The taxi had already driven into the highway before Sia slowly pulled the hoodie slightly away from her forehead. The lights in the streets shone brightly providing enough illumination for the cars and pedestrians to go about their daily business as though it was past mid-day.
As for the people who went about their usual business; she had nothing to do with them, she as well was about to go about her normal business. She pressed her head against the window of the taxi, the cars fleeting and lights blinding her a few times. Her head remained pressed to the window until the taxi rolled to a stop in front of an hospital.
She dug her hands into her hoodie pocket and paid the taxi driver before getting down from the car and walking towards the sliding doors. A girl with a shrouded hoodie walking suspiciously into the hospital at minutes past 11 definitely wasn’t an everyday occurrence and so Sia had a few heads turning as she walked further into the hospital.
She pulled down the hoodie from her head revealing a messy packed bun at the back of her head. She walked towards the receptionist who immediately wore a fleeting smile.
“Good evening ma’am” she greeted her hands running across her keyboard.
“Payment for Miss Loway?” she asked raising her head to meet Sia’s eyes. The latter nodded without a word. Digging into her pocket again, she dropped the bundle of money she had snatched earlier on the counter. The receptionist seemed unfazed as for why a girl probably less than twenty had over ten thousand dollars with her. Instead, she grabbed the bundle of notes and in a minute, she was offering Sia a smile and a receipt.
“Thank you” she said grinning. Sia collected the receipt without another word before turning and heading towards the elevator. The receptionist who had just attended to her chuckled shaking her head.
“She’s so cool” she muttered as her partner hitched her chair closer to her.
“Isn’t that the girl whose Mom is on the VIP floor?” her partner while the receptionist nodded.
“She is”
“I wonder where she’s getting all those money”
“She certainly isn’t selling herself to get that amount to money is she?” her partner asked while and the receptionist chuckled.
“Why are you asking me that?” she asked.
“When she comes back downstairs later; you should ask her” she added.
“Why would I ask her? That’s so embarrassing” her partner gushed unhappily.
“It’s much better than talking behind her back” she shot back. her partner seemed offended by her words and quickly rolled her chair back to her seat muttering words that neither of them could hear.
By the time the elevator landed on the VIP floor, it was empty and deserted; one would even doubt if a soul was on the floor but Sia knew better. She walked towards a room at the far end of the walkway wincing while touching her lip. There was an obvious cut on her lip and she groaned internally before sucking in her breadth and pushing the door open.
Inside the ward was a huge hospital bed with someone sleeping in it, more than two drips were attached to the person’s arms and upon closer look; the person looked sickly and as though at any moment could give up the ghost.
Realizing that she was sleeping; Sia intentionally walked quietly in the room; removing her hoodie and rolling the ends of her shirt to her elbows. She walked towards the bathroom splashing water repeatedly on her face. The cut on her lips seemed more evident after she washed her face and Sia stared at her reflection in the mirror.
A girl with a clean face stared back, her charcoal black eyes staring back into her soul, her nose hung in the air perfectly complimenting her small round eyes and heart shaped lips – that was technically not really hear shaped anymore with the presence of the cut. Her hair still remained messily tied up into a bun and knowing her terrible skills at tying her hair up, Sia chose to leave her hair bundled up like that. She stepped out of the bathroom and realizes that the woman who seemed to have asleep on the bed now awake and looking around.
Hurrying her feet, she walked straight to her kneeling beside the bed “Mom”
The woman turned to her a soft smile gracing her lips. Her hands moved and she cupped Sia’s face still smiling.
“Cupcake” she said softly and Sia’s blank face was instantly replaced with a bright one. Her lips pulled apart forming a smile on her lips. Her round eyes narrowed in slits perfectly portraying a girl who seemed to have zero worries. If anyone from the underground boxing club had seen this scene; they would not only be mortified, they would be alarmed.
“Have you eaten yet?” Sia asked.
“The nurse fed me before she left” her mom replied and Sia nodded her head.
“You feel good?” Sia asked again.
“Mmmm”
Both stared at each other without another word smiling. Sia’s mom was the first to break the silence a small frown appeared on her face.
“What happened to your lips?” she asked and Sia immediately swallowed her saliva.
“It’s just a small cut I had in school today. I hit the wall and ended up biting down on my lips” Sia replied chuckling at the stupid lie she had cooked up.
