She was walking aimlessly down the streets. She didn't count the first street she had gone through and neither did she count the others. She didn't have to. No one would notice that she actually went down any of those streets. This had happened more times than never. She couldn't fathom if she was hungry or if she had something stuck to her stomach but she felt something crawl around her stomach. She knew what hunger felt like and she knew that at one point in her life, if she had felt hungry she would have gotten something to eat. But at this point, she didn't know where she could get a meal or if she could eat anything.
She sat on the floor and watched as pedestrians plowed the walkway. Her dress was torn and soiled with blood, like someone dipped her in a bucket of blood but she knew better. The last thing, she remembered was that it was exactly five minutes after twelve on some clock she happened to have looked at when something was about to happen. She didn't know what made her look up at that clock. She was in a cleaner dress but she could remember feeling weak and afraid, like she had no other choice than to accept her faith. She didn't know what had made her scared or why she had been weak. It could be that the time that's been ringing in her mind represents something that she can't remember.
Remembering the time, she wasn't sure if it was five minutes after midnight or midday but she had a feeling that something had happened within that time. She felt it, like an old pain that wouldn't go away. She didn't remember anything else apart from when she woke up. She was lying on the red sand in a farmland and a young girl was tilling the soil with a hoe but try as she may, she couldn't get the girl's attention. She had assumed that the girl was deaf but that would mean that her entire family were deaf. Neither of them spoke nor looked at her. And she thought that she should have assumed that they were equally blind but how is it that they could look at each other, speak to each other and call on either one of them. And none of them needed help to walk or do any manual labor. Ever since then, a knot had formed in her throat and something had crawled all over her stomach. She might as well be hungry but she didn't have any money that she could use to buy anything.
She had resulted to scavenging which didn't go in her favour. She would pick foods left in the dustbin but she could neither chew, swallow nor feel satisfied that she had eaten anything. Life was seemingly meaningless and she didn't have the mind to leave her spot until she knew what she would do.
Mercy was rushing for her lectures. She has not finished the novel that her GSP lecturer had told them to read and summarize as a homework. But she wouldn't worry. Her worry were far from school work and assignments that would be due in two weeks times. It's been two days now and she has not seen any flier indicating that a girl was missing. Where could she be? Unbeknownst to her, she had turned her direction towards the bus stop. She just had to see if the young dirty girl was sitting on the waiting seat maybe picking on her hair, drawing figurative matchsticks on the sand or maybe she's begging for alms. The more she thought about it, the more sense it made to her and the more hope she built within herself. She wouldn't settle for less than what she wanted but on reaching there, she felt a crushing defeat that she had never felt before. Something that a philosopher would classify has "...kill her heart and crush her soul" type of disappointment. This made her very angry and with that mindset and the face to show it, she stormed all the way to class and into the lecture hall. Dr. Taiwo was giving a lecture and on seeing the young lady who didn't comport herself while entering his class made him so angry. With that anger, he shouted, demanding that Mercy should leave the classroom. Mercy stood up to apologise but Jay, who had always thought of her as his girlfriend stood up and said,
"Abegi, doc. Leave am, jor. You for no let this one pass."
Jay is a popular, rich, powerful boy around campus and through his connections, everyone knew not to mess with him. Dr. Taiwo tuned down his anger and kept on teaching. His eyes were narrowed at the white board and a vein stuck out by the side of his head. He wandered why lecturers have to watch what they say and why some somewhat privileged students should wield so much power only after displaying a few bad characters.
Mercy didn't mind that Jay had gotten her out of trouble. She sat on her sit and put her hands on the desk, laying her head on them. Jay leant on his sit and observed her. He's an Igbo boy and wouldn't normally obsess over an Hausa girl but Mercy is one girl that he couldn't stop thinking about. Already, he has it in mind that she's his future wife. He had thought about why he would obsess over her so much that he imagined them when they were married with kids. To him, it's a sign from Jehovah, baba God that his wife is staring him right in his face. And though he's thought about this so many times, he wondered what his parents' reaction would be if he brought her home; especially his mother and his cousins. It's only a matter of time, he had thought within himself.
He had joined the Damiens because he needed cash and his father wasn't providing the needed cash to "wow" Mercy. She always wore her headgear, or whatever the wrapper looking cloth on her hair is called, he had noticed. Within him, he had decided that after they got married, she would stop the habit of wearing the sorry excuse of a headgear. She always had her eyes lined with black eye pencil or what she would call, "kohl". He had teased her about it and she had told him what it was. He wondered if she was actually a poor person. She wears beautiful clothes like every female but he noticed that she switches her clothes almost all the time making it seem like she's wearing different clothes but she's actually wearing the same clothes. He didn't know how he noticed it but after he did, it was easy to point out the clothes she wears more often than the others. Even now, the trousers she's wearing, she wore them two days ago and the shirt she's wearing, she wore them four days ago.
She turned her head towards him and let out a tiny breath before she opened her eyes and met his. He grinned at her but she hissed and used a book to cover her face. He decided to use the gesture as an opening for discussion.
"This one wey you bone face like this. I hope all is well." he asked.
"Shut up, Jason. We are in class." his archenemies, Ria shushed him.
Jay released a breath and shot a stink eye at Ria. She's one girl that he can never get along with. She acts like she's really friends with Mercy but Jay could see the jealousy and anger whenever the two are together. He wouldn't say that they were best friends but Mercy doesn't talk to anyone in class or she rarely do and only is ever seen with books or a bag as if she's heading to the library or any empty building to read. Ria has been talking to Mercy for as long as he could remember but he knows that Ria doesn't like Mercy and Mercy seems to have no opinion about Ria.
"See, Ria. If you open that dirty mouth again eh, you will see the other side of me."
"She doesn't like you. Deal with it." Ria said with an eye roll.
The girl in question sat up and laid her GSP textbook on the desk in front of her. She was really disturbed and she just can't understand why a single homeless girl will get to her when no one has ever done; not even the almighty jay. She rolled her eyes and opened her textbook. She should better get ready for class, listen to Dr. Taiwo or skip the class and keep on wondering about some stupid homeless girl that she met in the bus. For a second, she thought she saw the homeless looking girl leaning on the window, as if looking through it. But in a blink of an eye, she was nowhere to be found.