Chapter 1
Jasper Haule was 15 minutes early, but his shift handler was not there. There was no one in the nursing station. That was one of the reasons he never liked being early, especially there at Ruvuma Regional Hospital. He has always been thinking that we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm. That was life. Ward 10 was very quiet. He couldn’t even hear a snore. He was glad doctors discharged that patient who was snoring like a generator. At least nurses on the night shift could sleep now.
Nonetheless, Jasper was pretty sure that his shift handler wasn’t gone. She couldn’t just be gone. That wasn’t Eva’s style. And apart from that, no nurse could just leave the ward without handling the shift. No one has ever done that, even the lazy and the always-tired nurses.
In hospitals, many things happen, especially at night. Perhaps, one of those things that many nurses pray not to happen, happened. Maybe that was why he didn’t find Eva sitting in front of that ugly, old Dell desktop computer doing what many, if not all nurses, disliked doing. Charting medications, and writing nurse’s notes. Or perhaps, nothing bad happened and Jasper’s mind, like every human mind, was complicating the situation. In the absence of information, we tend to jump to the worst conclusions. Maybe Eva was in the ward rooms talking to a patient, or she was in another ward gossiping with her friends, or she could be anywhere in the hospital busy being deceived by whatever snake with an apple she was with as she waited for the legendary latecomer, Jasper Haule.
The old Dell desktop’s screen was black. Yes, and broke. Jasper clicked on the space button, and the black screen was replaced with a welcome message. Dell-blished. He logged in to his Afya EHMS account. His eyebrows tensed. Total number of patients was eleven. That was strange. It was the same number he left yesterday afternoon when he handled his morning shift.
He looked at the table, massaging his forehead. There were three new patients’ cards. That means Eva didn’t admit these patients. That wasn’t abnormal, because most of the time, doctors walk with their nurses’ accounts and admit those patients by themselves. Doctors are simple people. They save lives and they save their fellow co-workers. But if any doctor admitted these patients, they would have appeared in the nurses’ patients list. And now the list showed only eleven patients. That being said, the only explanation was these three new patients were not seen by any doctor till now. Why on earth? Two reasons. Eva didn’t call the doctor or the doctor was called and never came. Jasper massaged his earlobe.
Jasper turned to the nurses’ medication book. He turned the pages till he reached the medication list on 3rdFebruary. He shook his head. No patient was given any medication that morning. No vital signs were recorded. Nothing was done. That was very bizarre. All patients were usually given their medications at 6 AM. It was now a few minutes to 8 AM and nothing was recorded. Maybe vital signs were taken and medications were given but Eva didn’t record them on the book. Which was also bizarre. And as his nurse in charge preferred saying, not recorded, not done.
Eva had been acting weirdly lately. She seemed to have lost interest and pleasure in activities she formerly enjoyed. She had difficulty concentrating on work, remembering, and even in decision-making. There was a day she gave a patient with constipation loperamide and a patient with diarrhea lactulose. Most of her co-workers were mocking her for being troubled with love issues. Maybe there was more than that and maybe it was getting more serious.
There were too many red flags to ignore, and Jasper decided that he was enough with the maybes. He entered the wards, one by one, looking for Eva. He didn’t find her. The only things he found and received were curses and the loud voices of the fuming patients rebuking about not being given their morning medications and that no one responded when patients cried out for help overnight. Where on earth was Eva Antoni?
He took his phone, searched for Eva’s number and called. He could hear Israel Mbonyi’s Nina Siri song from a very distance. That song had been Eva’s favorite. He gave a loud, short exhale. So, she was here. Or at least her phone was. And in today’s world, many people are where their phones are. She couldn’t be sleeping till now, could she? Jasper shook his head. He followed Nina Siri.
As he made each step forward, he heard Nina Siri louder. His feet followed his ears and they led him to the staff toilet. He called again. Nina Siri played again, inside the toilet.
Jasper knocked on the door.
He only heard Nina Siri.
Jasper knocked again, louder.
Israel Mbonyi was done singing. There was only silence.
Eva couldn’t be drunk. She loved a lot of things except alcohol. But sometimes, what we need is stronger than what we love. Maybe her mind needed alcohol or it needed drugs, or it needed something more severe. Suicide? Death? God forbid. Why was her phone inside the toilet and she wasn’t responding? Jasper bit his lips. A cold sweat started dripping off his face.
He knocked again.
Silence.
He compressed his lips. “Eva, are you in there?”
Silence.
He clenched his fist. The fist was trembling. “If there is someone, say something. I’m about to open this door.”
Silence.
If he was not strong enough, he could have wetted his pants. “Shit, Eva. This is not funny.”
Silence.
Shit. He grabbed the doorknob. Hesitated. Tried taking a deep breath. He couldn’t. Grabbed the door knob again. Twisted it. It was locked. He punched the door.
“Eva, you in there?”
Silence. Then a loud bang.
Jasper rushed to the nursing station, searching for the key’s box. There were no keys to the toilet. He clenched his teeth. His clothes were soaked with sweat. He was breathing fast. His mind was out of oxygen at that time, so it was of no much use for him. The only oxygen he had left in his body was for fight or flight. He flew back to the toilet.
His eyes widened. His heart started racing. His legs were losing balance. In front of him, he saw blood. Fresh blood, and too much of it. The blood was seeping down under the toilet’s door.
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Thank you for reading chapter 1. If you enjoyed reading it, please share it with your beloved ones and leave a comment in any of my socials.
See you in chapter 2
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