Chapter 3: The Breaking News
The evening shift was supposed to be the end of her day, but the universe had other plans. Eliana was clearing a table when her phone buzzed incessantly in her pocket. It was Tobi. Usually, they only spoke on weekends to save on airtime. A cold dread washed over her as she ducked into the cramped, foul-smelling restroom to answer.
"Tobi? What's wrong?" she whispered, her heart hammering against her chest.
"Sister..." Tobi's voice was thick with tears, sounding far younger than his fifteen years. "Mama collapsed again. We are at the specialist hospital. The doctors... they say her heart is tired, Eliana. It's failing."
Eliana leaned her head against the cold tile of the wall. "What do they need, Tobi? I sent money last week for the oxygen."
"They said oxygen isn't enough anymore," Tobi sobbed. "She needs surgery. A valve replacement. They won't even move her to the theater without a deposit. They want one million Naira, Eliana. Where are we going to get that kind of money? If we don't pay by the end of the week, they said..." He couldn't finish the sentence.
One million Naira. It might as well have been a billion. Eliana looked at herself in the cracked mirror. Her eyes were wide with terror. She had worked for a year and hadn't even saved fifty thousand. The room felt like it was spinning. She had come to the city to save them, but she was failing. As she hung up the phone, the silence of the restroom felt like a grave. She had forty-eight hours to find a fortune, or she would lose the only person who truly loved her. The "waitress" wasn't enough anymore. She needed to become someone else.