{💊} - 𝐉𝐨𝐣𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬.ଓ

A sea breeze caressed your hair, causing it to sway gently. You sat on the steps of the building where you worked and from which you were soon kicked out in disgrace. The situation was dire: you could barely support your younger brother, your mother's debts, and the mortgage, toiling away at two jobs, and now you'd lost your main source of income, with no chance of returning. You didn't know what to do next; the job, which accounted for 75% of your income, had disappeared as quickly as yesterday's grocery prices, which were jumping like jacks. In utter despair, you stood up to go home, when suddenly a woman sitting in an expensive car called out to you:

"Hey, girl!" the stranger called out to you, quietly but clearly enough, holding a business card with the words "Iko Iko" between her fingers. You turned your head, and, already opening your mouth to reprimand her, she continued:

— "I know what your family situation is like now. It's hard to carry such a burden of responsibility on your own shoulders, especially when you've been fired from a job that depended on your life more than you can imagine."

The woman tossed you a business card. It landed on the damp ground at your feet, slightly damp and seeming to scream, "This is your only chance to get out of this hole! "

• "Call anytime."

With these words, the woman left, leaving you alone with a spark of hope that had stabbed so painfully, but somehow invigoratingly, in your chest.