At last , Mami

Chapter 5

his chicken that lays golden eggs

-I did not eat bland food .I only got to know what bland food was when I got to this institution. My stomach couldnt take it so I had concluded that if I will continue to stay here I will never have it again .Since I was going to die , I did not really need a quicker death from eating the bland food. Since I could afford better food . I'd given that doctor my card to pay for all the bills that should be paid for and that included the bill for the proper food I'd always requested him to get for me.All I knew was that my card contained the cuts I'd obtained from working on my designs.

I don't have a last name anymore , i got registered into the hospital without a last name .They are surely talking about me but I don't remember marrying anybody , I've never dated or engaged in as much as a conversation with a guy except for Dr Douglas for a long time . Could it be that somebody came to pose as my husband , for a reason I know nothing about. I don't know what he'll gain from it .I am not gaining anything .

The nurses leave me in the ward . I could feel the room had changed. There seem to have been disinfected recently, I think they used a different labelled disinfectant because it smells different. The curtains are drawn, I could feel the sun kissing my skin . I had missed this .The warm sensation sends waves all over my body , it's ticklish but I can get used to it . I'm in a daze for some time , taking in the heat from the sun.

AIl of a sudden ,some light male footsteps coming in as the nurses depart wake me from my sun-daze . The nurses's heel steps fade . The intensifying sound of the male footsteps are drawing nearer to me , i could tell that they did not belong to either of the doctors . Staying in the hospital , I've come to recognise people easily by how they walk .Dr Douglas is always in a rush , Dr Gabes drags her feet every time while this new pair of feet ...; I'm yet to discover who it is.

'I hope it isn't father !' I exclaimed deep in my thoughts .

'I hope it really isn't him , because he's the last person I'd want to see .They cannot have possibly found me ,...NO!' I exclaimed again.

Or is it that he got to know that his chicken that lays golden eggs , fled from Cape West.

He got the money he wanted from me ,right . I signed the contract without hesitation although he forced me into . He never gave me a chance to read it but I'm sure it has to do with the property or regards the five million I'd earned from the Pritchards for the designs I created for their annual ball ,three years ago .The Pritchards really loved my works . I had designed their mother's wedding-vows renewal gown and they fell in love with my work since then. Although I'm just an ill-treated two-way stepdaughter , they still value my work without judging my background . They've given me full credit for my work every time although I'm not a renowned clothing designer yet. The Pritchards were not a selfish family. If they wanted to , they could have labelled my work as their own ,since I'm low ranking but they did not. Instead they introduced me to some high ranking persons who took some liking to my designs as well .

For every design I sold , my father ;my stepfather , Mr Smith along with his wife , my stepmother , Gazelle , never found it fit for me to have my earnings intact. I had to give them three-fifths and I'd kept two of the earnings . It was fair sharing to them . I was happy that they didn't take all of it at least .

All I wanted was to get alway from them and to die a peaceful death , alone .i wanted to go somewhere far where they wouldn't even use my corpse to extort money from my brothers by any chance. My own , whom had left the continent for far much greener pastures . I'd lost contact with them. I was well aware that Mr Smith never wanted me to join them so he deprived me of all forms of technology as I lived under him. I have made many millions , but haven't been able to get myself a cellphone . I was not allowed to own one . Mr Smith allowed me to open up my own bank savings account where I've kept all my earnings since my day-one.He was willing to personally go to the bank to open the account for me as he did not want me to go out of the house at any cost.

My life was filled with constant torture from Gazelle's two devious daughters who would hit me for no reason but to vent out their frustrations whenever they felt like it. Gazelle hated my existence , so she thrashed me and always felt relief when my whole body was swollen . Mr Smith on his part , didn't really care about me . My mother had remarried after my father's passing . There was my two brothers , my mother and me , left in the world .I was the most loved and youngest. My brothers had already matured ten years ago ,so my mother had permitted them to go wherever they wanted to provided they'd keep her informed at all times .I was twelve. After they left , my mother met Mr Smith ; they fell in love . Mr Smith moved in with us . Back then Mr Smith seemed to have fitted into my late dad's shoes perfectly . He was a good father to me .I made space for him in my heart.

My brothers used to visit every here and then for a while. My mother suffered from cancer and died when I was fourteen leaving me in Mr Smith's care. I last saw my brothers at my mother's funeral. They did not wait much long , they wanted to return to their lives abroad. I chose to stay behind with Mr Smith instead of leaving my life in Cape West and moving in with one of my brothers away from home. Mr Smith had been a good father to me, I would've felt bad to leave him alone. All the family property was left in my name as the youngest. A part of me wanted to stay behind so that I would feel closer to my mom and dad who had both passed if I continue to stay in the house .

Mr Smith changed over night . He'd enquired to transfer the property into his name but the lawyers told him that it would only be possible once I became of age , at eighteen.