A Hazel Haven

Chapter 1

Five years later.....

Uche Ibeh glanced at the clock as she yawned and tapped her gaping mouth.

6:30 am.

She sniffed, rubbing her bleary eyes as she walked to the windows and opened the blinds. Dawn crept in, flooding the place with soft, blue tinted light.

As usual, she had closed late because she had to lock up after everyone left, and had to wake up early enough to put the place in order before they arrived and business commenced for the day. It seemed fair enough---cleaner and waitress, sometimes substitute cook, for a place to stay.

And the pay was just enough, but paltry when compared to the accrued expenses.

It had become habitual over the months. However, today was different: she was feverishly tired. Maybe it was from fretting over an unexpected call that had kept her tossing and turning through the night.

Her flats resounded in the emptiness of the restaurant as she retrieved a mop and bucket that idled in a corner where she had left them after cleaning yesterday, because she had been too exhausted to make the trip to the storage room.

Uche grabbed a towel from where it had been spread to air dry on the window barricade in the kitchen. She had washed it late and it was still limp with water. She wrung out and snapped off the excess as she walked back to the dining area.

Setting down upturned chairs and replacing tables, she wiped glassy and polished surfaces.

By the time she finished, it was eight o'clock, and the effulgence of daylight had dispelled the shadowy gloom and the place radiated with its opulence once more.

Glancing around, she was pensive for a moment. She wondered how much longer it would take to save up for a place. Hostels outside school were expensive. And she couldn't stay here forever.

When next session rolled in-what she hoped would be her final year-her head would be buried deep in academic related expenses, not to mention the student loan dangling before her eyes.

Face glum, she chucked the towel on a table and pulled out an ancient phone from her jean pocket.

A new phone, too.

Powering it on as she plodded over to the transparent doors, she reread the text from last night. Then once more to convince herself that she hadn't dreamt up the call, the message.

He was truly coming. Was it finally over?

Uche looked up to see Mr Efe, the security man, walk in through the gate.

He glanced up as he strode to his station and when he saw her through the doors, he held up his free hand in greeting, a sunny smile on his weathered face. Uche waved back with a small smile, slipping her phone into her back pocket.

Bending over, she hiked up the heel of her right foot and reached into the depths of the shoe for a set of keys. Sorting out the one in particular as she straightened, she slotted it into door and unlocked it, the keys jingling.

Tugging the cap lower on her head, she turned and walked away. Sometimes she skipped breakfast but not today. Today she needed every bit of energy the meal had to offer.

*****

"Hey," the girl standing beside Uche surreptitiously nudged her awake with a rough elbow. Uche had been dozing off and came awake with a start. "Didn't you sleep last night?"

Uche blinked drowsily. A hand propped up her head, the palm pillowing her cheek. "No, I didn't."

She had only been working here for months-since the school went on its timely holiday-and she had discerned everyone's knacks and idiosyncrasies; knowing how to wheedle her way through conflicts and avoiding tension an altercation would create.