"I, Mayari, renouncing every citizen in this land. The entirety will compensate for the few and soon, humans will beseech for mercy."
The people are left speechless, including me, Sol.
Mayari, a rare name for a country like ours but somehow resembles a feeling of familiarity.
The landlady beside me looks worried as she tap me on my shoulders, comforting me that everything will be alright. However, the demolished door is left standing no more.
The landlady whispered on a humorous manner. "I'll use the money from your parents for the repair, also, you can stay for a month or two, rent-free. No buts." She then returned to her usual character as if nothing happened. "The repairman will go today, I'll call him. Here this is some of your money from your parents. Go somewhere and nowhere here for the mean time and clean up your mess first." As she handed me a couple of cash knowing I'm broke.
I'm still flabbergasted by what fate have in stored. Everything is just too swift that I'm having a hard time grasping all of it. It's like I'm inside a fictional universe where problems are all piling up.
The onlookers returned to their apartments while bringing some gossip to entertain themselves.
It would be more utter chaos if my parents found out what happened.
*Ring*
And seems like they got the details already. Probably, the landlady gave them a quick call to alert my safety. Maybe, that's what parents should behave towards their child? I don't know. Just maybe?
I ignored the call, letting it be dropped. I altered it to silent mode, clean some easy dirt and fetched my hoodie, I'm ready to go outside once again. I fix my hair along the path, tying it half-way just to make it look neat. My phone will die out soon. Then as I check on it, I see a missed call that just adds to this nightmare. It's from my part-time.
I hurriedly rush to the convenience store. Good thing its just a few blocks away. I shoved aside every pedestrians that came my way. It'll be unlucky for me if they found a replacement already. But, an absence, even a single one can be pretty devastating. They can unhesitatingly fire anyone. Especially if its too sudden.
Breath in and out.
I pant. My legs feel like they are going numb as well as my body. I never sprinted this way before. Probably the last time I ran was way back in high school. But it's not like this. This is way harsh. The air outside is as cold as December breeze. It's cold yet I'm sweating profusely.
I push the glass-framed door with an OPEN signage and by my surprise, the store manager welcomed me. With a cold sneer she insultingly said, "There you are honeybee. You're fired."
I expected this. But, I can't let this go. "Ma'am, I'm sorry. Things just happened last night and also, I encountered a real near-death experience. Please, let me have my job back!" as I appealed. She just chuckled.
"One guy said he's been hospitalized and sprained his ankle but he's fine the next day. The other one said his mother's neighbor's daughter's friend passed the exam and they celebrate so he forgot his night routine duty. The last guy said he's been on a car accident but showed up with no fracture or casts. Honey, try a better excuse. Something like a meteor showed up at your front yard and broke the pinky in your right toe. Like that, something more convincing," she dissed, hinting that I should get going.
Seems like another bad luck. I walked away miserably. It made me reminisce that ever since youth, it felt like I'm a living disaster. Misfortunes follow me everywhere. I even thought that it's coming from my previous household but tragically, the misfortune is me.
However, I shouldn't linger on this loneliness. I don't want this to swallow me whole until it drowns me. Currently, I'm just at the bottom of my game, I'll just have to wait what life throws me. Bad luck are always there to help us thrive.
Once again, I'm outside being sentimental. Perhaps that's the only thing I'm good at.
Still, I should really get going and move forward. There might be an opportunity that awaits me or maybe something ever greater? A job. Who knows. But it won't come if I act depressed.
In this district, one of the busiest area in the country. Maybe, there's even at least a single job opening left there. I asked the nearest shops for a job but I'm not qualified to most of them. It's either a student part-timer, over 3 years of given expertise or needed some investment first. It would be good if I finished at least a 3-year course, a decent job will be easy to find but what's here is here and I just have to deal with looking for a job.
I continued my search and asked. Still no hopes. Bakery? Convenience store? Small cafes? Pizza parlor? Salon? They all gave me the same answer. "I'm sorry, but no." As the manager of the recent shop apologized. Sweat filled my body from neck down, job haunting is really exhausting. I sat down to rest on a bench near a lamp-- wait, a minute. This seems familiar.
This is where I encountered that "Mayari girl" and I'm not fooling for that anymore. I should be careful. Don't want to stumble to another hooligans. I look for another place to rest.
There, a good spot near a tree filled with fallen flowers of yellow and white. At first, the tree looks like it'll wither soon but actually that's just how that trees are once their season is over. Then, I sat down.
On this tropical country, there's no snowy season unlike living in the western side of the globe. The only cold weather here are rainy days or between November to January. That's why I envied them. I always dreamt of catching a snowflake with my bare hands, seems tingly yet mesmerizing. My youth sure is dreamy but I'm nowhere there, I'm still far from the future I aspire to be.
The flowers are sweet-scented and I felt tranquility. The tree made me ponder so much about myself that I started to feel a bit dozy. And so, I get up, planning to buy some light snacks before my stomach growls for such hunger. But before I could walk away, I noticed a signage posted on a metal-wired gate, written "Looking for helper". It is an orphanage.
Maybe, this is a sign! Well, it is a sign. But possibly, destiny? Maybe?
As I walked down the aisle going to the main hall, most orphans ranging from young to elderly are outside looking worried. There I heard squeals from the inside. Perhaps, this isn't a good idea. Maybe that's why they are looking for a job because they lack from helpers due to rowdy and naughty orphans.
I heard continuous yelling and breaking of things. Now, it's getting more intense. I'm sure that there's more jobs left outside this place. I was about to leave when slippers came flying towards my direction and struck me at the back of my head.
I slightly groaned from pain and rubbed my head where the slippers hit me.
"YOU!" a voice that resonates familiarity starts ringing in my eardrums. I quickly glanced from behind and a mix of fright, surprise and confusion came running in my mind all at once.
A girl dressed messy on a white gown with bandage wrapped in her left eye matching a pirate jumped out of nowhere. "WHY ARE YOU HERE??!" I shouted.
It's her, Mayari.
Indeed that I'm destined to receive misfortunes.