Episode 4

Nellie and her brother hawked on the dusty streets of Lagos, both already accustomed to their new reality.

The hot sun seemed to bite into them without mercy and the encroaching feeling of weakness intensified by every step and breath they took; this was yet another thing they had gotten accustomed to.

At first, life was cold and hard but once they gave up the desires to go to school, the need to be seen as humans and the hope to be loved again, it became bearable. The streets were their domain, they knew every nook and cranny like the back of their hands. After plying these streets for more than a year, it was safe to say that this was their second home.

They would take their proportion of goods to be sold for the day, then they would bid each other farewell and best of luck before splitting. Each heading their separate ways, with the goal of covering more grounds.

.

*****

Nellie was exhausted and to top it all off, She was having a really bad day; no one seemed to be interested in the goods she was hawking, which meant she couldn't go back home just yet, worse of all, it was getting late.

She was extremely hungry, and although It was a normal experience for both her and Peter, it still didn't change the fact that her stomach was scorching all the same. Their stepmom fed them small rations once a day only to keep them from starving and even then, it was on the condition that they sell all the goods before coming back home each day. So Nellie knew it was likely that she might end up going to bed on an empty stomach due to the unsold goods that were still on her tray.

She leaned by the side of a parked car along the road with her tray of goods by her side as silent tears flooded from her helpless eyes onto her shoulder but her face was as hard as stone, the frown never leaving her face or lips. She only wished Peter was having better luck than she was, she couldn't stand another night of watching her baby brother cry himself to sleep on account of unbearable starvation, he barely had any skin left on his boney little body as it was. She wished their birth mother had gone with him at least, he was only a year old-maybe if she had taken her baby, just maybe, his life would have been a little bit better than this although she knew at the back of her mind that their birth mother would probably have been worse, after all, she did abandon them without looking back.

Nellie looked up from her tears stained eyes and noticed two young men approaching her so she quickly used the back of her hand to wipe away the tears that had clouded her vision and immediately put on a smile with hope starting to swirl in her heart for the first time in a long while.

"Young girl, how much does your bread cost?" one of the men asked taking one out of the tray to inspect it.

"It's a hundred and fifty Naira" she replied and the man nodded his head in consideration.

"We will buy everything off you. Do you have change?" He brought out a one thousand Naira note and showed it to her, and instantly, Nellie's heart leapt for joy- finally, I will be able to go home-she thought to herself; quickly, she took out her small money satchel which she had previously hidden away under her shirt for safekeeping; but before she could open it and exchange the money, one of the men snatched the bag from her hand and both men immediately took to their heels leaving her shouting and run after them but of course, it wasn't easy for her to catch up to them on her shorter legs so she ended up falling flat on her face.

People saw yet no one did anything to help. This was her life, one of constant turmoil and unhappiness, a meaningless existence. Her heart hardened and she picked herself off the dirt, went back for her tray, deciding there was no use hanging around anymore, it was time she went back home and faced the music.

*****

"Hey, are you okay?" a young man in his early twenties walked up to Nellie as she bent down to pick up her tray of unsold goods, sounding genuinely concerned. Nellie scuffed, where was he a minute ago? She thought to herself before turning to angrily glare at him.

"Of course I'm not okay. Those men stole all the money I made today and nobody did a thing about it! I have to go back home and accept my punishment." Tears filled her eyes and strong hatred for everyone around her began to make her body shake uncontrollably.

"Please calm down Miss. I'm so sorry I was late to your rescue."

He smiled but Nellie wasn't interested in anything he had to say, so she decided it was best to just walk away from him; but he quickly grabbed her hand stopping her before she could go any further and then, he went ahead to place some money on her tray with a smile brightening up his features.

"I really hope this covers up your troubles today Miss. Meet me right here tomorrow morning by ten; I promise to buy everything on your tray." He gave her a small wave, with that, he turned around and walked away leaving Nellie staring after him completely stunned.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***