Chapter 1 DOUBLE TRAGEDY

• I switch off the alarm on my bedside, kicking the blanket aside and get up. With the kind of bed I have, you wake up even more tired than you were when going to bed. Damn this lifestyle! I take a quick cold bath, change my clothes and walk to the kitchen to prepare tea as fast as possible. I don't want to face my mother this morning. When the tea is ready, I put mine in my small flask and dash out with my small basket. I don't want to hear her yelling after what happened last night, nor force me to buy something that I have no budget for.
• I have been shuffling my legs for about thirty minutes, and here I am now, shock plastered on my face. Did I miss the direction to my store? No, right? This is where I have been reporting to work for the last one year. This is where my small store was. Yes. Was, because it's not there anymore. My small basket falls to the floor, while my mind goes a blank. This can't be seriously happening to me. My store is demolished, and these people are putting up a foundation for another construction I suppose. Why was I not issued a notice to vacate? What kind of inhumanity is this? I drag my shaking legs and the whole body in general to the one ordering the constructors. I'm trembling, and I am sure everyone can see that.
• "Sir, excuse me, sir?" I am trying so hard to hold back my tears. "Sir, just a minute, please." I plead, because he is ignoring me.
• "Sorry, we don't employ women. Now stop wasting my time because as you can see, I am busy." He turns to leave but I run in front of him. Busy my foot! I also should be busy mopping my store and arranging it as I wait for customers, but thanks to you animals, my store is no more.
• "I am not looking for a job, okay? I just want to know why you demolished my store without letting me know. I have always been paying rent on time. So why do this to me?"
• "I don't understand what you are talking about. I am sure you were not paying rent to any of the faces here, right?" I scan through the workers, and the crowd watching on the sides, but I can't seem to find the man who rented the store to me claiming it was his. "Go look for that person who rented you the store. Maybe if you find him our boss will reward you because we are also looking for him. We are suing him for illegally building on a piece of land that is not his. Excuse me."
• Holy crap! God come to my rescue. I should ask him why they destroyed my stock too, but I decide to save that energy. His explanation won't change the fact that all my stock is destroyed, and given his argument, I don't stand a chance for compensation. Holy God, please don't mess up with me like this. I will be doomed forever. What kind of trouble is this? Grabbing my basket from the floor, I remember I once took my payment to that man's house, Mr Emilio if that's his real name. I manoeuvre through the people and run towards the direction of his house. It's not so far from here. Where did you get the nerve to screw me like this Emilio? If I knew this is what you had done, I would have chosen to continue hawking my fruits on the roadside. I increase my pace, running like a mad person, tears flowing down.
• I get to the house that I knew belonged to this Emilio who turns out to be a con, and started knocking on it angrily, shouting his name. After a few knocks and screams of his name, the door opens, and I take a step back. I hope he clears this up. I can't afford all this.
• "Are you crazy or something? Who are you and what do you want?" That's not the voice of a man. I look up at her face. Behind her stands a man of a scary tall height. He is not Emilio. But I am sure this is his house. Unless, no. No. No! I better not jump to conclusions. "Are you suddenly deaf and mute?" The lady barked again. Doesn't she know how to speak with a low voice?
• "I am sorry, madam. Where is Emilio?" I ask, struggling to keep my breathing steady. Maybe they are his relatives? His family maybe?
• "There is no Emilio in this house. It is only my husband and I in this house. Unless he is the one you are referring to as Emilio." She points to her husband who can never be the Emilio I am looking for. I shake my head.
• "We just moved in three days ago, miss. You might be looking for the previous tenant whom we don't know. Excuse us." The man behind the lady speaks in his heavy voice. At least he answered in a more clear and direct way, not like his wife here.
• "I am sorry for bothering, you. Excuse me." I say, and I turn to leave.
• "What a crazy girl." I hear the lady murmur, but I don't blame her.
• Why won't I be crazy? Why won't I be mad? The store was my whole life. We entirely depend on it. And now it's gone? In the blink of an eye, it's all gone. How are we going to survive? How am I even going to start explaining this to my mother? I am dead. Completely dead. The bills are due this week, and the money I have on me is not even half enough for the house rent alone. What will I do? I wish they took out the stock and kept it safe for me. I would have returned to hawking again. But now, the stock is all destroyed, and I have no capital. Where do I start? Where do I turn to? Is this my end?
• "Watch out!" I snap out of my thoughts to the voices of people shouting and cars hooting endlessly, their lights blinking on me. Before I could react, I was hitting the ground with a thud. Everything happened way too fast for me to narrate, but all I know is that I have been hit by a car. I try to lift my head from the ground, but all the cells in me give up, and I give in to the darkness covering my world. Everything turns black. Maybe I was right. This really is my end.