Amaka's alarm rang at 5:30 a.m. but she didn't believe it. Not that it was broken, but the sound of the alarm always came like a betrayal alert. The regular shrill didn't just signify the beginning of a new day but it also reminded her that yesterday's dreams were yet to come true.
She lay still with her eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling fan that spun like rather in a slow motion. Her room was simply modest - a single bed with a floral bedsheet and a table beside it, a wooden wardrobe right at the end of the room, and a mirror at the other end. The air bore the faint trace of last night's instant noodles, and Mama Nkechi's akara frying downstairs.
She reached out for her phone on the table, not to check the time, as her alarm had already given her that information, but to scroll through Instagram, to see the people who lived lives that she couldn't afford. Soft girls with cool jobs and clear skin. Influencers getting new items that are way beyond her reach, and visiting places she could only relate to from TV. She didn't envy them, or did she? Not exactly. She just wondered what it felt like to wake up without a single worry in life. Slowly, she got up from her bed to get ready for the day ahead of her.
Amaka's morning routine was as regular as always. She brushed her teeth with one hand while still scrolling through social media with the other. Her bath was quick; of course the landlord was still negligent about fixing the heater, so it was a cold bath. She let out an inert scream when the water came in contact with her skin. "I wasn't born to suffer", she thought bitterly. Deep inside her, she knew she could never get used to discomfort.
She got dressed in her usual office wear - a sky blue blouse tucked into a navy blue skirt that had seemed to have seen better days, then her office heels that had no signs of wearing out soon, they were still perfectly presentable. Her makeup? Light and decent – lips lined and glossed, eyes lined nicely, and the perfect accessories to match her outfit.
Her breakfast was three slices of bread and some kind of cold tasteless tea. She had run out of cooking gas, and her older brother hadn't sent her the money she requested for. Almost everything in her life needed restocking, her serums, her beverages, her gas, she has used the last gas to prepare her last noodles the previous night, so of course her noodles too!
She wore her perfumes and picked up her bag that her cousin had gotten for her during her last visit to Lagos. She stepped out rather confidently, passing the thugs around the motor park, and looking out for the conductor who shouted "Banex!" The ride was rather smooth and interesting except that she sat beside a plus-size man who smelled like concentrated layers of sweat, or was it dead skin? She couldn't tell. Her main concern was to get out of that car as quickly as possible.
Amaka ignored the odor of the man beside her, thankfully she sat right by the car door. She stared out the window, watching the bustling city wake up. Children neatly dressed in their uniforms walking briskly to school. Of course these were those who trekked to school, they had to leave their houses early so they could arrive on time, and watch the others get dropped off by their parents. The morning sun was slowly coming up, Abuja was indeed ready for the day.
"Driver I'll stop here", someone in the car called out, bringing Amaka back to reality. She looked around only to realize that she was also already at her destination. She heaved a sigh of relief as she stepped down, silently thanking God for the lady who called out to the driver, and wondering if she would have let the driver drive past her workplace. "That would be terrible", she thought with a faint smile on her face as she confidently stepped into her office building.