The Poisoner's Brew

Chapter 1 (Episode 1) My husband poisoned me and took my body to the mortuary and instructed the mortuary attendant to kill me if he discovered I was still alive—then harvest my intestines and sell them õff for ritual But I pay him back in his own coins. The glass cup slipped from my tremb|!ng hands and shattered on the floor as warm blood trickled from my nose" and mouth ."Did you poison my drink?" I asked weak|y, staring at Chibueze, my husband, who stood over me as though he was waiting for me to die ."Yes, I did," he replied coldly, his hands tucked into his pockets. "What are you going to do about it?""Why?" I whispered, struggling for breathe."What have I done to you?"I never loved you," he said, spitting on me. "I only used you as a ladder to climb out of poverty."My heart shattered ."Now that I'm rich, I think it's high time you die so I can marry the love of my life."My vision began to blur. Darkness crept in.But just before I slipped away, I saw my bestie, Judy, step into the room."What's stopping this witch from dying?" she asked Chibueze, then kissed his cheek.Tears burned in my eyes as I looked at her, disappointment crushing my soul. I wanted to speak... to scream... but my body refused to respond."Don't look at me that way," Judy said coldly. "I loved Chibueze before you came into the picture and snatched him from me, I think I'll make your death easier."She raised a wooden plank and struck me hãrd on the head.Everything went blackThey wrapped my body in a thick blanket, dragged me outside, and tossed me into the trunk of the car.I was taken to the mortuary."If she ever wakes up," Chibueze told the mortuary attendant while handing him a bundle of cash, "don't hesitate. Kill her, harvest her organs, and sell them to those who need them for ritual purposes."I lay there—silent. Lifeless, but I could still hear his betrayal tone .Unconscious for two days.On the third day... I woke up sneezing.And immediately, the mortuary attendant rushed toward me with a long syringe filled with liquid stuff..The mortuary attendant rushed toward me with a syringe filled with strange liquid clinched tightly in his hand.I closed my eyes faintly and pretended to be dead.He came closer, waving his palm slowly over my face, watching carefully to see if my eyelids would flutter. I held my breath and tightened my eyes shut.He stood over me for a long moment.Then suddenly —he pinched me so hard.Pain pain shot through my body, so sharp I nearly screamed. Every nerve in me begged me to react, but I stayed still. Silent. Lifeless .Just then, I heard approaching footsteps."Why you dey stand like that?" a voice asked. "You remember that guy two days ago wey tell us say make we share big money if this woman wake up, make I kpai her?" the mortuary attendant replied."Yes, I remember," the second man said."I been dey embalm one corpse make I carry the intestines go give Alhaji as planned. Na, so I hear sneezing for here. I abandon wetin I dey do come check. But as I reach, I don't see anything. She still dey like how dem bring her last night."You mean say you really hear her sneeze?""Yes, na. I no go talk wetin I no hear." The other man hissed."You don dey work for this mortuary for years.You know how dead bodies dey behave. E fit be say na her spirit catch co|d. Anyway, you suppose embalm her this evening—remove" her intestines" and" her heart" That Chief talk say him dey find fresh ones. Him go pay well, as always."My heart nearly stopped .I had been unconscious for two whole days?... in this mortuary.And now they were planning to operate on me alive. I gradually started hating men. If my husband can do this to me without thinking twice, then nothing is impossible for anyone to do to me. " Just go continue with the other corpse," the second man said. "Make I finish bathing the one wey her people dey come carry today. Her burial na today."They walked away, slamming the door behind them.I tried to sit up—but I couldn't. My body was weak and heavy, The cold steel of the slab felt like it was leaching the very last of my warmth. I had three hours before the "operation." My limbs were stiff, not from death, but from the frigid air and the poison still lingering in my veins. ​I will not die here, I vowed. The image of Judy kissing Chibueze fueled a fire in my chest that outshone the morgue’s dim lights. ​I rolled off the slab, crashing onto the hard floor. The pain was a blessing,it meant I could still feel. I crawled toward the back office where the attendants kept their clothes. My fingers found a heavy, rusted metal pipe near a drainage hole. ​When the door creaked open, the first attendant walked in, whistling a funeral dirge. He didn't even look at my empty slab until he was two feet away. Before he could scream, I swung. The metal pipe connected with his temple. He slumped to the ground, unconscious. ​I didn't stop. I stripped him of his oversized lab coat and cap, pulling the mask over my face. I found my "death certificate" on the desk. My husband had used a fake name for me, but his signature that arrogant, looping 'C' was unmistakable. I grabbed his phone from the table and saw the messages: “Is the trash disposed of? Alhaji is waiting.” ​I didn't leave the mortuary. I called a "private ambulance" service using the attendant's phone, pretending to be a staff member transferring a "high-priority patient." ​ Two weeks passed. Chibueze and Judy were celebrating. They had moved into the mansion my father had left for me in his will. They thought I was parts and pieces in a ritualist’s pot. ​I didn't go to the police. Not yet. I went to the one person who hated Chibueze more than I did—his former business partner whom he had cheated and sent to prison. Together, we gathered the evidence of his money laundering and the ritual killings he was connected to through the mortuary. ​On the night of their "engagement party," the house was filled with the elite of the city. Chibueze stood on the balcony, a glass of expensive champagne in his hand. ​"To a new life," he toasted, pulling Judy close. ​"To a short one," I whispered from the shadows of the garden. ​I had hacked the house’s security system. Suddenly, the upbeat music cut out. The large projector screen meant for their "love story" photos flickered to life. But it wasn't photos of them in Paris. ​It was the video I had secretly recorded from the mortuary’s hidden security feed—the one I had paid a hacker to retrieve. It showed Chibueze handing the bundle of cash to the attendant. It played the audio of him saying, "Kill her, harvest her organs." ​The guests gasped. The silence was absolute. Episode 2 ​The debt is paid ​I stepped into the light of the ballroom, dressed in the same clothes I "died" in, now cleaned but still haunting. My head was still bandaged where Judy had struck me. Judy screamed, dropping her glass. "Ghost! It's a ghost!" ​Chibueze’s face turned the colour of ash. He tried to run, but the "caterers" at the door were actually undercover detectives I had tipped off with the paper trail of his ritual involvements. ​"You said you used me as a ladder, Chibueze," I said, my voice steady and cold. "But you forgot that ladders can be kicked down." ​As the handcuffs clicked onto his wrists, the police also grabbed Judy. The "love of his life" immediately began wailing, blaming everything on him to save herself. He looked at her with the same disgust he had once shown me. ​Before they hauled him away, I leaned into his ear. ​"The mortuary attendant told me something, Chibueze. He said you hadn't fully paid the balance for the disposal.' So, I took the liberty of using your hidden offshore account—the one you kept from Judy—to pay for your legal fees. Or rather, I donated it all to the victims of organ trafficking. You’re broke, Chibueze. Just like when I met you." ​He let out a guttural cry of rage, but he was dragged into the night. ​I stood in my house, finally alone. The glass cup of my life had shattered, yes, but I had used the shards to cut my way to freedom. I walked to the kitchen, poured myself a glass of water, and made sure I was the only one who touched it. ​I was alive. And for the first time, the air felt sweet.