27/01/2026
Season One
Episode Four — The First Lie
Morning came without kindness.
Kobi woke up stiff, his back aching, his clothes still damp from the night rain. Around him, the bridge was already alive, men packing their cardboards, boys brushing their teeth with sachet water, everyone moving like this was normal life.
His stomach hurt. Not the sharp pain of sickness, but the dull ache of emptiness. Hunger that reminded you of itself every few minutes.
He walked to the roadside, watching people rush past with purpose. Office shoes. Clean shirts. Confidence. He felt small standing there, dusty and unsure, like a mistake that wandered into the city.
Someone lent him a phone for a minute.
When his mother’s number rang, his heart beat faster than it did the whole night. She picked up on the second ring.
“My son,” she said quickly. “Did you reach safely?”
Her voice carried relief, prayers answered, worries calmed. For a moment, Kobi almost told the truth. The bridge. The cold. The fear. The hunger.
But he imagined her face changing. The panic. The guilt. The helplessness.
So he smiled instead.
“Yes, Mama,” he said, forcing strength into his voice. “Lagos is fine. I’ve settled. I’ll start work soon.”
There was a pause. Then a happy sigh.
“I knew it,” she said. “I told everyone God will carry you.”
The lie slid out easily after that. Too easily. He spoke of opportunities that didn’t exist, of friends he hadn’t made, of plans he didn’t understand. With every sentence, her joy grew — and so did the weight in his chest.
“Call me anytime,” she said before hanging up. “I’m proud of you.”
The call ended.
Kobi lowered the phone slowly and handed it back. He stood there long after, staring at the road, feeling something new, not just hunger, not just fear, but shame.
The lie was meant to protect her.
But it had already trapped him.
As he walked back toward the bridge, Lagos moved around him, loud and uncaring. He didn’t know it yet, but that first lie would grow with him in this cit, stretching, multiplying, following him wherever hunger pushed him next.
And Lagos, patient as ever, was watching.
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