THE STORY 2 EP. 20

 

EPISODE TWENTY

THE STORY 2

BY PRAISE UMORU

*(flashback)*

“Frank what is it? What’s wrong with you? Are you alright?”

Malia couldn’t stop her questions from flying out with so much concern after hearing the tone Frank asked her to meet him up.

She expected either a meet up at the cafeteria or an eatery but surprisingly he booked her a plane ticket to the home of the Ambrose. She felt a sense of urgency and fear when she heard his voice so she took the flight without a second thought and headed for his home. 

She was taken to Frank’s bedroom where she saw him lying on the bed with his hands on his head looking sick.

Frank sat up immediately he heard her voice laying out various concerned questions. A smile lit on his face on seeing the beautiful lady his heart yarned for, leaving everything she had to do behind just to see him “I’m much better now that you are here”

“What’s that supposed to mean, is this a prank or what?” Malia’s voice tuned from concern to that of anger

Frank signaled for his friend to give them some time alone leaving Malia and Frank alone in the room

“No. I really I’m not feeling well. But your presence is just like medicine and I feel much stronger already.” Frank tried to put a smile on her face but it wasn’t forth coming

“Don’t try to use words on me Frank, I just took a flight that I never planned for neither did I tell my parents about it. I left everything behind, I didn’t even have the time to tell Jeremy because I was in such disarray thinking you were badly hurt or something and here you are placing a smug on your face.”

Frank couldn’t help it. This lady always made him smile and feel good, even in her angry state, she still looked beautiful. And with her risking everything just to make sure he was fine made him even happier

He went close to her and hugged her putting Malia in a shocked condition “I already booked another flight back for you. I just wanted to see my best friend and have some fun with her since she has been too busy for me”

“That doesn’t give you the right to fake an illness” Malia said still stuck in the tight embrace

“I’m sorry, but you would never have come if I didn’t” Frank lied “I’m sorry, please don’t be mad” Frank spoke like a three year old child that pleaded for forgiveness

Malia sighed defeated “well I’ m here already, I might as well just try to enjoy it”

Pulling away from the embrace he said “you will, I promise” his face lit up with joy like a two year old as he took her out for a house detour

*****

“Why didn’t you ever tell us you went to Frank’s house?” 

Tony who had already arrived at the Centre after been called by Alex about the presence of Irene questioned Malia

“Why didn’t you tell us about that?” Alex joined in the interrogation

“And when did you visit the Mansion and my parents didn’t get to know about it?”

Irene who was trying to calm her nerves down also joined the questioning. All eyes where fixated on Malia seeking for respective answers.

“they ….they weren’t around” Malia stuttered as she responded to Irene’s question “Frank told me they travelled as usual and won’t be back for days”

“Why didn’t you tell us this in the first place” Tony redirected his question but Malia couldn’t mutter any word. She kept on gulping down each saliva she generated. Her heart raced hard as each eyes pierced her skin with disgust

“Did you even leave the Mansion that same day?” Irene glared at Malia waiting for a response

“I… I…”

“You what…”  A familiar voice echoed into the ears of the each person in the Centre from the door step causing a shiver in Malia’s body “Tell them what you did” Jeremy glared at Malia

*****

(Quinn and Eli)

“I haven’t heard anything after you guys returned from Sanji’s stream with all the commotion that has been happening”

“To be honest babe, nothing new. We all haven’t focused on Frank’s case with everyone’s personal issue rattling up here and there.” Quinn responded

“So what now. I mean Irene didn’t give us all the time in the world even if she has been lenient and I know Malia isn’t still taking things well with Jeremy still in jail even if she behaves like she doesn’t care”

Quinn gave a deep sigh still relaxed on the couch “I know… but we have nothing right now. Our visit to Sanji’s stream was to no avail. There wasn’t a single sign of a hemlock plant.” Quinn giggled 

“What?” Eli asked, surprised at her friend’s sudden sense of amusement

“Tim said Tayo flipped like a high dog when he mistook a plant for the poisonous hemlock”

“How is that possible?” 

Quinn shrugged her shoulders “I don’t know. Although he took a picture of it. Here” Quinn showed Eli a picture of an identical plant similar to that of the poisonous hemlock”

“Wow… it really does look alike”

“Yeah…” Quinn placed her phone back on the couch and returned to her relaxed position. Her digestive system were slow workers. She closed her eyes while she filled Eli more details nonchalantly “I even spoke to Dr. Badmus about it and he confirmed that the plant belongs to the botanical family of Apiaceae”

“What’s that?”

“Veges like carrot, parsnips and some others belong to that family. So it’s merely possible that they belong to such families they could look alike and also have other plants or flowering plants that look like them”

“So you are saying there are high tendencies some veges can be mistaken for the poisonous hemlock”

“I guess so”

“Quinn don’t you see!” 

“I don’t understand…. See what” Quinn tiredly turned her gaze to Eli whose head was brimming with different thoughts

“If you guys went to the stream, the only place Frank could have possibly gone to and you found no hemlock plant. It means it wasn’t accidental…. I mean his death!”

“Okay… I think we had that rounded up a long time ago Eli” Quinn turned back to her relaxed position but Eli yanked her away from her comfort making her sit up “what…?!” Quinn exclaimed frustrated. She already felt like taking a nap after that whole consumption

“Quinn what if he was poisoned through his food!” Eli took Quinn’s phone hurriedly and searched through the internet for the labelled diagram of the poisonous plant “Quinn look”

The image they gazed at terrified them both at the shocking similarity the poisonous plant has with the carrot family

“The root looks just like a carrot!” Eli exclaimed all paranoid as always

Quinn muttered her next words “Malia once said carrots where Frank’s favorite” the two ladies gazed at each other in horror.

As they were both lost in their thoughts, Quinn’s ringtone startled them both back to their consciousness

It was Tim”

To be continued…

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