
EPISODE 13 – Hunger Begin to Reason for Me
I hadn’t realized how fast my savings could disappear.
A week of small Lagos food prices, transportation, and the occasional emergency call from home drained my little stash. At first, I told myself I could manage. But hunger has a voice louder than pride.
By the fourth day, I couldn’t pretend anymore. My stomach gnawed at me. My head ached from skipping breakfast. I looked at the room I now called home and realized that my independence had already slipped like sand through my fingers.
I wanted to go out, look for small odd jobs, maybe sell something, anything. But the man… he had always provided. And deep down, I knew he would scold me if I tried.
“Why you wan suffer? I dey here,” he said when I hinted about looking for work. His voice sounded sweet, comforting, almost like a lullaby — but it carried weight. Power. Control.
That night, I lay on the bed, stomach empty, wondering why I hadn’t seen the trap earlier. He had given me everything I needed to survive, but by giving, he also chained me.
I started calculating: I couldn’t walk the streets alone. I didn’t know anyone. I had no money. Even the little phone credit he gave me reminded me that without him, I had nothing.
Hunger began to reason for me.
Fear began to whisper.
By the time he returned from whatever Lagos hustle he said he had, I was already small in my mind.
He noticed immediately. “You look tired,” he said. “Come, eat. You don’t need to struggle.”
I obeyed, not because I trusted him entirely, but because my body and mind demanded it.
That night, as I ate the food he placed before me, I felt the first real weight of dependence. The realization settled like Lagos heat over concrete: I had nowhere else to go.
I was hungry, tired, and slowly — unknowingly — trapped.
Episode 14 Coming Soon
The next morning, he tells me: “I fit take care of you better… but you must stay with me, no more outside work.”
And just like that, the trap tightens.