THE GREEN CARD OF THE HEART

THE DREAM THAT NEVER SLEEPS

Chapter 1

Amara Nwosu woke up before her alarm went off. It was not because she was disciplined or excited about a new day. It was because sleep no longer gave her peace. Every night felt like a repeat of the same thoughts, and every morning felt like continuing a story she was already tired of living.

The ceiling fan above her moved slowly, making a soft creaking sound as it rotated. She stared at it for a few seconds, almost like it had answers to her life. Outside her small room in Lagos, the city was already awake. Honking buses, street vendors shouting prices, generators humming from different compounds. Life was loud, but her own life felt stuck.

She reached for her phone and immediately saw another rejection email. Another company, another “we regret to inform you.” She didn’t even open it fully. She had memorized disappointment at this point. It always came dressed in polite words but meant the same thing—no space for her.

“Amara!” her mother’s voice called from the kitchen. “Are you planning to marry your bed today?”

“I’m coming,” she answered softly, forcing herself up.

In the kitchen, her mother was already working. The smell of frying food filled the air. Her mother kept talking about survival, about how life was not waiting for anyone. Amara listened, but her mind was somewhere else. Somewhere far from Lagos, far from rejection emails, far from struggle.

Later that night, when the house became quiet, Amara sat on her bed scrolling through her phone aimlessly. Her fingers paused when an unknown message request appeared on her screen. She hesitated for a moment before opening it.

Ethan: Hi Amara. I hope I’m not disturbing you.

She stared at the message longer than she should have. Something about it felt different. Strange. Calm. Like it was not just a random message.

Her fingers moved slowly.

Amara: Who are you?

And just like that, without knowing it, she replied to the beginning of something that would change everything she thought she understood about her life.