2 The Arrival

The eight-hour journey to the city was full of new places and sceneries that Ben had never seen before. This was by far the best journey had ever been on in his entire life. Ben has just alighted the bus from the countryside and even the air of the city was different. The huge city was filled with an alien smell of car fumes in the air, cars honking from every direction, and people walking others running from one direction to another. Despite feeling scared of the city and being alone at this onset of a new journey, Ben was happy and satisfied with the sight of all the big and tall story buildings. Cars littered the streets like empty husks. They were the main cause of global warming but this no longer mattered to anyone, at least not yet. Ben looked up and rotated his head three hundred and sixty degrees, his eyebrows raised, his forehead covered with horizontal wrinkles, and eyes wide open as if he had seen a flying monkey. As he was admiring the city, from behind him he felt a strong push, the push was so strong that the old backpack he had on his back fell to the ground.``Move out of the way you lost newbie``Bellowed a husky voice from behind him. A ruffian pushed by him, carrying a sack whose contents must be heavy judging from his hunched back and shoulders. 

Not only was this city busier than his hometown, but its residents were insanely rude too. He ignored the ruffian with no desire to pick a fight—especially not after such a tiresome journey. Ben walked in the busy streets of the city trying to find a way to his new home. Ben had never been to this city and knew no one in the city. He walked towards a police officer slowly cleanching his bag as tight as he could because he had heard several stories of people being snatched bags and any items they had in their hands. He shyly walked towards the lady in navy blue trousers a white shirt and a navy blue hat, the fact that this was a lady made Ben have some sense of security and assurance that he could get the help he needed.

"Excuse me, madam officer, I am new here and I would like to ask you for directions to the buses heading to Milestone town," Ben uttered calmly and respectably.

"Hello young man, yes just use your phone type in google maps Milestone stage you will see it. " she answered him with a smile. 

As Ben was trying to type in the name she noticed he was finding it hard to do and she stretched her hand suggesting she does it for him. He gave her the phone and after a few seconds, she gave him back the phone and told him.

"Follow this route you will get to where you want to the PSVs heading to Milestone"

"Thank you," Ben said and headed in the direction he was told.

 He found his way to the bus station to his new home. They tout a young boy for whatever reason that doesn't seem to seat well in his brain had two of his canine teeth replaced with silver teeth that shone out of his smallmouth with a few tiny beards that he kept pulling said ``Milestone?``, this was the name of his new home, ``Yes``, Ben replied. The way this tout presented himself kept bothering Ben, he had on a pair of skinny jeans that looked like it was sucking the life out of him. His t-shirt well-fitting, holding onto his body like a drowning man holding onto a floating log, The tight clothes looked ridiculous on his skinny body but  Ben chose to mind his business. In less than twenty-five noisy minutes, the driver hopped onto the bus and coughed the engine to life

In his hometown, as small as it was, passengers paid as they alighted the vehicle but here in the city to Ben's surprise no sooner had the bus started than the conductor of the vehicle started to collect the bus fare. After collecting from about five people and we all heard the conductor shout ``Please bus fare is one hundred shillings, let's not get into any confusion please.`` And as Ben was still confused and hardly anyone knew what was going on all we heard was, ``Driver there is a defaulter here ``, and in less than ten seconds the bus had stopped a gentleman well dressed in his nice suit with a well tucked in shirt and very expensive looking shoes was pushed out of the vehicle and we were out of there. The journey to Milestone was not that quick because, unlike his small town, in the city, the cars were as many as one could count. Darkness was creeping in and all one could see were red brake lights of over one hundred cars in front of them. The beauty of this city was unmatched by anything Ben had seen in his entire life. Loud blasting music was playing in the PSV vehicle Ben was in and he could feel his eardrums vibrate. The only time Ben heard this loud music back at home was when he went to a nightclub once at the end of the year for new year celebrations. 

After spending slightly over an hour on the road, Ben would now be at Milestone in less than ten minutes. The bus came to a halt and the passengers stood up and Ben did the same. Unlike the city's central business district, there were no skyscrapers here. This was a small town with the highest building having six floors, these were only two buildings that were standing out at what seemed to be the town's main business hub. The other houses that dominated this innocent little town looked like rental apartments. Ben's face lit up with a smile with wrinkles running from the sides of his nose to the corner of his mouth, wide enough to be seen by everyone around him. His mouth parting and exposing all his thirty-two teeth.