"Take it easy, baby," Ella chuckled, handing her a bottle. "Here, wash it down."
Peace took a quick swig. She winced. "What the hell is this? It tastes awful."
"Codeine," Ella said casually. "Helps you float above the pain."
Peace exhaled a puff of smoke. "This is so fucking messed up."
Ella smiled bitterly. "Dearest… life itself is messed up."
She leaned back on the sofa, staring at the POP ceiling above.
"After my NYSC, I hunted for work for two years. Sent my CV to every company you can name. Nothing. I stayed home, writing my thoughts, poems, novels, so many unpublished works stacked up in my room, hoping to surface and publish someday, but I was just dreaming."
She paused, then laughed dryly.
"Finally, I got a call from a government office. The general supervisor, a woman, said she'd seen my results and wanted to meet me. I was ecstatic. I thought, 'Finally, God remembered me.'"
Peace turned to look at her, with her red, teary eyes, listening.
"I dressed well. Prepared answers for the interview. Went to her office. It was just the two of us. She read through my credentials, impressed, she said. I felt proud. Then she walked around her desk and stood behind me. Her voice changed."
Ella mimicked her boss's tone.
'"What are you ready to offer for this job?" she asked.
I smiled like the naive idiot I was. I said, 'Ma, I'll give my best. I'll be punctual, professional, dedicated....'
She cut me off. 'You're not ready,' she said, touching the back of my chair.
I turned to look at her. 'Ma, please, I have excellent results. I've worked so hard....'
She leaned in. Her smile was poison.
'Your results are good,' she said. 'But that doesn't qualify you to work qualify you to work as my secretary. There is a condition.",
She said, smiling, and I was still trying to figure something out when she dropped the bombshell.
Ella's voice went quiet. She stared at the floor as if it held the rest of the memory she didn't want to say out loud.
Peace didn't press. She didn't need to. She already knew.
The silence stretched between them, thick and heavy.
Ella finally spoke again, her voice very low.
"Can I touch your tits?", that was when I understood the reality. I was still looking at her, but her face became blurred for me. I was very furious and felt like crushing her with both hands. So this is what it means to be a government worker. The last time I went for an interview, I was told that the job would be mine immediately if I paid a reasonable amount or signed to give them half of my salary every month."
"That is too bad!", Peace voice out aloud
"Hmmm", Ella breathed out.
"My sister, I realized that life itself isn't fair, especially for those who have no good connections. Slowly, I realized it's either I beat them or I join them. But how can I beat them when I was wallowing in abject poverty, wearing few clothes with worn-out shoes? A whole graduate, second class upper of mass communication, begging for food?
"Chaii", Peace said sadly, but Ella didn't stop; she continued.
"I know I had no option, I just nodded my head and the woman removed my two thousand naira thrift red tie and kept it on top of the big-sized table arranged with different kinds of books at the left side, and at the right side was the green, white, and green national flag. Beside it was a small framed photo of the devil, she was even smiling in the picture, nonsense!. My anger was increasing as she started unbuttoning my well-ironed white T-shirt, and stopped at the third button.
"Wow, you got it big here", she said as she unhooked my bra, and the large map of Africa fell off. Looking at the woman, she was happy just touching them, I was not feeling anything, I just want to get out of the damn office as soon as possible but that was the opposite for the woman, she was having the best of her time. She turned the chair to face me and bent down, rolling her tongue on one of my nipples. Same way, she licked the other one too.
"This woman is mad." I murmured as I felt like giving her the beating of her life, but I needed the job badly. Staying home won't pay my bills, and my boyfriend has become sick and tired of my nagging. I looked at the metal door that leads to the exit, and it was not locked, probably she has informed whoever is at the door not to allow anyone in.
"Ma, can I go now?" I voiced out because I couldn't endure it anymore.
"Yeah, dear," she stood up and allowed me to button up.
"Can you hook that bra?" I was kind of commanding her, and I know if I stay there any longer, I would commit murder.
"Nothing comes for free, dear, your job is signed with me and terminates immediately you stop pleasuring me. You give it to me in the office when I need it, and on Fridays, it's a free day just for the two of us, you come to work in my house", she said, hooking the bra.
"So what happens to my attendance on Friday?" I asked, knowing fully well that I have to sign every day I come to work and before I go back.
"I will take care of that".
"Hmm, work indeed", I speak in my mind, picked up my bag on top of the table, and headed straight for the door,
"Thanks for your time", I heard, but to hell with her as I shut the door loudly in anger.
"I resumed work and was just a sex toy for the woman. I have never imagined being a lesbian in my entire life. Slowly, I started losing interest in my boyfriend, I can count the number of times I had sex with him, I don't see anything special in him again, he was not comfortable with the situation and he did all he could to sort the situation out, but all his efforts was in vain. Finally, he left me. The dirty game affected my perfect relationship, and to date, I can't be able to be with a man. She made me to start going to clubs, that is where I get to know your husband, and he introduced me to more dirty whores.
"Chike?"
"Yes. Before I could realize what was happening, I was already deeply hooked up with my fellow girls. I go for anything that is in a skirt, slept with many rich female politicians for money. I deviated from the goal I set for myself. Yes, I have the money now, but I have lost my soul, especially as I am deep into drugs, it's affecting my daily life, and recently, I was diagnosed with liver cancer.
"Liver cancer?" Peace interrupted
"Yes"
"Girl, you are dying", Peace was flabbergasted to hear such.
"Wicked world!"
"Ella, please, hope this is not a joke or one of your cooked-up stories?
"The deed has been done."
"Ella, the great writer, filled with so much potential to give to society, this is a total shock."
"Girl, I'm dead serious, I thought I was on top of the world as the money I got was more than enough to foot my bills, I bought a house, drove my car gift, and so many things that I desire, and I never lacked anything. I became that classy big girl, but it dawned on me that all that was just vanity upon vanity, I mean, look at me, I end up not getting married because of my desire for women. My career was crushed, and my life has been cut short. Lots of my unpublished work is scattered in one corner of my room. I realized I made the wrong choice, but it's too late for me. Had it been I walked away from that office that very day, my life would not be messed up like this.
"Then stop the drugs and the smoking, it will help a lot for the cancer to go."
"It's the only drug that gives me strength these days, I smoke and it calms my mind down, it eases my depressed life. Do you even know the stage that I am?"
Ella asked, but there was silence from Peace.
Ella breathed hard and continued
"And you're talking about saving my life?. Hmm, my dear, I will just live for the moment."
"It's so sad,, Peace said with her dull reddish eyes
"I did what I had to do. I hated myself for months. Still do, sometimes."
Peace looked at her, eyes red from both the smoke and her tears. "How do we fix this? How do we escape it?"
Ella smiled faintly. "We don't escape, darling. We rise. Piece by piece. Maybe not today. Maybe not even next month. But one day, we will wake up to be no more. Death, after all, is a price we all will pay."
"Yeah, but your grave is too early."
Peace took another drag of the joint, slower this time. Her eyes gazed into the smoke spiraling above, and for a moment, her shoulders relaxed.
Slowly, she fell asleep. Outside, the sun had long disappeared, and the shadows of their broken life danced along the walls.