Pay Back The Money.

They pushed the door open very violently before entering the house. They were three, and they were all putting on really casual suits without knotting ties at all.

Fear gripped me a little the moment they barged into the house, and I was like, 'Who are they? Are they thieves?'.

But from the way they were dressed, they didn't seem like thieves...

So who the fuck were they? Why did they barge into the house like that? I noticed the girl's eyes widen the moment they barged into the house with shock on her face.

After barging into the house, they began walking toward us. And now, I was so scared, what the fuck was happening? Who were they? I was scared they might injure us or something.

..Looking at the way they barged into the house, they seemed violent.

The one in front spoke as they were still walking toward us...

"Who do we have here?".

The moment they reached where we were standing, I didn't even know what gave me the courage to ask them this,

"Who are you guys?".

The moment I was asking that question, the man in front was already grabbing me by the collar. And the moment he'd done so, he flung me to the side as I landed on the ground.

Then he uttered to the girl while standing in front of her, "So, do you have our money now? Don't you dare tell me you don't have it. I've been patient with you guys, and I'm already losing it".

Fright was evident on the girl's face as words couldn't even flow out of her mouth. It was evident she didn't have the money...and she was so afraid to say it out, not knowing what would happen when she says it.

..They came with so much violence, look at the way they barged into the house, she was so afraid.

I stood up from the ground, and it was now I was starting to understand who these men were and the business they had with this family.

Seems like they were loan sharks, and they lent a certain amount of money to this family which they were finding hard to pay back. And from what I knew about loan sharks, they can be so inconsiderate sometimes.

Look at the way they barged into the house, can't they at least respect the sick woman lying on the mattress?

I didn't want to get involved for now, so I wouldn't receive a punch in the face. He pushed me aside the first time, if I tried rubbish again, he might punch me in the face this time.

..So I decided to watch for now and see how things play out.

"Aren't you going to answer me?". The man voiced out so audibly.

She fidgeted the moment the man's voice resounded again, then she uttered with fright evident in her voice,

"W...We don't have your money yet, b...but my brother is out there striving so hard to generate the money so we'd pay you guys back".

She even stuttered a little while speaking, she was so afraid...

"This is what you've been telling me for weeks now. If I get a hold of your brother, I'm going to do a lot of things to him. He was the one that borrowed the money from us, and seeing he wouldn't be able to pay back, he ran away,

Considering how wicked of a brother he is, he left you and your sick mother here to bear the problems that would come with not paying back the money,

Can't you see how wicked he is? Then he keeps deceiving you over the phone telling you he's striving hard to generate the money". The man said.

"No, he's truly working hard to generate the money". She stated once again.

"Don't give me shit! Then, if he's working hard to generate the money, where is it?". The man voiced out so audibly once again.

..And it was at this moment that the sick woman woke up.

When I saw that she'd woken up, I felt pity for her. A sick woman wouldn't be able to rest in her own house? This man has woken her up with his loud voice.

The moment she woke up, she was like, "Please, we'd pay you back. My son is truly trying to gather the money to pay you guys back".

Her voice was so weak and low, and her face looked pale and tired...

"How long would it take? He told us he'd pay us back as fast as possible when we were lending him the money. Now months have passed, and there's no sign of when you guys would pay back the money". The man voiced out audibly, he didn't even care that it was a sick woman he was talking to.

"Please, give us some more time, please". She uttered once again, her voice so weak.

"Mum, please don't stress out yourself. Try to go back to sleep, I'd handle this". The girl voiced out, she was saying that even though she was afraid.

I just stood there glancing at the occurrence, wow, this family was going through a lot. Apart from the fact that poverty was looming around, the mum was also very sick and there was no money to treat her.

They were still owing loan sharks on top of that...too many problems.

"The next time I come here, there'd be no negotiating with me. If you guys don't have my money the next time I come here, I'd be taking you. There's no amount of pleading that would make me change my mind, I promise,

Better tell your brother to find a way to provide the money. If he doesn't, as I said, the next time I come here, I'd be taking you, and we'd use you to do whatever we wanted. I hope you understand".

The girl did nothing else but to nod her head, then the man turned around, glanced at the other men in suits, and said to them...

"Let's get going".

And with that, all of them walked out of the house. So the plan was to take this beautiful girl away when next they come and their money isn't given to them...wow!

******

It's been minutes since the loan sharks left, and the girl's mum had already gone back to sleep. The girl was sitting on a certain couch in the living room, and I was sitting on one as well.

And you know what? I'd already gotten to know her name and her age. Her name was Jemima, and she was 21 years old.

There was a gloomy expression on her face as she was sitting on the couch, she'd gone through a lot. These past months hadn't been easy for her at all.

She wasn't just sitting on the couch, she was explaining something to me. After the loan sharks left, and she'd calmed down to an extent, I asked her why they had to borrow money from loan sharks.

And she had to start explaining...and it hadn't been long since she started explaining.

"That's when we found out the shocking news that our mum had Hypercalcemia. And according to what the doctor told us, we needed to pay $3,000 for any kind of treatment to begin,

We didn't have that amount considering how poor we are. There was no one to help us out, no relatives to help us out, nothing. So my brother had to borrow $4,000 from loan sharks saying he'd pay up in the next few weeks,

They said when he wants to pay back, he'd pay back with $6,000, so they added $2,000 interest to the amount borrowed. All my brother cared about was for the illness to be treated and for our mum's life to be saved,

He didn't even know how he'd pay back the money or anything, he just borrowed it. We paid the money, and our mum was operated on, the illness was treated. But after a few weeks, the illness came back,

It was during that time we discovered that the doctor that operated on our mum wasn't that experienced, that's why he charged $3,000 to treat the sickness,

According to what we were told, the normal amount to treat Hypercalcemia was from $9,000 to $10,000. So it was just like we were duped, and we were so shattered,

We met with the doctor, and he kept telling us he treated the illness properly, he didn't know why it came back, whereas, he knew he was lying. We couldn't do anything about it, we couldn't charge him to court, nothing,

What can poor people like us do? At that very moment, we knew our problems had doubled".