Tabitha

Carrying a wrapped doll, Tabitha sat at the eating area of the mental hospital where she was receiving to treatment to improve her mental health. She shielded the doll from the invisible sun she alone saw in the ceiling of the building.

“Baby little boy don’t cry, baby little boy don’t cry. I love you and you love me baby little boy don’t cry”. She sang to it. “I don’t know why your big sister Shirley hasn’t come to see us. I can’t wait to tell her that you’re alive, that I found you. You were right here in this hospital waiting for me. You came to me my boy”. She spoke delusionally.

As she continued to communicate with the doll which she assumed Ryan, a nurse came up to her. “Tabitha”? He called gently.

Tabitha quickly hid the boy behind her like it was about to be take away, she shot the young male nurse a questioning look. “ You’re here to take my son away right? I won’t let you”.

The nurse cautiously inched closer and took a seat. “No Tabitha, I would never do that to you”.

Tabitha raised her brows up as if asking for assurance.The nurse nodded.

“Then why are you here”?.

The nurse lifter a pad and stared into it. “There’s a man here to see you. He said his name is Xavier”.

Immediately Tabitha heard the name, tears began to stream her face. She only knew one Xavier. Even if her mental health is all that perfect, she knew a name when she heard one. The runaway Xavier, the one she grew up with and the one who made sure she was always okay right from her childhood. He was her only family until he mysteriously disappeared.

When Tabitha got to the lobby, taking in the appearance of the man who stood before her made her eyes water seriously. He still had the appearance of the Xavier she know from years ago only that he grew older. The man Xavier; at least in his 50s, dressed in casual clothes also started crying upon seeing the state of his sister.

“I don’t want to see you”. Tabitha suddenly declared.

She turned and started to walk but she paused briefly and turned around again, only this time her eyes were more swollen and her face filled with streams of tears. “I needed you Xavier, where were you? Even if you couldn’t show up during my good time you could have at least shown up when I lost everything I had. I lost my husband and son but you were nowhere to be found”.

The man still stared at her unable to utter a word. He just stared down dejectedly like fiddling with his fingers.

“Won’t you defend yourself!!!!!”?.

Then as if realization hit her she stared at the doll in her hands, confusion clearly visible in her face. “What’s this “? She asked no one in particular.

“This isn’t Ryan, where is my boy? Where is Ryan? Where is my husband”. She asked all at once. Without Warning, she ran and grabbed Xavier’s shirt asking him the same question.

A security guard came from a corner and tried taking Tabitha away from Xavier but she wouldn’t budge. He alerted the other nurses and they came running from their duty post, one doctor came running with an injection in his hand. Immediately he got there, he pierced her skin and injected the liquid into her system

“No”!!! she screamed as soon as the injection hit her skin. “Where is Ryan”? Her voice faded off as she fell into deep slumber.

“Take her to her room and make sure you chain her hands and legs to avoid after effect of the drugs”. The doctor instructed as he faced Xavier. “ I’m sorry sir but you’ll have to leave”.

“Sure, I can come back later”. Xavier said, his voice still shaking from what he just witnessed.

“Not anytime soon sir, to ensure that she doesn’t have this kind of reaction again. May you can check back in a week or two”.

Xavier stared at the doctor dejected. “I understand”. They shook hands and both went separate ways.

Shirley entered into the kitchen and looked around for what to cook. The time was 8am in the morning and everyone was still asleep. She on the other hand couldn’t get a good sleep because of how loud Allison and Nicklaus were banging each other. As if that wasn’t enough they were moaning up to the roof. Maybe Sarah and Adon heard nothing because their room was a bit far away but hers was just at a stone throw.

As she scanned the cupboard just above her, her eyes caught a bucket of flour. She stretched her hand to get it but unfortunately she couldn’t reach.

“Morning”. She turned around and found Nicklaus strolling into the kitchen all smiles.

“What’s good about the morning”? Shirley fired aggressively.

“Whoa, don’t direct your anger at me miss maid, it was just a harmless greeting”. Taking a closer look at her he asked “Why are your eyes so popped up, didn’t you sleep last night”?.

