THE GIRL I NEVER HAD, PART 7

So Lucy was part of the plot to get me expelled? I thought she was beautiful, but I never knew she had such an ugly mind. I didn’t ask her mum any more questions. I simply told her I wanted to rest. She left me alone on the bed and went back to her daughter.

Not long after, my mum entered the ward with a steaming bowl of banku and okro stew. My favorite. I can eat it three times a day without complaint. I’m cocksure that even in death, if someone served me banku and okro stew, I’d rise from the grave, do justice to it, and then return quietly to the afterlife.

It was 10 a.m. and I was starving. Hunger was part of the weakness I felt. I washed my hands and dug in. But halfway through, I heard a sound—loud retching. I turned toward Lucy’s bed. She was vomiting. Poor Lucy.

That single sound killed my appetite. I couldn’t continue. The bowl that could’ve raised me from the dead suddenly meant nothing.

I was still angry at Lucy for conspiring against me, but pity tugged at my chest. Despite it all, I still loved her. In fact, the more she suffered, the stronger my love grew. I wished it was that ugly JK who was sick in her place. Poor Lucy!

I decided I’d talk to her, but not in front of our mothers. When the chance finally came—miraculously—we were alone. I got up, still weak but steady, and walked toward her bed.

She had her back to me. At the sound of my footsteps, she turned. The look on her face was priceless—wide-eyed, stunned.

“Jesus Christ, KD—is that you?” she blurted.

Her outburst even confused me. I wasn’t sure which of the two names she thought was mine. But then she smiled. That same infectious smile I’d always known.

I pulled a chair beside her bed. She was in her nightdress. Her dress was a bit light so one could see through it. I could see the nipples of her succulent breasts piercing through her dress. I couldn't take my eyes off it. For close to a minute, my eyes were fixed on her breasts, and mercilessly feeding on them. I didn't even realize she was talking to me, until she covered them with her bedsheet.