Chapter 3 EPISODE 3

"Caleb Williams"

Since they arrived in Cameroon, they had done nothing but take tourist trips. Caleb had almost forgotten what it was like to be in Africa. The last time he was in Cameroon was over 15 years ago when his grandmother passed away. He was just a teenager at the time. He finds the country beautiful and the people very sociable and courteous.

While his entire family went on a tourist trip to the city of Kribi last night, Caleb was very tired and decided to stay in Yaoundé to rest.

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It's 12 o'clock when Caleb wakes up, he gently rubs his eyes with his fingers before opening them. Still sitting in his big golden bed, he subtly runs his hand through his beautiful hair to put it back in its place... Little by little, sadness does not fail to invade his heart when he thinks of Anissa and the fact that once again, he was wrong about the woman he shared his life with. Nevertheless, he does not intend to let this wound spoil his stay in this country, so he must continue to be strong.

Standing up, he nonchalantly walks towards the large windows at the other end of his room, pushes the curtains aside before opening the bay window. He is greeted by this light warm wind which comes subtly to caress his face. A magnificent smile does not fail then to be drawn on its pretty red pulpy lips. He observes in the distance children who are playing on the asphalt road. It does not fail to remind him the silly things he did when he was their age.

« How stupid! » He thinks, it makes him smile more.

He turns around and heads for his bathroom. Once clean, he goes downstairs to the living room and asks the cleaning lady to get in the kitchen to prepare his lunch. About thirty minutes later, he sits down to eat.

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The big clock on the wall of the Williams' living room shows 3 p.m., Caleb sitting in his sofa is getting bored. For more than thirty minutes he has been flipping through the TV looking for something he could watch to entertain himself. Having found nothing to his liking, he goes back to his room. The emotion of boredom is growing inside him, however, because he doesn't know what to do to entertain himself. So he begins to regret not having gone to Kribi with his family. Lying in his big bed with a surgery book in his hand that he is trying to read, an idea comes to his mind. He gets up and puts on presentable clothes before heading to the parking lot where he gets into his car.

He drives to the gate, the guard gets up to open it for him. Oops, he almost forgot to contact the tourist agency to ask them to assign him a tour guide for a little walk in the city... Having received a favorable answer, he stays in his vehicle waiting for the guide. 45 minutes later, the guide arrives at the Williams' residence and Caleb gives him the wheel of his car.

« Do you have any idea where you'd like us to revisit first? » the guide asks in a voice full of respect.

« Uh...Yeah, let's go to UHC please. »

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In front of the gate of the University Hospital of Yaoundé 1, the guard asks the guide why he would like to enter the hospital. Caleb, in the back of the car, intervenes and presents him with his official documents without failing to explain his motivation to gain access. The latter apologizes for having embarrassed a health staff and opens the gate at once. He shows them from afar where the parking lot is.

The first time he and his family visited this hospital, it was a cursory visit. So Caleb came back on this day to sort of deepen his visit.

Inside the UHC, the guide slowly leads him to each department. With a smile on his face, Caleb did not fail to say hello to the patients in the different departments. The guide suggested that he visit the prestigious Faculty of Medicine, which is right next to the University Hospital.

He accepts and the guide leads him towards the corridor which leads directly to the faculty. On the way, Caleb sees a building isolated from the other buildings of the hospital. From afar, he realizes that the said building is very dilapidated...

« Which department is that over there? » Caleb asks, pointing to said building.

« Oh, that's the old psychiatry department, it's now ... », tries to answer the guide.

« ...Near the surgery department, yes I remember. » interrupted Caleb.

« Why don't you visit it before you go to the faculty? », he added.

« It hasn't been functional for over five years and I think it's very unsanitary for you... » Retorts the guide to stop him.

« I am not a super human Rodrigue, reassure you! », declares the doctor with a warm smile on his lips. He immediately starts to move forward.

Once in the building, Caleb moves forward opening the doors of each room to see what is there.

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A few feet away from where the two are now, a young woman's voice, crying, suddenly reaches their ears. They look at each other surprised. Instinctively, Caleb moves forward by pressing the step towards the origin of the voice. Thinking that the person is a patient who perhaps escaped of some service of the hospital center...

In front of the glass door, he sees a silhouette of a woman sitting on the floor with her face between her legs. She has turned her back to the door. Next to her, there is a black backpack on the floor. The state of the floor being very dirty, Caleb wonders inwardly what is going on and pushes at the same time the door to enter. The creaking of the door makes the person sitting in that room instantly get up and turn to see who is this person who just violated his privacy. Immediately, she wipes the tears that had filled her pretty round face and picks up her bag with the intention of getting out of that room in a hurry. She is so ashamed that this man looking like a mannequin found her in such a shabby state. If she had been in possession of supernatural powers, she would have preferred to disappear. Unfortunately, she did not.

Caleb as for him is brutally struck by her natural beauty that he forgets his state of discomfort... He tries to place a word, but he does not succeed... He tries to look at her in order to meet her glance, but this last has the glance everywhere except towards him.

Seeing what she is about to do, Caleb quickly pulls himself together and tries to stop her.

« Uh..., sorry, but can't you get out of here in this condition? You're not well...And... »

Jemima doesn't listen to him and quickly presses her way out. Caleb asks his guide to go for a walk. As soon as this last leaves the room, Caleb closes the door at once by preventing Jemima from leaving. This one does not say a word and frantically puts the hand on the wrist to open it. Caleb strongly seizes her hand and this one struggles in vain so that he leaves her.

She is not well and Caleb as a doctor does not want to let her leave in this state. He would like at least that she calms down before leaving. She stops struggling and goes to take place on a table bench. She makes a superhuman effort not to cry, defeated, the tears start again to flow of her eyes. Taken of empathy, Caleb decides to go to take place on the seat which is right in front of her. He says nothing and observes her as if he wanted to probe her...

15 minutes later, Jemima stops crying and wipes her eyes. She feels Caleb's heavy look on her and she doesn't have the courage to look up.

« I'm calm, can I go now? », Jemima asks with a downcast look.

« Yes, if and only if you look at me! » retorts Caleb innocently.

She shudders in his bosom and with a sudden gesture, she gets up to leave.

« I can't look him in the eye, plus who does he think he is to give me this condition? Is this his hospital? Pff! » she asked herself inwardly.

He doesn't understand why she reacts so abruptly, what did he say wrong? Why doesn't she want to look at him? « She's weird this chick, I just want to see the color of her eyes. » He thinks.

Caleb stands up at the same time and grabs her hand firmly. By reflex, Jemima instinctively raises her eyes and looks at him in a split second before lowering her gaze afterwards. Caleb still had time to see her eyes, he finds her beautiful. He was almost electrified by her glance, so much it is beautiful, in spite of his divergent squint.

« They are brown your eyes! » He declares while continuing to devour it of the glance.

« You make my hand hurt Sir, » declares Jemima by ignoring his remark.

He loosens then his hold

« I must go to class, I would not like to be late... » Adds Jemima so that this last leaves it.

« I don't mind dropping you off if you don't mind. » He states hoping that she accepts.

« No need, it's right back here! » She retorts curtly.

« Too bad, I would have liked to keep you company longer. Can I have your contact? Please. »

« No! », she retorted in a firm tone.

« ...Please! », again, he asks more tenderly.

Jemima, seeing that he is not ready to let her leave without this number, decides to give it to him to get rid of him. Caleb lets go of her arm and she leaves the room almost running. What makes him smile.