PROLOGUE

Prologue

I was running while walking so I could get to arrive at the right time because I was already running out of time while I was hugging the three thick books that I had just borrowed from our school library earlier. I did not mind the number of people I ran across to as well as the other people who already had nudged my arm. Even the dirty, hard, bad smells of smoke coming from the vehicles passing by on my side that I can easily smell, and also the heat of the sun that almost hurt my skin, I still did not even notice or mind those because I was more busy running. I am sure that my face was already red because of the intense heat of the sun that was really almost burning my skin right now.

I just kept on running and did not stop even though I was already breathing heavily and sweating too much, hoping to get to arrive at the right time but it did not happen because as soon as I arrived and enter the back door of my workplace, a big eatery, the owner quickly appear in front of me while having her hands placed in both of her waists with an angry and furious expression in her face.

I immediately felt nervous because I knew that she would scold me which is why at that very moment, I just prepared myself for what is she going to say to me.

My boss is a fat kind of woman. She is now wearing a black dress while her entire face is covered with full makeup. Her eyebrows are super thick and her lips are a super color red that I think she did not put it well because of some excess on the sides of her lips that I can see from where I stand. Even the color of her face and neck are far from each other because I think that she used different shades of foundation there.

I have wanted to try to tell her many times now that her colleagues have been making fun of her as well as some customers in the eatery because of how she dresses and how she does her makeup but I can't do it because I'm scared that maybe, instead of making her happy that I am concerned about her, she might just be angry with me and take that as an insult.

I think it would be better for me to just keep quiet than for her to hate me even more. In the few weeks I am working here, I noticed and felt how much she hated me and I do not know why because I am not doing anything wrong or bad to her.

"Wow, Andra! You are late again, you, kid?! Wow, shame on you! You know already that there are more people eating here in the eatery every noon at this hour, right?! Do not use on me your damn school as an excuse again! Thank goodness that your aunt is one of my friends but if it is not, you would have been fired from my eatery a long time ago now! This talk is enough! Move and just go to work now! Do not just be a snail from moving and working because we have a lot of customers again right now!" she rapidly scolded me and then quickly turned away from me, not letting me say a word.

As she was scolding me earlier, I was just lowering my head while I was playing with my fingers. I was just listening to what is she is saying. I just remained quiet as she was talking to me because she might just get angrier with me if I tried to open my mouth and try to talk just to explain to her my reason why I was really late.

This is the second time I have been late for my work here. The first time was because my female classmates made fun of me in school. They forced and dragged me inside our classroom and locked me up there. Fear immediately wrapped around me that time because it was already afternoon and most of the students were already gone home. I was the only one in that room so I could not help but feel nervous and scared that time. Fortunately, a male teacher heard my loud trembling voice looking for some help because otherwise, our janitor might have seen me there already in the evening or if it might be worse, just the next day.

Also on that afternoon, the male teacher who saw me locked up inside the classroom and the one who helped me go out from there insisted to took me home that is why I could not have done anything but agree on his offer or to what he wanted because if I did not agree, I had to walk home all by myself and I would spend the night walking on the road.

He asked me if who did that to me but I did not tell him even though he was forcing me to say everything to him to help me punish them but I still did not tell him the truth because I do not want to have trouble with the people who did that to me.

The reason why I was late today was because of the long line in our school library. Almost everyone was just making their own position in front of me, not minding the other students already positioned in the line who came first before them. They do not have a care about those who got into the line first and rather than fighting and arguing with them about what they did, I just chose to stay quiet and ignore them while hugging the books I just got from the bookshelves and while holding my school library so that there will be no trouble anymore.

As soon as our boss, Madam Baby left, I immediately put my belongings inside the locker but before I finally did that, I had heard first the whispers of my female coworkers and they were just gossiping about what had happened earlier. They were already there as soon as I arrived, just watching and smirking at me while Madam Baby was scolding me.

Since I have been started working here in this eatery, my coworkers have never treated me well. They will always shout at me and make fun of me that I just always ignore and never mind because all I want here in my job is to earn, not to cause or start a fight and I will just waste my energy and time if I will just make even to them.

"She deserves that! She is daydreaming too much! She is still studying and she must stop already because I know that she can not make it to college!"

"She is also so ambitious! I also bet that it is still here in this place where she will end up!"

Enter in one ear and out to the other one. That's all I always do, pretending to be deaf whenever there are those people who underestimate my abilities and judge me about my education.

As I always did, I just ignored them and continued fixing myself. As I have said, I do not want to spend and waste much time with the kind of people like them, both arrogant and judgmental as if they were so near to being perfect.

Education is the most important thing for me, especially since I have been an orphan since the weeks I was born. My mother and father died a few weeks after my mother gave birth to me. I had a very high fever that night and because of their great worry and fear, my mother and father quickly decided to take me to the nearest hospital.

