THE PITIABLE CHILD

CHAPTER ONE

Ibrahim was walking back to his house on a very cold night, he was dressed in his hoody that partially protected him from the intense cold that was piercing his body or any individual that's out at that moment of the night. He was coming back from a Tea joint that was located a mile or less away from his house. Despite the fact that he took tea some few minutes ago, he was shivering which lead him to pocketed his phone alongside his gloved hands just to maintain the normal body temperature.

It's unusual to have such tremendous cold dropping sometimes to 9ºc at around 10pm. It became unbearable to the inhabitants of the environment and if not for the guys that are tea addict, you hardly see someone outside, everyone finds a serene and warm place to hide themselves. He was walking and just thinking about life when he got scared by a boy that was lying on bare sand under a tree, he paused and at same time his heartbeat increases rapidly, he couldn't believe what he saw till when he brought out his phone and flashed at the boy, who was at the moment sleeping and so dire.

He saw a helpless boy lying down with neither shoes nor a blanket on his body, the boy was in torn clothes which made him more vulnerable to the intense cold in the surrounding. His rubber food flask was by his side and sand was all over his bushy hair. Ibrahim made two steps closer to him and said "Hea little boy", there wasn't any response at the time but the boy was breathing softly and shivering in a superlumic state, he moved close to him and directed the flash to his face. He couldn't believed his eyes, the boy was sleeping but by a single glance at how his face was and the way his body was moving, one could tell that he was having a nightmare at the moment, there were tears running down his eyes and was turning his head slowly.

Ibrahim doesn't know when he sat down on the ground near the boy and despite the tremendous cold, he couldn't help the sweat which was all over his face, running down from his forehead and joining the tears from his eyes down to his cheeks. He spent some minutes there thinking about the reasons behind such terrific things and why do parents let their children on the street like this. Having thought of many things but couldn't get a single answer to his unasked questions, he decided to wake the boy up so that he can see how he might render some help.

He gently tapped on the boy's leg while saying "Hea, wake up", the boy freakily woke up saying " I swear I didn't eat the food, I didn't even get it at all".  It was actually confusing and painfull, so Ibrahim held his hand and calmed him down after which he asked him why he was shouting when he woke up and he replied whike tears were running down his cheeks with "since afternoon I came out in search of food to eat but couldn't get any, I've been looking for any type of food but up to now I don't get it, I'm hungry now and it's late already, if I go back without the food, I'll be severely beaten" he said. In complete bewilderment Ibrahim looked at him and said," who will eat the food if you go back with it?". The boy replied as he was getting up, looking so famished and said "my younger brother". He picked up his flask with the intention to proceed with the begging while he was still shivering seriously. 

Ibrahim held his hand and said to him " would you mind following me so that I will give you something to eat?" Having no other option, he decided to follow him without a second thought by saying "YES". Ibrahim held his hand and they both moved towards Ibrahim's residence. Even though he had no idea who Ibrahim was, the boy just followed not knowing the outcome of his actions or anything. All he was after was to have something to put to his empty stomach and as well his kid brother at school. He knew that he would be beaten for being late but still knows that it'll be less compared to what would happen if he fails to go back with the food. So to him it was the best choice. 

Looking at the boy, who was not more than 7 years old, looking so famished in such torn clothes, having no food or clean water to take, no one to cater for him rather he was the one looking after his younger brother who shouldn't be more than 3 years also. The boy was in such cold with no sweater or blanket, neither shoe on his legs nor cap on his head. It was such an appalonh life indeed and that reminds him of his childhood and how it went. 

Ibrahim grew up in London, as an Ambassador, his father and mother spent many years outside and even before his appointment, he mostly went abroad for other things and his Wife is a business woman so she travels almost every single month. Ibrahim was born in Nigeria but at the age just slightly higher than the boy's, they all travelled to London and spent 5 years there after which they all went back to UAE and spent over a decade also, until last month when they decided to return to Nigeria in order to join Ibrahim with some of his relatives and also to check for suitable type of business and location to invest on. So to him, beggars doesn't exist and even if they do, which he remembered as he used to see them when he was a child, they were mostly very old people that walk around with sticks, so seeing such little boy and in addition knowing that the boy's younger brother is also a beggar, he became confused and still in terrific situation.

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