Reflection of the shadows

chapter 2;suspicious

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After that day, the next morning, Emily, Grace, and Rejoice woke up. They started cleaning up the house. After their house chores, they sat down and were just gisting and talking about what they wanted to eat that morning.

Emily just looked at them and asked, “Ah ah, how una go even go work this morning?”

Grace replied, “No, we work in the evening. We work in the evening.”

Emily said, “You work in the evening? What kind of job is that?”

They said, “Oh, they always have night shifts. We don’t work in the morning. It’s night shifts that we have.”

Emily was like, “What kind of job would have you people working early at night? At least, night is when people are supposed to be sleeping. That one is wickedness.”

They said, “That’s how they set it oh.”

Emily said, “Okay… so what are you guys doing there?”

They said, “Oh, we are cleaners. We clean in a hotel. We go to the hotel and we clean.”

Emily was like, “Ah, if you’re cleaning there, let me just join you guys now so that the work will be easy for you. So then we can come back quick.”

They said, “No, they don’t accept outside people. It’s only us they accept.”

Emily agreed. She said, “Okay, no problem.”

They told her, “Don’t worry. You should stay at home. We will take care of you. You should stay at home. If they tip us — because sometimes customers tip us — we will bring you some money. You can send it to Jerry in school so he can use it to feed for a while.”

Emily was so grateful. She said, “So there is no way I can join you guys in this… business too? In this work?”

They said, “No, Emily. You need to rest. If we see any job that is vacant that is near the house, we will tell you to go and work there.”

She said, “Okay, no problem.”

So at night, Emily was already fast asleep. She was hearing sounds, so she woke up. When she woke up, she saw that Grace and Rejoice were already dressed up for work.

She said, “Ah ah, are you guys not overdressed for just this cleaning?” She wiped her eyes as she spoke.

They said, “No, this is not overdressed. There is oppression everywhere. You cannot dress tattered. If you do, they will insult you.” 😒

Emily was just like, “Okay okay, that’s valid though.”

They said, “Don’t worry. When we have more money, we will go and change these your clothes. Because what is this that you have inside your wardrobe now? If people see you, they will feel like you are suffering.”

Emily said, “Ah ah, let us not judge now.”

They said, “No, we don’t accept judgement here oh.”

They told her that they were going for work. She asked them, “When are you coming back?”

They said, “Mmm, if time reach twelve and we come back, oh. But the hotel is very big. So before we can clean everywhere, time will have gone far. And we will not want to enter the road that late.”

Emily said, “Okay, no problem. But I would have joined you guys so it would be faster.”

They said, “No, you should not join.” So they left.

What Rejoice was wearing was a crop top. What Grace was wearing was trousers. They looked skinny. They were body-con. It just raised a suspicious eyebrow for Emily. 🤨 But she didn’t want to take it serious.

So after they left, she went out with the little change they gave her. She bought some certain things that she could use to cook something to eat for herself. She bought noodles and prepared noodles. 🍜

Time was already after twelve, and she was scared. _Why are they not coming? What if they have slept in that place?_ That was what she thought to herself.

But just then, the door swung open. Rejoice and Grace walked in. They looked tired. 😩

She rushed to take the bags that they were holding from their hands. They swung themselves on the bed and said, “Ah, today was very exhausting oh. The hotel was so dirty. Everywhere is dirty. Toilet is dirty. See washing that we did today. And all those people… drink just poured on our body.”

Because they were indeed smelling of alcohol. 🥃

And innocent Emily felt sorry for them. She was just telling them, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I would have joined you guys so it would have been easier.”

They said, “No, don’t go and stress yourself there. You cannot work there oh. The people there are crazy.”

She was like, “No problem. I cooked small Indomie oh. I did not finish it. I don’t know if you guys want to—”

They said, “No no no no, you can eat that Indomie finish. We have more food for you.”

They opened the bag and they brought out barbecue. 🍖🔥

Then Emily just started, “Jesus! Barbecue? Do you know any time that me and Jerry used to walk with Grandma, we would see this fish… we would tell Grandma, ‘Grandma, let’s buy this fish, let’s buy this fish.’ Grandma would tell us that it’s too expensive, that she cannot buy. But don’t worry, when she has money she will buy for us. This is what you people bought oh! Too much! Jesus! Let me eat oh! Let me go and bring plate oh!”

She was saying it with so much excitement. 😄

Rejoice and Grace were just smiling, looking at her. “You see? You see? You have seen food now, you forget that we are tired oh.”

