1 Beginning

As early as sunrise, Zanna had woken up at the first ring of her alarm clock to quickly get herself ready for the day business at hand. She got out of her house as soon as she could and got on her rickety and jerky old bicycle riding to school in her blue blazer jacket, white short sleeve shirt and ash mini skirt uniform which all represented that she was a high schooler. Today was the first day of school and she was neither excited to be back in it nor looking forward to it either in anyway. Riding cautiously to her school, the morning had been bright and really beautiful in a lovely way but she didn't have time to notice it mystic scenery as she was having a problem that beclouded her mind and made her have a turmoil of thoughts.

Zanna's mind recounted back to what'd happen this morning some minutes ago back at her home. The agent handling and in care of the blocks of apartment buildings they reside in had sent a letter to their apartment particularly. It was a letter of a two weeks notice that stated that if they don't pay up their two months owed rent along with the current one within this allotted time then they'll be forced to pack out and vacate the house with immediate effect. Her mother had been so worried and troubled since the beginning they'd gotten and read the content of the bombshell of a letter.

This had disturbed Zanna greatly as she doesn't want her mother to be thinking or worrying a lot or too much of their situation in anyway because she cared for her and her health also. Her mother was so scared and frightened at the thought that they'll be homeless soon and she'd to put up a strong face easing her fears and telling her that everything will be alright just when she herself knew it wouldn't. How? She'd thought and couldn't help asking herself inwardly. How where we going to come up with that big amount of money? A whole three hundred thousand? In two weeks? How? How? How?She wondered repeatedly to herself. She knew well enough that they'd no single sum of money saved up anywhere and their living in life was much with difficulty each passing damn day.

Looking back at the pass incident of her life, Zanna realized that nothing had ever been nor come as easy for her but always hard with a struggle she's got to work out. She rembered that things started becoming slightly uneasy and that they eventually became poor just when her father had tragically died two years ago. Now, he was late and up till today she still doesn't know what'd killed him specifically. After his painful exit, she along with her mother had fought a lot with needs and expenses since her father had always been the one providing everything they so wanted with ease while he was yet alive.

Zanna knew that the reason having enough money was strenuous for them was because her mother wasn't a working class person. She was just only an high school graduate with no college education at all and just as she'd tried as much as she could to get a decent well off job she couldn't as no one was willing to hire an undergraduate much like her. So, what was left for her sympathetic mother was to do menial jobs that came with meagre salaries like a nanny, cleaner and waitress. Luck apparently seemed to smile on her mother's hardworking efforts after about two and a half year she've been doing all that with not much help from her colleagues nor encouragement from the cheap little money she earns monthly. As she saved up a little sum of money, she then bought an old fashioned but manageable shop opening a coffee bar and pastry shop which was really a good thing but they still don't make much that would be good enough for them from that as they lacked a lot of well patronizing customers.

The few unprofiting money they make from the shop have to go for the electricity bills, water bills, feeding,house rent, shop rent, taxes, utility bills and Zanna's schooling fees. With things being much of a mess like this, Zanna yet again wondered how they'll get or would have that great amount of money to cover the rent wages. She knew within that it wasn't going to be or come easy and where could they even think of turning to get it from this time as her mother was still owing some borrowed but yet to be payed loans to her banks which means they just couldn't go there for speedy help or support now around. The bank would be a lot unwilling to help by lending more money to them as they also would be coming for theirs soon enough too. Now, she felt like her life and everything around her was choke up in a big debt or one problem and another. Gosh, when will everything end for once? When will her life be problem and stress free? Like when is it going to become normal? She muttered wallowing in self pity for herself.

A car honked baringly making Zanna jolt from her reverie as she seem to immediately remember that she was actually now on the main road riding her bicycle. However, It was really a good and perfect timing as the lights had just suddenly hit to red and she hurriedly pressed hard on her brakes at the right time of the last minute. So, she stopped waiting patiently for the lights to hit and change back to green before peddling heading on to her destination. After it did, she rode on resuming and continuing her train of thoughts from where she'd previously left off. She really needed to think hard on the way she was going to be helping and saving her mother on this issue as their so said time was running out.

Then, an idea popped in Zanna's head dawning on her heart that if she could get a shift after school job she would help her mother come up with half the money for the rent wages and if they could pay for a small part of it just maybe they could plead and be given more time to come up with the rest to. It was a good idea that could very much turn out promising and she decided it was what she was going to do to try finding a job after school later on before going home. Instinctively, she remember sadly again that she would probably have stopped going to school along with her education a long while back and her dreams to become a medical doctor when she grows up would have dashed away before she even begun working to achieve it as her mother didn't have enough with the little she holding to cover for her cheap public school fees.

But then, Zanna was lucky to have gotten help from one of her favourite female teacher who loved and adored her for being a bright and smart kid when she learned of the problem she was facing with. Her teacher had enrolled her into an examination scholarship competition and she had written and passed it with a highly great mark just like her teacher knew she would. She was surprised when she was gifted and awarded a full-time sponsored scholarship into one of the best private school in the country that she could never in her wildest dreams imagine of going to. Being the only person who to not only reach but exceed the cutoff mark in the examination competition. She still hold her teacher much thanks of gratitude till today but she'd gotten advised that she needed

to use this medium well as there were a lot of higher opportunities she could get from it. Her teacher told her that she deserved and need much more as a very knowledgeable young girl and she had see to it to takes her words in heart. All that made her determined to use the scholarship opportunity to study hard a lot and face her studies. So, she would become rich and not poor in her future to take her mother out of the poverty they where in just on one day.

As Zanna paddled her bicycle on, she seemed to have become certain that the rent issue was past behind her as she believed she'd found a helping or rather resolving solution to it and got to the much familiar routes through which she takes to her school. Finally, she went through the last bends up then down again until she arrived at her dungeon of a school much to her.