The vacancy notice appeared on a pale yellow wall opposite the bus stop, written in bold black letters saying
VACANCY ROOM AVAILABLE.
Bisi noticed it every morning on her way to work but she never paid attention to it until the day her life quietly broke apart.
That morning, she was sitting in the bus squeezed between strangers and holding her handbag tightly to her chest. The seat beside her was empty, it shouldn’t have mattered but it did.
For three years, that seat belonged to Sola. He always complained about the driver, about the traffic, about Lagos, about life and they will gist about it. Bisi would laugh and tell him to calm down but she missed those complaints now.
Sola had gotten down at Obalende two weeks earlier and never sat beside her again.
“This is not working Bisi, I feel empty” he had said the night before, his eyes avoiding hers.
"Empty???" Bisi exclaimed but she didn’t argue, she let him go.
As the bus moved forward, Bisi stared at the empty seat, fighting the tightness in her chest. People think heartbreak is loud with crying, shouting and begging but hers was quiet and left a deep wound inside of her.
At work, Bisi tried to focus. She was a receptionist at a small real estate office. All day, she answered calls about vacant apartments, vacant shops and empty lands
“Yes sir, it is still available”
“Yes ma, the space is empty”
But each time she said the word, it felt like she was talking about herself.
That evening, she got home to the one room apartment she shared with Sola before he moved out. His side of the wardrobe was still empty, his toothbrush was gone, his presence had vanished but the silence he left behind was loud.
Bisi sat on the bed and stared at the wall until tears dropped freely. She remembered the vacancy notice at the bus stop and the next day, she walked up to it and dialed the number before fear could stop her.
She met the landlord who didn’t ask too many questions, the room was small but clean and had one window that let in light. Bisi paid for six months with money she had been saving for marriage plans that now felt foolish.
When she moved in, the room echoed, her footsteps sounded strange. At night, she struggled to sleep because there was too much space for her alone so she had no choice than to think and remember memories with Sola.
For the first few weeks, loneliness followed her like a shadow. She ate noodles almost everyday and spoke to herself just to hear a voice. Sometimes she sat on the floor and cried without knowing exactly why.
However slowly with time, things began to change and the vacancy began to feel lighter. She started arranging the room the way she liked, she bought flowers on her way home, she played music loudly and danced without worrying about disturbing anyone and she also cooked soups she loved but Sola disliked.
One Saturday morning, she woke up and realized she was smiling for no reason 😁
That same week, her friend Kemi convinced her to download a dating app.
“Just talk" Kemi said, “You don’t have to marry anybody tomorrow”
Bisi hesitated at first but finally agreed at the long run. The app felt awkward at first, she met strange men and forced smiles with them.
But not too long, she met Femi.
Femi was a handsome man who didn’t rush, he asked about her day, he listened to her and didn’t try to fill her emptiness but he respected it.
They met for coffee, then talks and little by little, laughter came back into Bisi’s life slowly and gently.
One evening as Bisi waited at the bus stop, she noticed the vacancy notice again, it was peeling now and the edges worn out by rain and time. This made her smile.l
As the bus arrived, Bisi took a seat by the window and someone sat beside her, a stranger but she didn’t feel sad. She felt full because for the first time in a long while, the vacancy inside her was no longer empty. It was filled with love, laughter and wholeness.
Note: All pictures were generated on Meta AI
