Waking up to his alarm every morning wasn't something Chinaza looked forward to, but he hated being around when the whole orphanage awoke.
They would act like they were family and act like everything was fine when in reality, it wasn't.
He walked to the bathroom to pee and changed his mind at the sight of it, he just shook his head and headed downstairs, tiptoeing so that Sister Chimamanda wouldn't come down to offer him food like she had done for the past 3 weeks.
He was almost at the door when she called his name softly, "Chinaza."
He pretended not hear. It was still dark so she couldn't see him, he knew he had an advantage so he kept still near the door, waiting to hear her footsteps indicating that she was going up the stairs, but they didn't come.
Rather, she called again "Chinaza! Naz! Raymond! Chinaza Geoffrey Raymond!"
He had to answer this time; she rarely called his full name and honestly, he hated when she did because it did remind him of someone he was that he never knew.
"Yes Sister Amanda?" Chinaza replied.
"You could have answered earlier, you know."Sister Amanda said.
"I didn't want to, thought you would have figured that out." Chinaza answered rudely.
"You should have known by now that this tough boy pretence doesn't work on me.
Come to the kitchen, I have food for you." Sister Amanda told him.
He followed her to the kitchen because as much as he loved to pretend he didn't need the breakfast, he actually did.
Sometimes, he wouldn't get what to eat all day if there was no one to steal from or show pity to a 15 year old boy walking around.
He looked at the food and smiled; it was Eba and Ofé Nsala.
She probably noticed all the light food she gave him weren't helping because by 11am, he would be hungry again.
He was grateful.
He sat on the stool in the kitchen that was kept for the cutting of Vegetables when cooking,and when he finished the food, Sister Amanda brought water for him, one she had gotten from the tap.
They rarely saw Sachet Water to drink and if they ever saw Bottled water, it was treated like Gold.
Morever it was,they only received it during Christmas.
"Thank you, Sister Amanda." Chinaza said gratefully.
"It's my Job, Naza." Sister Amanda answered.
"So you go around preparing food for all the orphans here at 6 in the mornings?"Chinaza asked, smiling at the Sister.
"Okay, fair point. Just stay safe okay? I will see you in the evening by 6?" Sister Amanda said.
"I'm not promising anything, Sister Amanda." Chinaza answered and walked out the door.
Walking non-stop made him realize how much his back hurt.
He was carrying his bag, the bag that contained everything he owned; an alarm clock, a wrapper, a sweater, a pen holder.
The bed at the orphanage wasn't of any use, it was badly torn and he still had to be squashed in between two boys almost double his size.
This was the worst Orphanage he had been to. He shook his head and moved the bag from one shoulder to the other, but it kept hurting so he unhung it and carried it in his hand. He kept walking till he got to the shed he always rested in.
When he entered the shed, he laid his wrapper on the floor,wore the sweater, set his alarm for 10 and slept off.
He woke up at exactly 10, switched off the alarm and went back to sleep.
If he was being honest with himself, he needed all the sleep he could get.
It wasn't really easy sleeping in the Orphanage; the babies always cried at night and then the big ones would always go into the toilet to smoke or do drugs and then there would be shouts from the younger ones from either playing games or having an injury.
It was really difficult for him.
He remembered after he finished his Primary School, the Reverend Sister had told him they didn't have enough money to take him to secondary school and that most kids at this Orphanage stopped at primary school.
Initially, he didn't like the idea, but he finally accepted it and got used to it. It'd been 2 years now and he hadn't seen any school wall, and funny enough, he was fine with it.
He didn't want to start explaining to the students why no one came to pick him up from school or why his uniforms were always un-ironed.
He wasn't ready for unnecessary attention.
He woke again at quarter past 10 and knew it was time to get money for lunch and dinner.
He needed to get a new sweater, but that was too much to ask of Sister Amanda.
She already got him a new wrapper, plus, Christmas wasn't anytime near for him to expect a hand down sweater and the rainy season was slowly creeping in.
He left the shed en route to the Maxabe Continential Hotel.
It was near the airport and it was easier to steal from people going to the airport.
They were late and always in a hurry so simply hitting them would distract them, but they wouldn't mind and keep hurrying.
He planned to make enough money today to last till Friday; the week was just starting so he needed lots of money.
He dropped his bag on the slab at the junction before the hotel.
He looked quite presentable so it would be easy to enter the hotel gate drawing suspicion.
Walking slowly, he scanned the area for a possible victim and saw a lady that didn't look any older than 30.
She wasn't in a haste, neither did she look like she had enough time, so he increased his pace and before she could leave the outside of the hotel, he ran into her.
As was expected, her purse fell and he fell too and while acting like he was helping her pick it up, he slipped over 5,000 Naira into his pocket.
