Chapter 2

Nora was all set for the night routine; with her once navy blue now whirling white bucket in hand, she exited home to the public tap.

Now, the water she had fetched the previous day had magically vacated the 200-liters rubber barrel she had managed to fill up to the brim, how that happened? She couldn't tell. Yet, something at the back of her mind told her, or rather, pictured out just how the water had been used.

With the existence of a malicious stepmother and daughters in her life, she had to expect worst; utilizing water unnecessarily and, or doing things which will result in her using water more than necessary, was their daily aim.

The vicinity of the tap came to view, but unlike other days, it looked different: it was dried out of littering humans. The time the clock displayed to her before leaving home was past eight, which was the conventional time to see a crowd decorating the tap's concrete surroundings.

Nora took it upon herself to walk closer to it than she already was. Her mind whispered to her some words she didn't want to heed; she wanted it to be wrong, instead, her action was proved wrong when she twisted the faucet several times to see nothing oozing out of it. She scrunched her face and let her tired eyes wander in frustration, looking for a convenient spot to wait.

"Oh dear," she heard a passer-by say midway into falling into a deep slumber. Looking up was an old lady in silk scarfed hair dressed in a simple lavender robe which seemed to have seen better days. A thin cane suffocated beneath the grasp of her calloused venous hands, hands which appeared to have spent half its years farming, harvesting, splitting, and lifting heavy loads. "it's been an hour already. There isn't hope it will flow anytime soon."

The old lady flashed a rotten toothy smile at her before setting back to slow, shaky, and careful steps whilst muttering to herself.

"Ma," Nora called, getting to ample height as she followed the old lady who was just three steps away. "Please, do you by any chance know of a place where I could fetch some water?" 

The woman stopped, scanned Nora's physique and smiled. This time, concealing her rotted teeth. "It's late my dear, go home, have some rest. You need it more than anything else." The woman returned to walking away and Nora didn't stop her this time.

Nora returned to the potion of the floor she had dusted earlier, made herself comfortable and began staring at her age mates sophisticatedly dressed. A set of five girls bypassed her: a hundred layered made-up faces, some of whom were unlucky to not have picked their right shade, making them appear like Mexican masquerades, fake hair; synthetic, human, and even animal, expensive jewelry, and heightened short fitting dresses just an inch or two long after the bum level. 

The group of five were chit chatting loud enough for her ears to capture whatever it is they were talking about. 

"Heard one of the guys lives in this hotel." the darker of them all in a black exposing glittery dress and curly Peruvian hair gestured to the hotel which owned the public tap where Nora fetched her water.

"You heard? Well, I saw him this morning. I think that should be his room," The shortest in a short cherry red flair dress pointed to a veranda on the second floor. "Heard his dad owns a..."

The voice receded as they finally made it to the highway so much that she hadn't been able to capture the last of her words. 

Back to analyzing the rest of the passers-by, Nora pinpointed a familiar figure wobbling on a pair of silver five inched heels, just like the previous set of girls, was this one dressed and made-up. 

"Rose?" Nora figured, squinting her eyes to reduce the amount of street lights diving into them and also, to make sure she wasn't hallucinating, bluffed. Rose rushed to the nearest obstacle which was part of the hotel fence for support before shooting Nora a deadly glare.

"What is it?" she growled.

"You look...different," Nora confessed wondering if her stepmother was aware of the appearance of the new Rose standing before her. Nora subconsciously shrugged, knowing that absolutely nothing would change whether she knew about it or not.

"Yeah, so what?" Rose reached for her shoe and began unbuckling it. "Jesus! My feet hurt," she whispered beneath her breathe.

Nora did nothing but watch.

"Listen," Rose added. "I want nothing from you for the first time but to keep your mouth shut. Get that? Keep it," She mimicked a zipper along her lips.

Nora vigorously and obediently nodded. "At least, let me know where you going to in case something occurs."

Rose fumbled on a plastic bag for a pair of leather slippers, replacing it with the bundled up heels. "As I said," she simultaneously slid her feet into it. "Mind your business, hope that English is clear enough for you."

With that, Rose stomped away.

Nora watched her retreating figure until she was out of sight. On her way to the little potion she was earlier seated on, Nora spotted a water mate from her peripheral vision. Quickly, she ran to the slim figure and asked, 

"Hey," the girl stopped with a perplexed look on. "Sorry to disturb you. I just wished to inquire if you may know of any place where I could fetch some water."

