BEAUTIFUL ME

 

PART TWENTY

"THE STORY"

BY UMORU PRAISE

The trio assembled at the center four days after their talk with Jeremy and Malia. Their countenance were still sad. Quinn had called in that she had to make an emergence trip but told the trio to meet at the center where she would meet up with them. Although both teams had filled her little details from their interviews

Quinn walked into the room also with a sad countenance

“Where have you been, you just zoomed off and refused to tell anyone a thing “Tony snapped but gave her a hug “you got everyone worried”

Quinn froze when Tony hugged her but her brain shook her to the real issue

“I am so sorry. I just had an idea that instance and I quickly took it, I wanted to have something in hand before telling you guys anything”

“Well…we are finally done with our story” Alex said from a far end seating on a stool and leaning on the wall melancholically

“Sadly we are” Eli breathed a heavy sigh on the sofa

“It turns out Frank died of Obsessive love Disorder (OLD)” Tony said

“What? What does that mean?” Quinn was confused

“It’s a delusional condition where a victim loves someone and feels they are meant to be together and if things doesn’t turn out the way the victim wants, they can likely cause themselves harm” Tony explained

“It seems that’s what happened to Frank. He was really in love with Malia and not being able to have her, he committed suicide”

“What!?” Quinn was stunned at what she was hearing “who gave you guys that ideology. That isn’t what happened. Frank never had a case of OLD whatever… neither did he commit suicide. 

Frank was sick”

“What!?” the trio all exclaimed in oneness

“And how do you know that?” Alex asked

“Because that’s what his autopsy and mum told me”

“Wait!” Tony halted the details “you flew over to his house?! Why would you do that without telling anyone?”

“Because you might act this way and stop me if I had told you. But that doesn’t matter now, does it. I’m back and I am fine besides I didn’t go alone”

“Who accompanied you” Tony asked out of concern

“A nice person. My parents wouldn’t let me go alone and he volunteered to accompany…”

“A ‘he’?!

“Would you guys please continue this your ‘I must protect my best friend’ interrogation and let’s get to the bottom of this story please” Elizabeth snapped

“Sorry” Tony apologized. He went off to seat beside Eli”

“Soooo…” Eli beckoned on Quinn

Quinn began “when I got to Frank’s house the first day, I couldn’t get it because of the security. Nobody knew me and because I had no one that I knew, I wasn’t let it. I had to call my parents the next day if they could pull me through to the Family but they didn’t know them but luckily my dad had a senior ambassador as a friend who he called to see if he had a connection with the family. Few hours later, I was told something had been worked out…”

“Quinn no offence” Eli cut her in “just cut the long story short and start from the part you met the family and they told you what happened to Frank”

“Eishh fine. I was only able to see his mum. She was still grieving because I still saw her on black. I thought it would be difficult getting her to talk about her son, but when she knew I was from the school and that I knew Malia, she gave me her attention.”

I went straight to the Question after giving my condolence.

*****

“I wouldn’t want to waste your time ma because I can see you are still grieving but I came on behave of the school. We lost a friend but we didn’t know how, when or why. We were only given a bombshell about his death. We just want to know what really happened. Because a lot has happened after his death and I won’t lie to you, it has affected a lot of people” Quinn spoke with the voice of a consoling voice of a journalist. Frank’s mother gave a heavy sigh of guilt

“What really happened ma?”

“My pursuit for wealth and fame didn’t make me realize the hurt I was causing my son. As a parent it is only normal that we want the best for our children. I and my husband grew up with a silver spoon, so all we wanted was our children to live the same comfortable life throughout their years on earth. We traveled very often, in a month only, we would travel about ten times for one reason or the other. Our first three grew up so well following the family’s choice of career and when it got to Frank’s time…” she wiped a tear with her white handkerchief.

A maid brought Quinn a glass of juice. Mrs. Ambrose waved her hands towards the maid and she left

“When it got to Frank’s time” Mrs. Ambrose continued “we thought it would be the same but he was very slow. We felt he just needed time. We didn’t take things seriously. 

Before we realized he had dyslexia, he was already in high school.”

“My point is” she wiped the tears that streamed down “we just never gave him our time and that’s why we couldn’t even see that our son was going through tough times. When we started seeing good improvements both in his academics and his behavior I was so happy all our efforts where paying off.” When he came home the day before his death, he behaved all enthusiastic and so elated. Frank looked so cheerful with his smile on. He was saying a lot of things during dinner, but we never knew those were going to be his last words” Mrs. Ambrose hesitated

“How do you mean ma?”

