Chapter Two - Episode Two: A Night to Remember
762 Words
They settled in.
There wasn’t much food in the room, so that night they ate Indomie.
Simple food.
Nothing special.
But somehow, it tasted better because she wasn’t eating it alone.
They sat together and talked.
About school.
About life.
About the people they had left behind.
About Lagos.
About the things they hoped would happen.
Her friend told her stories about the city.
She listened carefully.
“You’ll find something,” her friend said confidently.
“I hope so.”
“You will.”
“What if I don’t?”
Her friend shrugged.
“Then you keep looking.”
She smiled.
It sounded simple when her friend said it.
Keep looking.
Keep trying.
Keep going.
Maybe that was all she needed to do.
For a while, they talked about everything and nothing.
They laughed about old school memories.
They remembered people they hadn’t spoken to in a long time.
They talked about what they wanted their lives to become.
There were dreams they were too scared to say out loud to other people, but somehow, that little room made it easier.
She began to feel less afraid.
Maybe she could actually do this.
Maybe Lagos wasn’t going to swallow her.
Maybe she would find her place.
Maybe she would work.
Maybe she would make money.
Maybe she would become the person she had always imagined herself becoming.
The conversation continued until almost 1 a.m.
Eventually, the tiredness became impossible to ignore.
Her friend stretched.
“We should sleep.”
She nodded.
“Yeah.”
The lights finally went out around 2 a.m.
But Lagos was still awake.
Generators hummed outside.
Cars passed along the road.
Voices drifted through the night.
Somewhere nearby, someone was still talking loudly.
A dog barked.
A vehicle horn sounded in the distance.
She lay on a floor mat, staring into the darkness.
Her friend was already becoming quiet.
But she couldn’t sleep.
Her body was tired.
Her mind wasn’t.
She thought about home.
She wondered what her parents were doing.
Had her mother gone to sleep?
Was her father still awake?
Had they been worried about her journey?
She reached for her phone.
She checked the time.
Then she put it down.
She didn’t want to call and wake them.
Instead, she lay there listening.
Listening to Lagos.
The city sounded nothing like home.
At home, she knew the sounds around her.
She knew the quiet.
She knew what certain footsteps meant.
She knew the voices of her neighbours.
She knew what time the neighbourhood usually settled down.
Here, she knew nothing.
Everything was unfamiliar.
Yet somewhere underneath the fear, there was excitement.
She was really here.
She had actually left home.
She was in Lagos.
Alone in a city she had never lived in before.
She turned onto her side.
Then she remembered the little Bible her mother had given her.
She reached into her bag and pulled it out.
The Bible looked exactly the same as it had when her mother placed it in her hands.
Small.
Familiar.
Comforting.
She held it for a moment before opening it.
She didn’t know exactly what she was looking for.
Maybe comfort.
Maybe reassurance.
Maybe just something that would make the strange place around her feel a little less strange.
She opened it.
Her eyes landed on Psalm 23.
She began reading quietly.
The familiar words settled over her heart.
For a few moments, she forgot about the traffic.
She forgot about the unfamiliar room.
She forgot about the questions waiting for her in the morning.
She simply read.
Slowly.
Quietly.
Letting each word sink in.
The Bible reminded her of home.
It reminded her of her mother’s voice.
It reminded her of the prayer her parents had prayed over her before she left.
And somehow, the little room didn’t feel so unfamiliar anymore.
She wasn’t completely alone.
She closed the Bible and held it against her chest.
Maybe this was what her mother meant.
Keep God with you wherever you go.
She didn’t know what tomorrow would bring.
She didn’t know where she would work.
She didn’t know how she would survive in the city.
She didn’t know how long she would stay in Lagos.
She didn’t know what kind of people she would meet.
She didn’t know what challenges were waiting for her.
But she knew one thing.
She had made it there.
And she could take tomorrow one day at a time.
She finally lay her head down.
Sleep came slowly.
Even then, every unfamiliar sound seemed to pull her awake.
She barely slept.
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