“You have to be very careful when you are walking. You don’t want to give your new classmates and teachers a scare” her mom replied and that when Sia remembered that she had indeed changed schools but for some funny reason hadn’t resumed.
Before she could reply, there was a knock at the door and Sia rose to her feet walking towards the door to see who it was. A middle aged woman stood outside the door with a smile. The frown on Sia’s face also creased out upon seeing the woman.
“Auntie” she called quietly while the woman pulled her into a hug. A hug that Sia didn’t dare return back. Her arms merely stood limply beside her while the older woman hugged her.
“She’s inside” Sia said quietly moving backwards and giving the latter space to come in before closing the door behind her. She moved to where the chairs were placed and lied down on the larger cushion sighing softly.
When her mom had first fallen sick and everyone refused to give a helping hand; Sia was the one who had to run helter skelter to find not just the hospital bills but also ways to make sure she didn’t die of hunger. It was a terrifying circle until her mom’s best friend who had been away from the country came back.
She didn’t have much and immediately took over the duties from Sia taking care of them in every way she could. And as well; the questions Sia had been finding answers to desperately; she had the answers to them.
Some people would easily refer to her as her family’s knight in shining armour or their saviour but Sia knew it was nothing like that. She indeed was their saviour but she carried no cross; she handed over the cross for her to carry and surprisingly, Sia was willing to carry this cross.
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“Your mother says she had you changed to a private school”
Sia nodded her head quietly in affirmation.
“I did my transfer a week ago but I’m yet to resume” Sia replied turning to the older woman.
“That’s good” she replied and another bout of silence ensured between them.
“I’m going back to Hong Kong tomorrow and I don’t know when I’m going to be back” the older woman said breaking the silence.
“If anything happens, give me a call” she added and Sia nodded.
“Anna” the older woman called and Sia turned to her eyes narrowed in silts. Only her mother called her that.
“I know you are hell bent on finding him and I’m not going to stop you; I don’t feel any regret for telling you what happened back then either” she started pausing mid-way.
“I just want you to know that sometimes, there’s more to what we know and see. And the truth might not necessarily be the truth” she added while Sia sneered.
“Have a safe trip Auntie” she replied turning and walking back into the hospital.
The older woman remained in the same position staring at the back of the girl who walked in long yet firm strides into the hospital. A lot of people had praised her when she came to their rescue asking them to be eternally grateful for her help. But she knew what she had done for the family, she had forced the little one to be an adult and this adult seemed capable to taking anything life threw at her.
Under her mother’s instructions; Sia had to leave the hospital around 1am and make way towards their house. It was dead in the midnight and the roads were void of taxis, cars and human beings but Sia had no problem walking for almost ten kilometres on foot and without any fear.Instead she had treated the walk like her early morning jog. Jogging to the apartment complex without losing her breath. She stopped at the apartment complex, her breadth coming out with slow wisps of air. The building was desolated with the lights in almost every room was evidence that people lived there. Not that Sia expected anyone to be roaming about the complex at few minutes past 2am in the morning.She proceeded to walk into the apartment complex walking into the elevator and pressing down for the fourth floor. She relaxed folding her arms as the elevator moved and soon it made a ‘ding’ sound notifying her that he had arrived at its destination.The doors slid open and she walked out walking towards one
The second girl’s veins throbbed wildly against her forehead at Sia’s insult. Sia glanced at the security guards who were watching them with apprehension. The students had burst into laughter when Sia had called her dumb and it was funnier because she was always ranked in the last 50 students in their set. The thought annoyed but Sia was not bothered.“I have no business with you so stay out of my lane” Sia finished before turning and walking towards the school gates.No one knew what had gotten into the second girl as she rushed towards Sia grabbing her bag and turning her around to give her a slap but it seemed as if Sia had seen it coming because by the time the girl turned Sia around to slap her, she was the one who got a fist to her face. She staggered backwards screaming on top of her voice while holding her bloody probably broken nose. Her friends seeing the scene also rushed towards Sia who now had a huge frown on her face. She was quick to grab the first girl who rushed towar
