GOOD day everyone so I wrote this interesting story in five chapters and I'll be posting the series for a period of 5 days.
THE chapters will be posted irregularly, skipping days.
I would like to tell what the story is all about but no. You find out yourself.
Image source (image text added by me, using add text app)
So everyone, meet emmanuel, mostly know as Emmy. Emmy did not grow up thinking about success. He grew up thinking about tomorrow, what they would eat, who would lend them money, and whether school fees would be paid on time.
Most mornings began the same way. His mother woke before sunrise to fetch water, sometimes returning tired before the day had even started. Emmy and his siblings prepared for school without certainty. Some days, they went. Other days, they stayed home because there was no money for transport or fees.
At fifteen, Emmy noticed something uncomfortable: poverty had become normal in his house. His brothers joked about it when there was no food. They laughed about borrowing and not returning things. His parents spoke less, mostly in whispers at night. Only Emmy stayed awake, staring at the ceiling, counting problems he had no answers for.
He wasn’t the smartest in class. Teachers didn’t single him out. He passed some subjects, failed others. He often missed school to help his mother sell food by the roadside or to look after Bella when she was sick. When he returned to class, he copied notes from friends and accepted punishments quietly.
One term, Bella was sent home twice for unpaid fees. The second time, Emmy walked her back himself. He avoided her eyes as they passed other students. That evening, he went to meet a neighbor who sometimes gave him small work. He swept a shop for two days and used the money to pay part of her fees.
After school, Emmy worked wherever he could. He carried loads in the market. He washed plates at a roadside restaurant. Some evenings, he returned home with food; other times, only with dust on his clothes. He kept his earnings in different places because money never stayed long in his hands.
Once, he saved for weeks to buy a pair of shoes. Two days after buying them, his mother asked for the money he had left to help with food. Emmy didn’t argue. He went back to wearing his old sandals.
During one rainy season, their roof leaked badly. Emmy spent nights shifting buckets as water dripped onto the floor. In the mornings, he went to school tired. A teacher asked why he slept in class. He didn’t answer.
His father’s health began to decline around that time. Hospital visits increased. Bills piled up. Emmy missed exams to follow his parents to clinics. Sometimes they returned with drugs. Sometimes with nothing.
He tried saving again small notes wrapped in paper. Each time an emergency came, the money disappeared. He began to understand that planning was difficult when survival kept interrupting.
One afternoon, he followed a man who sold phone accessories in the market. He watched how the man negotiated, how he tracked stock, how he avoided debt. Emmy asked questions. The man answered some, ignored others.
By the time Emmy turned sixteen, nothing had changed much in the house. But he had changed how he watched things. He paid attention to prices, to people, to patterns. He stopped asking for things he knew couldn’t be provided.
He still didn’t know how he would escape this life.
But every night, he made sure Bella’s shoes were dry for the next day.
And every morning, he went back out again.
Curious about what becomes of Emmy?
Watch out for chapters two.
It will be dropping on Monday by 1:00 p.m. GMT
Engage by sharing your thoughts in Emmy's life.
Thank you