The girl's face smoothened, "Oh, yeah, sure, but it's quite a distance from here. I doubt you can reach-"

"I just wish to know the place, please." Nora cut her off with a plead.

"Paper gate. That's the place."

Nora sighed in relief and thanked the girl. Papergate was a two minutes drive and thirteen minutes walk from her current position. Indeed it was quite a distance, for thirteen rounds. She would probably take till dawn to finish filling the barrel.

The young lass set on foot. If she could guess the time from the position of the moon, as her countryside paternal grandmom thought her, she would guess nine-thirty or ten pm but the highways still looked like it was just six with the number of cabs circulating, numerous teenagers and young adults strolling hand in hand, some perching at street food booths and varieties of music from different snack bars exploding in the air.

Did she envy them?

Definitely! They looked so happy-every single one of them. Some made her wonder how it felt to have that strong affection towards another, how it felt to walk so close, talkless of hand in hand with a loved one, to look at him in the eye and smile.

Didn't they have a tinge of nervousness at some point? What about discomfort, shyness, embarrassment? 

Finally, at paper gate, Nora immediately sighted what she had been looking for, it wasn't so hard to make out as it was situated on the pavement. Unlike the tap where she usually fetched water, the one she stood before was almost vacant of any form of human structure. 

She had never thanked the heavens as much as she did at that point in time. All she had to do was pray it remained that way as long as she did her thirteen round night routine.

Her enormous bucket was being fed three minutes after her arrival but contrary to her bucket, her stomach was empty. Reason why it had suddenly found pleasure in grumbling all the way from home.

Nora crouched to the bucket level to grab each side of it, ready to have it mounted on her head when suddenly, her eyes spun. She flung a palm to her forehead with her eyes shut. 

Three...

Two..

One.

She opened them clarity and almost immediately went on lifting the bucket upon her head. 

It's nothing, I'm going to be alright. She encouraged.

The street had begun to desert when Nora got to round three. It was past midnight. The cabs and chauffeurs, boys and girls, the erupting music, the birds, the stray cats, and dogs, had gone to sleep, except for her, and some dotted number of personal car owners roaming the deserted street.

That, she was thankful for; Crossing the highway with so many cabs rushing at neck-breaking speed was cumbersome especially with a massive bucket of water above her head.

The kind ones will stop and motion for you to traverse but, the reckless ones will bellow profanities at the peak of their voices from dusk till dawn.

Now was just the perfect time to do whatever. One could even use it as an opportunity to experience how standing in the middle of a highway, eyes shut, felt like. 

Again, for the nth time that night, her belly grimaced.

You should have gotten used to this. Why hurl at me at this present condition of ours? She thought, expecting her mind to communicate with her tummy in some anatomical way and plead for it to be quiet on her behalf.

Nora had managed to reach the abandoned highway despite the disobedience of her stomach which wouldn't stop moaning, urging her to get something in it sooner or sooner. 

It had even gone as far as taking control over her mind and soon enough, her eyes reacted to the call with another scene of dizziness and her legs almost picked up the transaction and had begun to wobble.

She had to stand still, shut her eyes, and wait for the situation to bounce back at hand, then, she could take it from there. But when her basic three to one countdown had hit the base with no change, Nora knew more than just to let her body take custody of her being. So, she decided to go in for another body consoling try which she was yet to discover. 

Upon opening her eyes, things seemed to have gotten even worst than before; nothing was in place. Everything spun, even the audible noises appeared distant and faded away with each flying nanosecond. 

It was too much. She couldn't push through. 

Her body felt numb. Then came the ear blowing horns, she still couldn't move, she couldn't even decipher where it was from. 

The weight of the bucket which she had been trying to maintain vacated her head in an instant due to a strong impact of cold metal against her ribs. Her legs finally got a cue to give up with her body whipping through the air to end up on a puddle of cold water.

An excruciating pain traveled through her body as a result of her head hitting against the hardness and roughness of the tar. 

"G, she dead?" someone asked.

"She is," The other confirmed, after pressing his thumb against her neck and then her wrist.

Those were the last atom of sound rays she distinguished before embracing oblivion.