Shola sat on the edge of her hospital bed, contemplating how to achieve justice for Aminat's ghost. Time was also of the essence, and she urgently needed to find a solution before Doctor Collins returned with her food.
"I don't even know where to start from," Shola muttered. "I wish I could figure out where Doctor Collins is hiding the serum; that would be enough evidence to nail him and send him to prison."
"I know where the serum is, Shola," Helen's ghost replied. "I've seen Doctor Collins take it out of the safe in his office several times. However, the locker is highly secure and only he knows the combination. I could have taken it earlier, but my ability to interact with objects is limited and brief. As a ghost, I'm not as effective as a living human like you."
"So, are you saying there isn't a way to get into this secret safe?" Shola asked, now turning to stare at Helen's ghost. "We could report Doctor Collins to the police, and they would obtain a warrant to open the safe. If the police officers find the serum there, that would be solid evidence. What do you think?"
"We cannot involve the police just yet," Helen's ghost replied. "Doctor Collins is cautious with the serum and doesn't just hide it in the safe alone. What if the officers check and can't find anything? If that happens, he will realize that people are on his trail, and getting justice for Aminat might become impossible."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Shola asked, looking confused.
"We should break into the safe instead," Helen's ghost replied. "Using a tool like a hammer could make the job a bit easier."
"What! Breaking into a safe in a hospital?" Shola exclaimed, frowning as she processed Helen's suggestion. "That's risky. The noise alone would attract attention, and security personnel would likely intervene. Besides, it's not exactly something I know how to do."
After a moment of contemplation between Shola and Helen's ghost, the room fell silent as Shola tapped her feet against the floor, trying to think of a better approach to the situation. She also considered running away to save her own life first, but the pity in Aminat's ghostly face stopped her from considering that idea, and she finally resolved to follow Helen's suggestion.
"I'll do it," Shola said confidently. "I will break into the safe and get the serum as soon as possible."
"But how are you going to pull that off?" Aminat's ghost asked, joining the conversation for the first time.
"That's what I don't know yet," Shola replied. "But one thing I do know is that Doctor Collins needs to be distracted. If we can make him leave his office, it'll give me a chance to sneak in and break into the safe."
"Distracting him makes a lot of sense to me," Helen's ghost said, supporting Shola's idea. "However, how much time will distracting him actually buy us? It will barely be enough to accomplish the task. The best strategy is to create a distraction big enough to draw everyone's attention. If the distraction is large enough, it will keep not just Doctor Collins, but anyone else from noticing you."
"What distraction do you suggest, then?" Shola asked, turning to Helen's ghost for an answer.
"I think we should trigger a false alarm," Helen advised.
"A false alarm?" Shola questioned. "What kind of alarm are you talking about?"
"The fire alarm," Helen's ghost said plainly.
"Fire alarm?" Shola exclaimed in shock. "Are you serious right now? Triggering a fire alarm in a hospital, where some patients are critically ill, is reckless. What if they panic and it leads to serious consequences?"
"There won't be serious consequences," Helen's ghost reassured her. "My father and the rest of the medical ghost team have been monitoring the patients since we arrived here in the spiritual realm. I'm familiar with the stability of every patient in this hospital. Besides, it's just a false alarm. Not like a real fire is happening."
Shola leaned back on her bed and began considering the approach. "If the alarm goes off, it will cause enough chaos to distract everyone, including Doctor Collins, and also give me the opportunity to sneak into his office," she muttered silently. "That's bold. I think it might actually work."
"Yeah, it might work," Aminat said slowly. "But everything about this whole crazy plan is scary. Please be careful, Shola, and don't get into trouble because of me."
"Don't worry too much about me, Aminat," Shola replied to the young ghost. "Our plan starts now, and I need to act quickly and escape before Doctor Collins returns with the food and starts pressuring me to take the injection."
"I'll also be on the lookout for you, Shola," Helen's ghost said. "You'll need to move quickly once the alarm goes off, because there won't be much time before security starts sweeping through the building."
"You can count on me," Shola replied bodly. "I believe that handing the serum over to the police will prove Doctor Collins guilty. He will have a lot of explaining to do once he's apprehended."
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(POV - DOCTOR COLLINS OFFICE).
Meanwhile, Doctor Collins entered his office and closed the door firmly behind him. He brought out a plastic container of the serum and placed it on his desk. That was the only quantity he had left with him, and none was stored in his safe at the moment. He had taken the largest quantity of the serum home, intending to try it on his daughter if it reacted well on Shola's body.
