nurse holding my hand firmly,
and pointing at her frightened Hannah. She
began to retreat towards the gate as we
approached her.
” my friend stop there! “the nurse ordered.
Hannah froze, with a frightened look on her
face. The nurse approached her and grabbed
her by the hand.
” come with me, you have some explaining to
do” she said, as she led us all the way up to her office. Hannah was shedding tears already.
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