Chapter 10: The first $100
340 Words
Naomi had never worked so hard in her life.
For the past few days, she woke up early and slept late. Her laptop rarely closed, and her fingers seemed to live on the keyboard. Chapter after chapter, she wrote the story the client had asked for.
Sometimes the words came easily.
Other times she stared at the screen for minutes, trying to think of the next sentence.
But she didn’t stop.
Every time she felt tired, she remembered the number the client had written.
$100.
It was more money than Naomi had ever earned by herself.
By the end of the week, she finally typed the last sentence of the twentieth chapter.
She leaned back in her chair and took a deep breath.
“Done,” she whispered.
Her heart pounded as she sent the final file to the client.
Now all she could do was wait.
The next morning, Naomi woke up and immediately grabbed her phone. She opened the platform and refreshed the page.
Nothing.
She refreshed again.
Still nothing.
Her stomach twisted with worry.
What if the client didn’t like it?
What if they refused to pay?
Hours passed.
Then suddenly—
A notification appeared.
“Payment Received.”
Naomi’s hands began to shake as she opened the message.
There it was.
$100.00
For a moment she couldn’t breathe.
Tears filled her eyes as she stared at the number.
She ran to the living room where her mother was sitting.
“Mama!” she said breathlessly.
Her mother looked up, worried. “What happened?”
Naomi showed her the phone.
“I finished the project… and they paid me.”
Her mother looked at the amount and covered her mouth in shock.
“One hundred dollars?”
Naomi nodded.
Her mother hugged her tightly.
“You did it,” she said softly.
Naomi smiled through her tears.
For the first time in a long time, the future didn’t feel so heavy.
Because now she knew something important.
Her words had value.
And this was only the beginning.
- Writer