Sia had no idea of how much she slept or how many hours of school time had passed by when someone roughly pushed her desk. Aroused from sleep; irritation seeped into her bones as her eyelids fluttered open glaring at the person who had shaken her table. The boy who was seated in front of her withdrew his hand immediately terrified of Sia’s glare.She sat up and realized that half of the class was boring holes into her head and another much older man with glasses managed to bore a hole through his glasses.“It’s your first day and you are already sleeping in my class” he said through his nose and Sia sat up fully meeting the older man’s eyes.“What is it that you were teaching or talking about?” Sia asked, her question instantly producing green lines on the teacher’s face.“Insolence!” he yelled banging the table. Sia looked around the class a small chuckle on her lips. Even though virtually everyone in the class was now staring at her, she was still able to depict the fact that none o
Samantha indeed gave her a tour of the whole school. from the cafeteria to the indoor courts ranging from the basketball court, to the table tennis court to the lawn tennis court to the volleyball courts. As much as Sia didn’t want to admit , she realised that there was a hall or court for almost every sport that was played in the school. Her old school had to share a basketball court with another school in the area. Samantha went on to show her the library, the clinic, the musical room and so many other places. She wasn’t even bothered that they had missed about two classes while giving her a tour of the school. She complained about having a patchy throat and Samnath led them back to the cafeteria and Sia was puzzled when Samantha brought out a card instead of money.“You don’t have your meal card yet?” Samantha asked and Sia shrugged her shoulders.“I didn’t know meal cards were a thing in private schools” Sia replied, earning a grin from Samantha.“It is here. I mean with your meal
It had been less than two weeks since Sia resumed to Orleans and saying that she had been adjusting well would be Sia trying to sound like she was okay when clearly she wasn’t. Not even in the least. Like Samantha had said, somehow she no longer felt out of place like she thought she would be feeling like for a long while but rather, she had slowly adjusted into her class and her classmates although stayed away from her didn't treat her like someone who was still new.Sia could barely make sense of the class she was in. Most of the teachers made it to class and spoke as though they were trying to curry favour with the students and rarely taught anything. Instead of listening to a 40-year old woman talk about how much she loved lilac flowers when her face screamed the opposite; Sia would rather put her head on the table and sleep and no one dared to wake her up.Someone had y mistake kicked Sia’s chair while she sleeping one day and Sia awoke with a glare that burned the girl to her fe
Grumbling as she walked into the class, Sia didn’t waste time placing her head on her table and sending herself into the arms of sleep. She was baffled at the girls who had kicked Samantha’s chair. She doubted if she had seen them around her or even around them and no matter how much she thought; not even one of those scenes crossed her mind. She came to a conclusion.Someone had sent them; she had seen too many scenes and incidents like that at her former school. Her school was one scary place and you had to be scarier to be able to keep your head.Sia was the scariest so of course her head was safe. As for who had sent the girls, Sia had no idea.Even in the class, she was no push over so there was no way someone in the class must have sent the girls. The fact that someone from the other classes might have sent them made Sia chuckle. She had somehow not come in contact with any of the students from the other two classes.According to Smantha, the school placed their classes far away
Sia didn’t know how long she had slept but by the time she opened her eyes; she knew school would definitely be over. She pushed herself up the seats and discovered that the hot boy who was playing basketball from before had also disappeared. She rubbed her eyes before rising to her feet and trotting towards her class.Unlike she had thought, it was the final period before school was over. In summary, she had missed two extra periods. The class was loud and noisy by the time Sia stepped back into the class. Samantha had a grin on her face as she followed her to her seat.“Nigga, could you have done something else than saying you do not understand and basis of a baseball game and saying you are not interested in it as an excuse to leave the class?” Samantha asked as Sia sat down and furrowed her brows.“Another excuse like what?” Sia asked and Samantha laughed lightly.“After you left, no matter what Stanley tried to teach, everyone kept chorusing that they didn't know it and weren’t
“What do you mean by she’s going to use her claws to scratch my face?” Phillip asked with a frown on his face, his fingers moving even faster on the keyboard while keeping his eyes on the screen.“You sure do know that Alina has her eyes on our star boy Nate, she would do anything to get his attention” Caleb replied taking a pause and turning to glance at the boy seated a few metres away from him and shook his head.“Caleb, are you crazy?” Phillip yelled as Caleb’s fingers also resumed on the keyboard.“It was just a few seconds, I’m sure you had me covered” Caleb replied grinning.“It’s not my fault that Mr Nate here is an unfeeling human and a cold ice snowman, a good looking snowman by the way. Why would she want to claw at me?” Phillip asked and Caleb burst into laughter.“Someone made a post on the school forum, they think y’all are gay or something” Caleb replied making Phillip pause slightly before he chuckled and resumed playing the game.“I should make a reply like this, If I