1. From Grace to Grass

Life had been good until she had to leave home because of what those f*ckers did. She lived for the day she would make them bow at her feet. It might take her long but she was going to make sure that one day, she would get there.

She stretched her bones and she could feel them crackling and she winced because it was kinda painful. She took her small watch, that didn't even have a strap, and looked at the time and it was only five in the morning. She would have wanted to sleep a little bit more but what with the hunger? It was her aching stomach that woke her up. She knew she wasn't sick, it was all because she hadn't eaten anything in the last twenty four hours or so. And she still had no idea where she would get her next meal from.

She didn't regret her situation though. Here, in these slums, she was better off than that place that she called home. She stretched again and rose up from the mat she used to call a bed and went to relieve herself in the small shack that they called a latrine. It was even shared. Hygiene here was a foreign word because how do you keep one small latrine that is used by more than a hundred people clean? It was hard. She walked in the cold towards the latrine as she shivered. She knew she was malnourished but what to do? She ran and did her business and returned to her small shack. At least it was warmer here as compared to the outside.

She looked around the small one roomed shack that she called a house. It was made of old rusty ironsheets and old falling timber. It seemed like ants had done their fare share. It was around six feet by eight. At the right hand corner after entering, there was a small mat that she slept on. She didn't have any blankets and only used an old bed sheet and some of her heavy clothes as bedding. Then she had a small paraffin stove, two plastic plates, two small saucer pans and one plastic basin. That was all that she owned. She knew that she lived below the poverty line but at least here she had peace of mind.

She looked around that room and she didn't have anything to eat. The only thing in that house was a small pinch of salt and she laughed at the irony of it all. Her situation was literally what one would call 'from grace to grass'. Or was there any difference really. Maybe here, where she had nothing, was a greener grass than that place where she came from.

She was sure by now, the servants in her parent's house were already up preparing a sumptuous breakfast for her father, mother, sister and brother. A tear streamed down her beautiful cheeks even without her noticing. It was all so ironical that her, the legitimate daughter of that family, was living in abject poverty while even a servant enjoyed more privileges than she did.

She decided to walk around the Sava slums this early because she might be lucky enough to find work. Even if it was cleaning. It would go a long way to at least give her a few coins to buy something to eat. She freshened up quickly, wore the only decent dress she had, put on a hoodie and walked out. She used her small padlock to lock the door and then walked out of the small rusty gate that she and other tenants shared.

She could have left her door unlocked but she didn't want to lose the little she had. She knew that it wasn't much but here in the slums, the smallest of things mattered. Her academic documents were in that house too and she needed them to be safe for the day she will get enough money to go back to school. Yes, she believed that one day, she will be able to continue with her education and make her life better. She knew and believed that one day, she will prove all those who laughed at her wrong. She was determined to make something out of herself. She would do it.

She was a beautiful girl. She had red hair, smooth skin that looked like a China doll, a gap on her front teeth (that was rare by the way because no one in her family had that), a nose that perfectly alighted her symmetrical face and eyes that looked like they could see through to your soul when she looked at you. Her smile... Her smile gave the sun competition. Many a time she had caught people staring, both male and female, even without her trying. Too bad that she didn't know the effect she had on people. She believed that everyone was beautiful in their own way. Little did she know that in this world, beauty ran some sectors. For a twenty year old girl, she wasn't short. She was around five seven and that for a girl was enough.

In simple words, She was an epitome of beauty. Too bad she wasn't aware of that fact.

She walked for a while and then saw a group of women and other girls like her. They were all here to try their luck. Every morning they met here so as to wait for those rich ladies who came to choose the people they wanted to work in their households for a day. It didn't pay much. One would be given at most five hundred Xela coins. It was little but it was enough for these people. It would at least afford a few things like a quarter kilo of sugar, ten grams tea leaves, one kilogram of vegetables, a kilo of rice and a half a liter of paraffin. If she got one today, she was sure she would be sorted for this week before she starts worrying about the one thousand coins rent she would be owing by next week.

Denise Ashford, that was her given name, had never thought that she would ever find herself in these situations. But it was life, wasn't it?

As they were standing there having small talk and gossip about the latest in the slums of Sava, a young girl came running and called Denise.

"Denise, mama is asking if you will work at the hotel today? One of her workers called in sick." The little girl asked and Denise smiled. She didn't even mind that the girl pronounced her name wrongly because she just gave her good news. Talk of good luck. She could hear the other women and girls talk with envy but today was her lucky day.

She left with the little girl and the reason why she was happy was because working at this woman's hotel for a day would give her a thousand, and food. She thanked her stars and decided to go do her best. Oh yes, at least she would be given breakfast.

That's how she spent that day. She was a happy girl by the time she went back to her small house. She was very very tired but she was happy because tomorrow, she would also work there. At least she could save on food and thus be able to pay her rent on time.

The last thing she needed was that man they called their caretaker to come and start harassing her asking for money.

She remembered one month when she was new here and he came knocking on her door very early in the morning. When she was unable to pay, he locked her door and told her he wouldn't open until she paid. She slept in the pavement for two whole days before she could raise that little amount.

She slept with a smile that night hoping for better days. Yes, she hoped that tomorrow would be better.