I can't believe these people knew my mum.
Where have they been all these years?
Why have my mum never said anything
about them or tried looking for them
while she was alive? All my life has
been lived on the streets.
We have always moved from one
place to another surviving on charity.
Most importantly, why did my Mum tell
me tor un far I never look for her again?
Was it because we couldn't pay the
hospital bills? I just feel like I never
truly knew who my mum was.
These wealthy people are here for my
mum's funeral. They know my name but
I don't know them.
While I was sitting under a tree observing
at my mum's funeral while she was being
buried by people I don't know. A man
walked up to me and said, "Lota you
have to come with me."
I looked at him and asked, "Who are you
and what's going on here?" Then he told
me he was a friend of my mum.
I had many questions but decided not
to be too curious. So I followed the
man who introduced himself as
barrister Fred.
We got his house and oh! My. I have
never entered a place like this in my life.
The place was oozing with opulence.
While I was still in my trance, a beautiful
lady who looked like she came out of a
fairytale came to welcome him.
She had flawless skin, she was tall, her
complexion was chocolate, big bright
beautiful eyes, and perfectly manicured
nails. She gave me a look I couldn't
understand and asked barrister Fred
"who is she?" Then he said, this is
Lota and she just lost her mum.
I was later shown a room and was told
that will be my room. I couldn't believe
what I was seeing. I was trying not to
wake up if it was a dream. My room
looked beautiful with a bathroom inside.
Then the lady said, "I am Shade, if
you need anything, ring the bell by your
bed and someone will attend to you."
Then she turned around and left.
All through the night, I couldn't sleep.
I was excited and sad at the same time.
I never imagined I could live in a place
like this.
I thought of my mum and what she said
while she was dying but I couldn't make
sense of anything.
I thought about barrister Fred and why he
was helping me. My life took a great turn
within a day. Before I knew it, it was dusk
and I fell into a troubled sleep, I saw my
mum bound in chains in my dream and
she was shouting "Lota!! You have to run.
You need to get away it's not safe." She
was being dragged and beaten and there
was nothing I could do to help her. I felt
paralyzed. I tried running towards her but
I couldn't move and the man dragging her
looked scary, so all I could do was shed
tears.