When I got to the hospital, I met Preggo smiling at me as soon as I got in through the door. I knew that she was her usual cheerful self and since she had not seen any of us since yesterday, she was bound to be happier than normal.
“Good morning Mrs. Edna.” She greeted me cheerfully as always, but today I was not in the mood as I had other things rummaging through my mind.
“Good morning. How are you feeling?” I said, my terrible attempt at masking how I felt becoming more evident with everything I did.
She seemed thrown off by my cold response as I kept doing everything I had to. I gave her the usual dosage for injections and her drugs. I laced her drip with a sleeping drug so she should be asleep soon, and I will not have to bother about her for hours.
“This is completely worth it,” I muttered silently, convincing myself that it was not a big deal. I was doing all of these for her safety but mostly that of my family.
“Are you okay Mrs. Edna? You seem rather cold and distant today?” She asked me, her eyes filled with what I recognized as genuine concern.
I flinched at the raw genuineness in her eyes, and I felt guilty about what I was doing.
“I am fine. Why can’t you just shut up and mind your damn business?” I snapped at her and stormed out of the room angrily. I could not say exactly why I was so mad.
Maybe it is because of my ungrateful children or my crisis that was actually getting serious by the day. I knew that the kids would soon start asking questions, and I needed to take adequate measures to ensure that my secret was safe with me.
Only Kirsten and her grandmother knew the truth about my current condition. Since Kirsten was already gone, it made it less stressful to just send along her grandmother.
If she finds out that my son was the one that killed her only grandchild and had even raped her, she will definitely tell everyone who cares to listen that I am a crazy woman.
I knew that I had to take extreme measures, I could not risk going back from the slums and gutters that I came from. I managed to climb my way to the top and I knew that I would not let myself go back.
After leaving the hospital, I sped off to downtown, where Kirsten and her grandmother lived. I have been here only a few times, mostly when I abused Kirsten in any way and I needed to apologize to her.
It always irked me that she knows but now, Wilson’s innocent mistake has given me the avenue to do what I could not do a while ago.
I drove off in a rush, and soon I was at her house. I came down from my car and walked briskly to the house, making sure that no one would be able to make connections between her disappearance and my visit.
I got to her front door and knocked gently. I heard a very faint come in, and I eased the door open and went inside. It took a little while for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.
Everywhere was pitch black but after a few seconds, my eyes had adjusted to the light, so I could see grandmother curled up in her wheelchair in a corner of the room.
The foul smell that immediately hit my nose threatened to wipe my memory as I had to blink my eyes because it began to water at the stench.
“Grandma?” I called out gently and used my hands to feel my way to where I remembered that the switch was.
The sight that met my eyes was an eyesore and I had to quickly cover my nose, so I did not throw up on her.
“Edna? Edna, is that you?” Grandma Kirsten asked.
“Hey Grandma, it’s me. Yes, it’s Edna. What happened here?” I asked, squeezing my nose to block out the stench.
“I can’t see. Where is Kirsten? Why haven’t she come home? What have you done with her, you crazy woman?” Grandma Kirsten wailed and tried to sit up on her chair.
I didn’t even know when I rushed to her side and pushed her from her chair.
“AHH,” she screamed at me and waved her hands in the air.
It was a futile attempt as she could not see that I had walked to her kitchen and picked up a small shovel. My hand was steady as I gripped the handle of the shovel and walked quietly to where she lay on the floor, still waving her hands, trying to see if she could hit me.
My blood began to rush, and I felt my eyes more open than they had ever been. There was no way I would have brought my chicken-hearted children to help me with this.
It was gruesome and brutal but I loved it. It made me feel alive, maybe I should not try to repress my emotions when it comes to my thirst for violence.
I raised the shovel high in the air and struck heavily. I heard the cracking of bone and I knew that the metal had connected to her skull. There was a low moan from her and I could not risk her screaming, that would bring attention to the house and I would not be able to escape.
“Die, you old hag!” I said and continued to strike her hard with the shovel.
“Edna…” She moaned weakly as the blood splashed on my face and my hands.
When I noticed that she was no longer moving, I checked her bloody neck and saw that there was no more pulse. I dragged her bloodied body across the room through the kitchen and out in the back.
I had just gone to set her body down in the bush at the back of the house when I came face to face with Ashley. She had a shocked look on her face.
“Mom, what did you do?”