WHO IS TO BLAME

Part 9

It was about 7:30pm when Esther woke up with a terrible headache. She found Ann and Mercy sitting beside her on the bed.

"Having a headache baby?" Asked Ann kinda teasing Essie.

"Baby?" Asked Essie holding her head in pain.

"Dont tell me you don't recall a thing? You spent the whole day sleeping mentioning Rashid's name and calling all of us baby. You were talking senseless things. Tell me you do remember" said Ann in a rush but Essie just kept looking at her blankly.

"Let her be Ann. Get the tumeric milk for her. She's got hangovers and she has school tommorrow" said Mercy helping her sit and placed a pillow behind her head.

"I dont want tumeric milk" muttered Essie slowly.

"Ohoo baby, you'll have it today. You got drunk and you have hangovers. You need to cure the headache because students need you tommorrow. So i'll get the tumeric milk and you'll drink it. You like it or not, you'll have it" said Ann and left the room.

"Relax and dont mind her. But you really need the tumeric milk. Rashid said you should have it. Your parents are not home and they shouldn't find you like this" explained Mercy

"Rashid said i should have it?" Asked Essie again

"Yes. So will you have it?" Asked Mercy and Essie nodded. The alcohol was still in her and she was still behaving childish and stubborn. Ann brought a glass of tumeric milk and she made her drink. Essie closed her nose with her hand as she drank the milk. 

"Good baby. Now you'll get better" said Ann still teasing her and Essie went back to bed.

"We'll have to stay here with her. She's got school tommorrow. She might wake up late" said Mercy.

"You can stay but i have to go. My patients will wait for me at the hospital" said Ann who was a doctor.

"Its okay you can go" said Mercy and Ann left. Mercy took care of Essie the whole night and wiped out her vomit. She vomited atleast twice and that was a good sign of getting better. Rashid called on her phone to check on her and Mercy picked up. The night was long but at last it was morning. Essie woke up feeling better and was glad Mercy never left her side. She was still asleep and Essie wrote a thank you note for her before leaving for school. She got in her black Peugeot and headed to pick up princess. She arrived within minutes and walked up to Rashid's door and just as she was about to knock, Fatuma walked out with princess.

"Good morning princess" greeted Essie but princess ignored her.

"She doesnt want your greetings Essie" said Fatuma

"Aunt Fatuma please take me to school" said princess

"But i always take you to school princess" said Essie feeling dissapointed.

"You are a bad influence to her and she hates you with passion. Just go away Essie. No one wants you here. Come baby girl, we'll use the shortcut" said Fatuma and got the girl to leave but Essie stopped her.

"What did i do wrong to you? Why do you hate me Fatuma? Is it because of Rashid?" Asked miss Essie

"Yes! Yes its because of Rashid. You are such an irritating woman. Dont you see that we dont want you? You are just pretending to care so that Rashid gets to love you but he will never love you. He only loves aunt Fatuma and it will never be you. Just leave us alone! Just go!" Yelled princess making Essie have teary eyes and ran back to her car.

"She looks angry. She and her family are killers and judging by how she walked away, she might even kidnap you. She might see you as a distraction to get to your brother. Lets be careful" said Fatuma to princess who nodded and the two used the shortcut.

Rashid had gone early fishing to get fish for his butchery when Fatuma came in to pick princess for School. Miss Essie had already left when he came back and he smelt her perfume and smiled. Fatuma and princess were passing through a narrow path when some men gathered infront of them. Princess who was standing at the front felt someone put a cloth on her face and she was slowly losing conciousness as she heard Fatuma scream.

"Essie! Dont take my princess. Essie!" Screamed Fatuma who saw the men lifting up Princess and went away with her. Fatuma followed the men until they got into a black Nissan and left. It was still very early in the morning and people at the road were less. Fatuma applied mud on her face and clothes and also teared up her dress also injuring her hand and legs.She also sprayed herself with Red rose perfume which was Essie's favourite perfume.She then ran back to Rashid's place pretending to breath heavily as she called out to Rashid. She attracted attention of many who quickly surrounded her as Rashid rushed to her. 

"Fatuma what happened to you?" Asked Rashid looking worried.

"Its...its...miss Essie. She kidnapped Princess and her men tried to molest me but i escaped. She is a bad woman" said Fatuma in crocodile tears.

"Miss Essie? Essie can never do such a thing Fatuma" said Rashid

"You think am lieing? I tried taking princess away but she pushed me on mud and told her men to molest me. I fought back with all might and escaped as they took princess away. I even smell her perfume. Dont feel it?" Asked Fatuma in tears and Rashid felt the perfume.

"But why would Essie do such a thing? She loves princess alot" said Rashid looking confused and everyone murmured slowly in groups.

"No she doesnt love princess. She loves you. She is obsessed by you and was using princess to get to you. But today princess refused to go to school with her because her family killed your parents. I think Essie saw that she was being a distraction thats why she kidnapped her. Now she will pretend that she knows nothing at all" said Fatuma still in tears and everyone gasped at every word she said.

"Stop it Fatuma" said Rashid irritated in that people were hearing what he wanted to be a secret. 

"Rashid the rich are not good people to poor people like us. She is a bad woman. Go ask her where is your sister" said Fatuma and Rashid left without thinking. The small gathered crowd began to leave in small groups still discussing except one person. He stood there until Fatuma noticed him. It was the butcher guy. 

"And what are you looking at? Get back to work" said Fatuma and went inside Rashid's house. She sat on the sofa and smiled devilishly.