Shirley scoffed. “Maybe I would have gotten a good sleep if you and your girlfriend were quieter”.

Niklause tried to understand what she was saying. Then it hit him. He laughed out loud then a wide smirk appeared on his face. “Jealous much”. He muttered but it was loud enough for Shirley to hear.

“Never”. She spat. “Never, in a thousand years will I be jealous of you”. But he already turned his back at her, humming a song and scanning inside the refrigerator for God knows what.

Immediately, Adon strolled into the kitchen and without taking notice of Niklaus he walked over to Shirley and slammed her body to his, he whispered into her ears “Plan B starts now”. Then he bent his head slightly so that his lips hovered around her neck, he fanned hot breath on the area. Shirley faked a low moan but made it louder just to spite Niklause.

Niklause watched with rage. How long have these two known each other. If they are this close it means they’ve been in a relationship for a long time and it means Sarah and his mother was right all along. Shirley is Adon’s whore. Niklause cleared his throat and the duo disengaged immediately.

“Good morning bro”. Niklause greeted glaring hard at Shirley.

“Morning Nik”. Adon replied back trying his possible best to hide his nervousness. He knew how inquisitive his kiddo could be and he wasn’t ready to explain things to him yet.

The silence became deafening as neither of them said a word. The tension began to build and Adon thought it was a good idea to leave. “I’ll leave now”.

As Adon turned to the direction of the door, he saw Sarah staring at him with unreadable expression. “How long have you been there”?

Sarah didn’t reply she just stormed back upstairs in rage. Adon shrugged his shoulder and followed behind.

Shirley turned to stare at Niklause with a victorious smirk dancing on her lips. He just stared at her, his eyes filled with rage. He slowly walked out of the kitchen squeezing the filled water can in his hand. Shirley humped a bit. She didn’t know his reason for being angry and she really didn’t care.

After breakfast everyone except Shirley gathered in the sitting room, ready to head out for the second day of the couples outing. After waiting a while, Adon saw her figure rushing down from the stairs, he quickly rushed over to help her down. “Hey, easy okay. you’re going to fall and break a bone”.

Shirley took his hand with a weird smile on her lips and whispered a thank you to him.

Niklause rolled his eyes in disgust. “When this entire charade is over please remember that we have somewhere to get to”. They turned towards the door and Shirley cleared her throat to get their attention.

They turned back again to face her and Niklause gave her a ‘what’ look.

“I’m sorry but I won’t be attending the couple outing”. She spilled.

Nik groaned angrily. “So much for making us wait this long”. Then he stormed out holding Allison closely.

Adon moved closer to Shirley and place his hand over her chest. “Are you alright? Are you unwell”?

“No I’m fine, I just need to see someone quickly”.

“Should we drop you”?

“No I can manage on my own”.

Adon briefly turned to Sarah who stood there staring at them with unreadable expressions. “Please can you excuse I and Shirley for a while”.

Sarah raised her brow at Adon. As if she hadn’t heard the first time, she stood her ground. Adon smirked and repeated the question

After Sarah walked out, much against her will, Adon asked again. “Tell me, are you okay”?.

Shirley let out a little smile struggling in her mind. She didn’t want to say anything to make it seem like she didn’t want to help him restore his almost lost relationship with Sarah. “This is hard Adon”.

She walked a little distance away and backed him. “I know I said I’d help but this is getting hard”. She continued “Sarah wants me to shift your attention away from her and here we are trying to make her jealous. What if something goes wrong? If we start getting close right now she’ll think you never loved her in the first place.

She turned to face him to ensure that everything she said sank into him and balanced well before speaking again. “And there’s Niklause his hatred for me is increasing by the day,what excuse do we give him, he is trying his possible best to bring you and Sarah together and he thinks i’m trying to ruin It”.

Listening to everything she said made Adon feel extremely sad. He didn’t want her feeling sad. “You’re wrong Shirley, he trying to bring me and Sarah together and that’s what we are also trying to do but in a more secretive way and more defined sense. I’ve got everything covered okay, there’s nothing to worry about.

After Adon and the rest had left the house Shirley set out she was going to visit her mother, the person she was afraid of meeting, well now she had the balls to see her.