The walk back to the coffee shop felt longer than usual, it felt like I've been walking for miles, my stomach grumbled loudly screaming out for food and my throat was dry, i was hungry, weak and also dehydrated, a wave of dizziness passed over me and my knees buckled, I used a nearby wall as a form of support, I stayed there for some time until I regained my balance. I needed to find food as soon as possible, the thought about food made my stomach ache, I clutched it tight in order to reduce the pain, a noise from my left caught my attention, it was a petit lady struggling with a big bag of trash, the only thing I could think about was all the half eaten food that could be in that bag, I quickly hid behind the wall so I wouldn't be seen, I felt like a hunter watching and waiting for his prey to make the wrong move, I watched her scuffle with the bag for minutes until she succeeded after the seventh attempt then kicked the dumpster before walking away, when she was finally out of sight I rushed towards the dumpster, with every step I took the pain in my stomach became almost unbearable.
I opened the top of the dumpster and the rancid smell of rotten food hit me, but that was the least of my problems right now my mind was merely focused on the freshly disposed garbage, disgusting I know, I sought for anything sharp enough to tear the bag, my eyes landed on a disposed biro at the corner, I grabbed it and rammed it into the bag tearing it, the content of the bag showed, one by one I examined them threw aside the useless stuffs then I was left with an expired bag of chips and a half drank bottle of coke, I sat down and ripped open the bag of chips and dug in. I ate like a starved animal my life was so damaged to the extent that I no longer cared. After finishing the chips and drank the coke I stood up and dusted myself, I watched as particles of the chips fell, I continued my stroll to the coffee shop, soon the little building came into view.
I walked in and was greeted with a familiar smile "welcome back, he's in there" he pointed towards a door, I smiled back "thank you" as I got to the door I adjusted my shirt and I returned the little strands of hair that has escaped its ponytail after that my hand reached for the knob then twisted it. The room smelled faintly of coffee and something else that I couldn't quite unravel, I move toward the table at the center of the room behind it was the man I met earlier, "good afternoon sir" I said as I stood there fiddling with my bracelet, he stopped what he was doing then gestured for me to sit on the chair opposite his.
"what did you want to speak about?" he said, I took out the paper from my pocket unfolded it and passed it to him,
"I found this yesterday and I was hoping if the spot was still open"
He examined the paper for a few minutes looked at me and shook his head "sorry it's been taken" he gave it back to me "I posted this two weeks ago" when he said that all my hopes came crashing down.