Layla scrolled through her phone nonchalantly at 3 am. A combination of an 8 pm redbull and the summer heat kept her awake. She could never fall asleep in summer, especially without the aircon. However now that she had to contribute to the bills she didn't feel like paying an extra $200 dollars next month. So she suffered in silence, her stomach started rumbling, upon realization that she hadn't eaten since 3 pm. Layla reluctantly headed towards the kitchen.
Opening the fridge, looking for something to eat, noticing that everything needed to either be heated up or cooked, she closed the door and grabbed the milk. She opened the pantry and grabbed the nutri grains, pouring it out slowly and as quietly as she could. Due to the fact that her mother, despite having been asleep for the past five hours, was an incredibly light sleeper. Just opening her room door would wake her, with a jump as if she suspected an attacker had entered her home.
Layla remembered at their last house whenever she went to the toilet at night her mother would wake up instantly and ask who it was. Never failing to scare her and her siblings. She didn't get why her mother asked. She knew who lived in the house and then continued to complain about her lack of sleep. But as she got older and learned more about her mom Emeka it was understandable. Growing up in a country in the midst of civil war running from shelter to shelter, then to a refugee camp. How else would you expect someone to react? Despite that she hoped she'd stop the habit eventually.
Once she was done she headed back to her room. Laying down she opened Tik Tok scrolling while eating. Halfway through her bowel she heard someone walking in the corridor and they stopped at her door. Unlike her sister her bed was lower to the ground and near the door. Due to this she had to look up, fear coursed through her body when she saw her mother. 'This couldn't be good news, 3 in the morning what could I have done now' Layla thought.
"Layla, what time did you get home?" Layla stared at her confused then realising her mother was insinuating she had just come home now. Her eyes widened in fear cursing herself for skipping lunch and having to go into the kitchen for food.
"I literally got here around 10 something." She replied quickly not wanting an argument so early in the morning. Her mum looked at her suspiciously and walked back to her mumbling to herself. Relief washed over Layla and she released the breath she had been holding. However she soon realised that it just meant she'd get yelled at a more appropriate time. That's always how it went: constant lectures from her mother about any and everything. She was getting sick of this. Actually she had noticed for some time that she was getting sick of this. Layla, never one to be told what to do. Was quick to anger whenever someone tried dictating or controlling any aspect about her life. Not that she had ever been a fan of it but as she got older and became more independent. The less she tolerated it, especially in the last 3 years. She was 20 turning 21 soon and knew she couldn't stay in this environment much longer.
She was going to move out, now for most people that's a simple normal thing to do. But as a black muslim immigrant girl, it was damn near impossible without something going really wrong. Some had lost their lives or gone into hiding to gain their freedom. Layla herself had good reasons to move out. One she's sharing a tiny room with her sister, two she sleeps on an old used bed on the floor, and three her dad is out of the country, and will be for a while. Especially since between him and mum he's the one she can't match physically and she knows he'll overpower her.
She had a job lined up in a rural town far away from the city and obscure enough to not be found. She knew people would talk but she doesn't care, never has. It wasn't something as ingrained in her as her parents would have liked. It was their own fault, Her mum and dad had 6 kids together 3 sons and 3 daughters a perfect ration. And throughout their lives they rarely visited their cousins or friends. Their mother prefers them at home, not even allowing them into the backyard most of the time. The only time they got away from home was school, the library and eid. When they had to go pray at the mosque and hopefully go to an eid festival. So she had never developed that old school fear of people talking behind her back gossiping at her expense. I mean what did she care, she hardly knew them and they hardly knew her. Anything they said was either a gross exaggeration or a plain lie. Besides, it wasn't as if she herself lived in some Austeinien land of high society where a woman was tied to a man her whole life from father to husband and where one misstep could ruin her and her family.
Layla herself believed there were three types of people in society. The ones who followed the rules because they firmly believed in their purpose and enforced them on others. Two those who obeyed for fear of social or lethal repercussions and finally those who couldn't care less and even enjoyed the shocked expression of the first type. Layla was of the third type, she loved watching the aghast faces of her 'aunts' when they saw her complete disregard of their opinions. Layla wasn't stupid however and understood she couldn't always act how she wanted for the sake of her family and knew when to behave like the perfect Ghanaian girl. Such as at her sister's charity dinner, despite all the comments about her weight, face and complexion she plastered a cherie welcoming smile. No matter how much she wished to speak her mind. She was aware she didn't fit into her community's beauty standard. She was of average height 5'4 with a deep brown skin tone. Similar to ground coffee or mahogany wood and she was on the heavier side. Although it was distributed evenly across her in the best way one could hope so, giving her an hourglass figure similar to a Coke bottle. Despite that she was seen as undesirable. Lacking the light almost pinkish white complexion model frame being preferred. Much of her earlier life had been spent on fad diets and workouts till one day when she was in year 10 she joined her schools sports team and from then on her feeling of inadequacy melted away but were always with her. Deciding that she needed her rest Layla fell into a deep sleep.