Emily was saying, “Sorry, sorry! Let me go and bring plate oh!” She was saying it with so much excitement.

Rejoice and Grace were just smiling, looking at her. “You are still happy… even though we are tired oh.” 😊

They brought the food out, and they ate

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After eating, they slept off.

The next morning, Emily woke up first. She was sweeping the house when she came across a particular drug. The drug looked strange to her, so she hid it. 💊 She hid it, hoping that later she would find a way to Google it and see what it’s for.

Later on, they woke up and saw her sitting down. The house was already clean.

Emily looked at them. They looked at Emily and said, “Ah ah, Emily, you woke up early and you finished all the house chores! Thank God oh. 😅 Hey, after the stress of last night, I was not even expecting to do any house chores this morning.”

They all laughed.

In terms of what to do that morning, they said, “Okay, we want to go out. Since we work at night, we have time now. Let’s show you around Lagos and the area, so you can go and get some things yourself at the market and all that.”

They all got dressed and started walking.

While on the road, some women looked at them strangely. 👀 Some men winked at Grace. Some men winked at Rejoice. It was as if they were giving signs that she could not understand.

As Emily was just an innocent girl, her mind couldn’t read what was going on. She thought maybe they were just familiar in the community, or probably, on a normal level, people do have haters and people do have people who love them too. That was how Emily pictured everything. 🤷🏾‍♀️

When they got to the market, they showed her places she can get things from, places she can get medicine in case she’s not feeling well and they are not around. They also saw a place where they sell school things and they decided to pick up some things for Jerry.

In that process, Rejoice surprised Emily and bought a small android phone for her. 📱 She told her, “We saved money from the other night and decided to get you a phone.”

She was so happy because she knew with this, she could send her grandma’s old phone to Jerry who is in school, so he can reach out to her whenever he’s chanced, or whenever they are free or on holidays.

She was so happy. She hugged them and told them, “Thank you for being there. I didn’t expect you people to be so supportive.” 😊

They looked at her with a weird eye and said, “Ah ah, we’ll grow together. After all that suffering, you think that if you have issues we can’t help you? Just bring your problems to us 100%

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Before they went home, it was already late at night and they didn’t have much time. So Grace and Rejoice decided to dress up for their work while Emily sat on the bed reading a book she found on a shelf.

She saw Grace come out wearing a short gown. In Emily’s eyes, it was so irresponsible. 😳

She looked at Grace and yelled, “Grace, what are you wearing? Is it the cleaning job you want to go and do with this short gown?”

After she said that, Rejoice rushed in. “Ah, who is shouting? Ah, see, come on. It’s just a normal short dress. It’s just for cleaning.”

Emily was somehow disgusted. She said, “Why? How can you wear this and work comfortably on the road? Don’t you know it’s too exposed?”

Grace looked at her and said, “Come on now, don’t worry. When I come back, I’ll get you the exact same kind of gown so you’ll wear it and see how your shape will come out. It’s just for cleaning — not like I’m going there to show anybody my body.”

Emily was shocked. 🤐 But she just took it like a normal thing. After all, Grace has always loved wearing short stuff.

Rejoice came in with her own outfit. They were both looking hot — like they wanted to seduce men. 🔥

Then Emily asked jokingly, “Are you sure you people are going there to clean? Or are you guys going there to seduce men?”

Rejoice burst out laughing and said, “Come on, don’t be silly. You know we’re going to clean.” 😂

So they both bade her goodbye and walked out the door.

The moment they left, she closed the door and locked it. 🔒 Then she brought the pill out. She brought out the new phone they had given her because she had already put her SIM in it. 📱

She typed the name of the medicine she saw into Google. The name was *Metronidazole 400mg*. 💊

She typed it in, and it was explained…

its an infection drug---------

She signed guess its because of the bacteria they come in contact with in the hotel,after almost people who sleeps at hotels usually go around walking with untreated Infection , she blinked and sighed loudly.

she dropped the phone on the bed and stared at the ceiling. 💊 The fan was spinning, but her mind was louder. _So that’s what it is._ She wasn’t shocked. Not really. Lagos teaches you things quick.

She slipped the drug back under her pillow and whispered to herself, “Everybody dey fight something.” 😮‍💨 Tomorrow, she would decide what to do with this knowledge. Tonight, she just needed sleep. Tomorrow, Emily would choose.