Frustrated by his failed mission, he tossed his lab coat aside in anger, annoyed that his plan to inject Shola with the serum hadn't progressed as he had hoped.
Doctor Collins sat on his desk and reached for his phone, intending to call Emmanuel, who had gone out to fetch food earlier. He wanted to ask Emmanuel to buy something for Shola on his way back. His primary concern was not Shola's well-being, but rather ensuring she was fed to make her more receptive to the injection afterward. As he picked up his phone to dial Emmanuel's number, he suddenly froze as a memory of his earlier interactions with Shola crossed his mind.
Doctor Collins recalled how Shola was always stared at a particular corner in her ward, as though she were looking at something or someone.
Initially, he had dismissed it, thinking Shola was disoriented and behaving like someone recovering from trauma. However, the direction of her gaze began to trouble him now.
"What was Shola looking at?" Doctor Collins muttered under his breath.
Being a man of science, he had always rejected irrational notions, including the possibility that Shola might be seeing something unexplainable. Ghosts weren't real, and his Doctor career had been rooted in logic, facts, and medical evidence.
Yet, the thought that Shola might be seeing something strange continued to bother him. The more he tried to dismiss it, the more unsettled he felt, and he found himself thinking about it again.
"I'm a doctor, not a superstitious fool," Doctor Collins declared, shaking off the thought. But Shola's repeated resurrections after he had confirmed her death twice, caused more troubling ideas in his mind.
"But wait," Doctor Collins pondered. "What if Shola is actually seeing ghosts? She did claim twice to have seen them after all, and the way she trembled and shook frantically adds support to her claim."
"Could it be the ghosts of the others?" Doctor Collins speculated further. "The ones I tested the serum on? Could Shola somehow be connected to them? Was she seeing their spirits, or was this all in her mind?"
"No, that's nonsense," Doctor Collins said firmly, shaking his head. "Ghosts don't roam the earth unless scientifically proven."
As these thoughts continued to race through his mind, the loud wailing of the fire alarm suddenly interrupted him.
Doctor Collins was startled, he leapt to his feet, and ran out of his office in fear, forgetting the serum container he had placed on his desk earlier.
"Fire! Fire!" Chaos erupted as everyone began running in panic. Doctor Collins joined the crowd heading to the designated evacuation point meant to keep them safe from the fire.
"What in the world is going on?" Doctor Collins muttered as he reached the evacuation area. But he hadn't even settled in when he remembered the serum he had left on his office desk. He was alerted at once, and he sprinted back toward his office.
Meanwhile, Helen's ghost kept watch outside, while Aminat's ghost and Shola entered Doctor Collins' office in search of the serum.
Upon entering the office, Aminat saw the serum container sitting on the desk, but she ignored it because she didn't realize it was the very item they were looking for.
Shola was also so focused on breaking into the safe that she didn't notice the serum container on the table either. She pounded repeatedly on Doctor Collins' safe, desperate to open it.
While on the lookout and watching the hallway, Helen's ghost spotted someone running toward the office. She took a closer look and realized it was Doctor Collins, before vanishing. Her ghost reappeared in the doctor's office, urgently warning Shola that they needed to leave at once.
But Shola was already close to breaking into the safe, and she refused to stop or listen to Helen's warning. Helen was also extremely anxious and concerned for Shola's safety; her worries caused her not to see the serum they were searching for, which was sitting on the table..
After a few moments, Doctor Collins burst into his office just as Shola was close to damaging the safe. His eyes darted from Shola, and back to the serum container on his desk..
"Maybe I shouldn't ignore the supernatural after all," Doctor Collins said, pointing at the serum on his office table. "Is this what you're looking for?" he asked Shola.
"I'm curious to know, Shola," Doctor Collins continued. "How do you even know about the serum? Your actions suggest to me that you might indeed be communicating with strange entities. But now that you know my secret, you can't be allowed to tell anyone. I'll silence you, just like the ghosts you've been speaking with."
Without hesitation, Doctor Collins grabbed a fire extinguisher and struck Shola on the head, delivering a fatal blow that made her collapse immediately onto the floor. He turned around after that to pick the serum from his desk. But to his shock, the serum was gone.
"Was it not right here before I hit Shola?" Doctor Collins muttered, frantically searching the table and the floor. But despite his efforts, the serum was nowhere to be found, and panic set in immediately.
To be continued…..
@Berry Tyra
DEATH CAN WAIT - EPISODE 15