She breathed heavily “Frank died from Melanoma”

“Excuse me?!” Quinn didn’t know when she raised her voice in confusion. Mrs. Ambrose was bewildered “I mean, what is Melanoma”

“It is another name for Skin cancer”

“What? Oh my God. Cancer? How?

“You know the saying that too much of everything isn’t good…”

“Yes ma” Quinn answered attentively

“Frank got too much of the radiation from tanning beds which affected his skin for years which resulted into the skin cancer that finally resulted to his death” Mrs. Ambrose busted into tears “and I am such a terrible mother, I didn’t even notice my baby was sick all because of my carelessness.”

Quinn didn’t know what to do or say to her

“I am so sorry ma” Quinn muttered “but I don’t understand ma, how does a tanning bed cause skin cancer?” Quinn felt confused “I thought the tanning bed is a means of relaxation and a mode of giving the skin a good glow” Quinn never fails to use the tanning bed whenever she returns home for the holiday. So she didn’t understand how it was of any disadvantage.

Mrs. Ambrose consoled herself, wiping her tears

“I thought same myself, because I use it also. But the doctor who did a verified autopsy threw more light into it. He said the tanning bed emits Ultraviolet radiation that stimulates the production of melanin; which is a pigment producing cell that gives color to the skin which is cancerous” Quinn gave Mrs. Ambrose a confused look which made Mrs. Ambrose explain better “the ultraviolet is an organic tanning method. The radiation it gives is just like that of the sun, and with this the skin is assaulted, abused in that short period by the artificial UV(Ultraviolet) rays which are even more intense than the natural sun rays.”

“Soo…” Quinn began to see clarity “consistent use causes the skin cancer?”

“Yes, especially fair people, they are more prone to the sickness after usage. There are other reasons and ways it is cancerous to the body and that’s why I have stopped myself from it. Prevention is better than cure”

“I understand what you mean ma, the symptoms. Was there any?”

“We saw a red mole on his chest, it is the first and primary symptom, according to the doctor. His skin had some side irritation also in other places”

“I am really so sorry ma” That very moment Quinn already banned her heart from the love of tanning before she told her body. She gave Mrs. Ambrose some minutes to get herself back together then she asked 

“you said he was saying a lot of things during dinner, can I ask what they were?”

“He begged every member of the family to come home so we could have dinner all together that he had something really important to tell us about. Because of his continuously pleading everyone had to reschedule whatever they had planned. I can still remember the broad grin he gave when everyone sat down. He made jokes to my hearing for the first time. It was the best dinner I have ever had with all my children. I had always prayed and wished I had the chance to seat with my family all together again. No body usually had the time to come home again, everyone was always busy, but that day, my dying son made my wish come true” she busted into tears again “I didn’t know that would be the last time I would be seeing my complete family laugh all together” she spoke amidst her tears.”

“He told us everything about his life, and that the joy of seeing us all together intrigued him. He even told us about a lady he had feelings for back in college. He said her name is...” Mrs. Ambrose shrugged her head trying to remember her name

“Malia…”

“Exactly, Malia is the name. Oh he spoke sweetly about the lady. I could see his blush whenever he mentioned her name or spoke about her. I could see the joy she brought to him. He told us about his meeting with her. His brothers and sister teased him about his love for the lady he spoke of” Mrs. Ambrose laughed and cried at the same time “it was a lovely family gathering that I will never forget thanks to my lovely son. I wish I had spent so much time with him instead of wasting my time outside” she could no longer hold her tears

Mrs. Ambrose didn’t look like she was in the mood to talk anymore, so Quinn stood up to take her leave

“My dear, could you put me through to Malia please” Quinn heard Mrs. Ambrose say amidst her profuse tears

Quinn was surprised and wanted to verify she heard her well enough “ma?”

“When we got to Frank’s room the next day, we found a box in his hand beautifully wrapped. It seemed he slept with it in his hand because it was difficult removing it from his grip”

“Did you open it ma?”

“I couldn’t dare, it was written ‘To Malia’ it wasn’t our place to read and it was his last wish for us to fulfill”

Quinn melted emotionally. Quinn quickly gave Malia’s contact to Mrs. Ambrose

“I gave Malia the gift already” Mrs. Ambrose said noticing Quinn’s curiosity “but she didn’t want to read it. But I won’t pressure her. I just want to keep in touch with her. She has done a lot for this family, and she doesn’t deserve to be let off the hook just like that…”

*****

“Wow” the trio exclaimed all together

“Do you think she has opened the gift?” Alex asked the Trio