The Runaway: I by Toluwanimi. Twani Toria™

The Runaway: I by Toluwanimi

Present Day...

Abi looked at the men in the inn with disgust. About 80％ of them were pervs. They were either grabbing or smacking a waitress' butt or sliding their cards in cleavages for an hotel quickey or whatever promiscuosity it is they do. She's been working in Rhexa's Inn for three months now. Been a waitress here sucks, but it's all she's got to support herself.

She still remembered the day she found herself in Calabar. She had been so keen on her escape from home and hadn't thought about the fact that she knew nowhere outside Aregun village. Still, she hadn't cared. She entered every bus she saw people entering, paying her fare with the money she had stolen from her father's calabash safe. When she had arrived Calabar, she was already out of cash. She didn't know where she was and was quite terrified with how big the city is, its crowded state, and the huge structure of some houses and outfits. Everything was new, and fascinating.She had heard stories of how beautiful the city is compared to the village, from some undergraduates who would come visiting their parents in Aregun. She had always wanted to experience the city life considering the sweet stories she had heard.

Right now however, she wasn't enjoying any of it. She works in a inn where a man could sexually touch a waitress and that waitress couldn't do anything about it, because according to Miss. Rhexa―the owner of the inn―the customers come first. Sometimes she would see some waitresses slip upstairs―where the rooms are located for the guests―after their shift for the day. She knew what it meant. It meant that they were probably satisfying the needs of the customer. Obviously married men would be seen ogling over another lady's ass or having a sexual relationship with them. Things aren't like these where she came from. There are morals in Aregun. Girls don't wear skimpy things or flirt openly like what she's been exposed to for the last three months in Rhexas'. She bet almost every girl in the inn has been screwed by one male customer or the other. Some of the waitresses seemed to like it, while others seemed to do it because they needed the cash, like her friend, Maria.

Maria was Abi's life saviour. She had taken Abi in, when the girl was stranded in a street in Calabar. She had been on her way home from Rhexas' when she saw Abi crying and had asked what was wrong. Hearing Abi's story, she knew the girl would probably get lost or end up in the hands of rapists or kidnappers. So, she had taken Abi to her one bedroom apartment. She allowed her eat and sleep under her roof for two weeks. Later, seeing that she couldn't support two mouths on her own, she had told Abi to come work for Rhexas', that there's been a vacant spot for a while.

Abi had refused for a week having heard about how Rhexas' worked. You might leave your home dressed like a nun, but once you are at the inn, you are required to wear the skimpy and showy clothes, called a uniform. There were two uniforms, a top with a lowly hung V neck and a bum shot, and a highly mini splitted skirt with the same V neck shirt. Whichever is given to you, your luck. None was of good luck as far as Abi was concerned. She had given in later anyway, because she had to support Maria either way. The girl can't continue feeding her for free. She also knew Maria felt for her, but had had no choice.

"Don't worry, those men won't notice you. They love their women plump in the right places."  Maria had said, giving Abi a run-over with her eyes.

"Meaning?" Abi had chided feeling slightly insulted.

"Omo no vex. But you know, you are all flat and skinny. Lepa shandy." Maria had replied giving  Abi's ass another run-over.

"I'm not flat! How can someone who uses a 38C bra size be flat. Haba. Give me small credit mama." Abi retorted.

Speaking in between hysterical giggles, Maria had said, "OK, mama sexy, if you say so. But me oo, I know it would be a while before any man will get his hands on you. You gotta be voluptuous to be hands on babe." She shook her 42D boobs to Abi's face to make her point.

And truly, no man has had his hands on Abi since she's been working there. Every waitress like Maria had said, was fat in the right places. They looked like certified hookers. Abi had always thought she was lithe, not skinny. However, the kind of women she saw in Rhexas' made her feel skinny. Rhexa had relunctantly employed her.

"PIGS." She muttered after scanning the faces of the men with disgust. She trotted towards table 39 to take a man's order as instructed.

"Good evening Sir, what can I get you?"She said holding a jotter tab and a pencil.

The man gave a disgusted grunt as though he would prefer someone else attending to him. He didn't look at her face. Just her slim thighs. It was as though he was trying to check her out from the toe to her head but felt irritated at the middle of his mission. He looked down to his table, shook his head and said "Just give me fried rice and chicken. And water please."He said those words still looking at his table.

Men who come here love their ladies thick. And Abi thanked God for that. If getting disgusted looks is what will save her from their touch, then so be it.
"Coming up, right away." She said politely.

The man instantly swung his head to her direction, but she was already backing him, walking towards the kitchen area to get his order ready. Too bad. 
She had this feminine rich voice that screamed intelligence and lushness. That was what had attracted him the first time. But what he saw displeased him, he didn't need to look at her face, he already knew how she would look like. Girls with her type of skin colour were never really beautiful; that was his belief. Beautiful voice, wasted just like that. Too bad. He mused.

Then a yell broke his thought.....

"Everybody down!"

And everyone was down indeed, lying face down on the floor. Rhexas' was been raided. Considering how the girls were dressed, these armed robbers were definitely going to do more than stealing.
"Oh no, oh no". Abi paled at the thought of being raped She was with a tray of food to be set on table 39 when the armed men had stormed the building. Now, the food and tray were clattered on the floor, and she was lying face down near a man, who should be about 50-55 years of age.

"Miss, miss". The 50-something man said in hush tone near Abi.

"I think we both know what is going to happen to you girls right?"

Abi didn't reply, the question needed none. It was an obvious nakba.

"Come with me." The man said, stretching out his hand towards her.

Abi replied with her eyes going all wide, out of fear.

"You can trust me, don't worry. You come with me, and you are saved from these hoodlums, you don't and you know what happens."

Abi didn't trust him, but she went with him anyway, crawling their way to an exit door, she never knew existed.

Twani Toria

Toluwanimi