They were already on the road and they were riding on a tricycle while I was in my mother's arms, hugging me so tight when the shocking and unexpected accident happened. And because it was an emergency, the tricycle driver was driving so fast and it was also already evening and dark at that time. The tricycle driver did not notice the upcoming fast Sport Utility Vehicle that was heading on our way so before he could avoid the vehicle, it quickly slammed hard into the tricycle we were riding.

And because of the strong impact of that SUV into the tricycle we were riding, we all flew away down the road. There were still no houses in the area of the accident at the time so we waited a few more minutes before some help arrived and took us all to the hospital. Sadly, the tricycle driver, my father, and my mother did not make it to life and I am the only one who only survived that accident. Even those people inside the SUV that slammed into us had no survivors based on Aunt Cecille's story.

I considered that accident as a huge miracle for me because it is a serious matter and it's not a joke. I am so grateful to God for giving me a second life. Not everyone here on earth is given the opportunity or chance to have a second life that is why we should appreciate the life that we have and make it worthwhile. I can just only see my father and my mother in the pictures and even though I do not remember them because I was still a baby at that time in the pictures, I always felt like I am missing them every day, especially during my special day, my birthdays.

I was often not myself, especially at night when I think of them and sometimes, I just cried because I do not even remember any memories of being with my father and my mother. I did not even know their voices so every time I imagined scenarios that I am with them, I will just always feel hurt and it always led me to cry.

There were too many questions that often run into my mind every time I am alone.

"What would it be like to have a mother and a father by your side?"

"What would it be like to eat at one table with your own mother and father?"

"What would it be like to have parents who care for you and love you?"

There were just a few of my questions that always make my feelings heavy and my heart hurt.

My mother does not have any relatives already so I was left with the care of my father's younger sister and only sibling, Aunt Cecille. Aunt Cecille was still a kid when the accident happened. I was left with her care but she did not even take care of me. The one who took care of me was our neighbor, Mother Myrna who had just died two months ago, and even though months had passed since she was gone, I am still hurting because, for the seventeen years of my existence, I considered and treated Mother Myrna as my real mother and she also treated me as her own daughter. She was the only one who was always there for me and only to her did I feel the real love that I am craving from my real parents even though we are really not blood-related.

Mother Myrna was the only one who took care of me and made me go to school. Mother Myrna is an old maiden so all of the time and love she has was poured and went everything to me. And because of her sudden death, I am now forced to work to sustain my education, especially that this school year will soon end and for the next school year, I am already in Grade 12 that is why I really needed to work to earn money to still continue my education. I will always be grateful to Mother Myrna because before she died, she was able to pay my school fees first because if she did not do that, I am sure that Aunt Cecille would stop me from going to school even if I tried kneeling down and begging at her.

Until at the very last moment of Mother Myrna's life here in this world, she was still really thinking about me and I will be forever thankful for her for that and for everything that she did and sacrificed for me for the rest of my life. She will always be a blessing that the Lord God has given me. It is just saddening to me that God took her from me quickly just like my real mother and father, but I am still thankful because our Almighty God still gave me the opportunity and a chance to be with them even for just a period of time.

My dream is to become a teacher someday so that one day I can teach and help the children like me, especially those children who are also orphans who do not have parents already. I have so much appreciation for education because I believe that education is the thing that will never get away from me and will bring me to success so I am really working hard to study well.

After I fixed the hairnet in my hair, I began to help my coworkers deliver orders to the customers' tables. I was wearing our uniform, a black slacks, and a white polo shirt here inside the eatery. My footwear was a pair of black shoes that Mother Myrna gave to me when I was ten years old.

This shoe has been with me for seven years now and it is one of those Mother Myrna has given me that I really treasure and take care of. Its sole was a little bit worn out already but it is not yet painful using it and it is still useful. It is the only shoe I have ever had since I was a kid so I have been saving since I was accepted to this job to buy something new and keep this old shoe that Mother Myrna gave me to serve as one of my memories with her.

"Here! Bring this to table number eight!" Monica said with anger and handed me the big tray with different foods and drinks.

I quickly followed her command and started to move to immediately bring the food to the right table.

"Miss, where is our order?" a guy shouted from a group of men that caught my attention from the other side of the eatery after I put the food on the table of the women's group.

"Wait a minute, Sir," I politely told them and smiled, and walked towards the counter to finally get their orders.

As I am walking towards the counter, I immediately see the bad stares that my coworkers are giving me.

Monica once again handed me the large tray containing the orders of the group of men with her angry face. A few drinks were almost spilling because she handed me that carelessly, but thank God I was able to hold on to it and fix their position on the tray right away.

I started walking towards the men's table when suddenly I just felt the woman's foot from the other table blocking the way that I did not notice right away that caused me to stumble and at the same time, that made the tray that had food fall and scattered into the floor with me.