🖤 The Price of Survival: The Red Calabash and the Broken Promise

Part 1: The Bargain of Despair

Chapter 1: The Last Night of Innocence

The neon sign above the usual gathering spot cast a sickly yellow glow on the street, illuminating the desperate convergence of need and wealth. For Eunice, at just seventeen, this corner was the terminal point of a collapsed future. She had just finished secondary school, her dreams of university—dreams nurtured in the quiet ambition of a schoolgirl—shattered by her mother’s decree.

Her mother, driven by her own survival and a terrifying absence of moral guidance, had offered a singular path: Prostitution. “I can’t train you to the University, except you join me in the Prostitution’s Job,” she had declared, framing the degradation as the only viable economic strategy.

When the luxury sedan slowed, and a middle-aged man signaled her, Eunice felt the familiar wave of nausea. In the hotel room, fear finally broke her composure.

“Please Sir, I’m still a Virgin, I have never slept with any Man before, I don’t really think I can do it,” she wept, the words trembling with shame and terror.

The man, shocked by her honesty and annoyed by the interruption to his craving, was instantly dismissive. He raged, not understanding why someone seeking money wouldn’t simply pursue an “office job.”

“If you’re not interested in ‘Servicing’ Me, pick up your bag and get out of here now!!”

The threat of returning home empty-handed—the knowledge of her mother’s disappointment and the return to grinding poverty—was a force stronger than her innocence. Eunice made her choice.

“Alright Sir, I’m interested…” she said bluntly, sealing the transactional horror.

That night marked the end of her youth, a trauma symbolized by the blood staining the bedsheets—evidence the man found “sweeter” because of its cost. He compensated her generously, collected her number, and left her alone with the heavy, crushing guilt.

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Chapter 2: The Logic of Survival

Returning home, Eunice felt a corrosive guilt, wanting to “strangle her mom” for the path she was forced onto. But her mother was ready, a master manipulator prepared to soothe the moral wounds with the cold balm of financial justification.

“Wow!!! This is so huge!!! You see why I introduced you to this Job, I know you have a lot of potentials in you, don’t ever try to feel sad about doing this.”

Her mother’s counsel was a chilling blend of delusion and twisted social commentary. She painted the entire female world as compromised: classmates sleeping with boyfriends for provision, others leveraging married “sugardaddies.”

“So, is there any difference between you and them? Absolutely No! All of us are looking for a way to Survive!”

The argument was dangerously effective. By universalizing the compromise, her mother stripped Eunice’s trauma of its specific horror. She offered the money as a personal reward: “I won’t take anything from it, it’s all yours, Enjoy.”

This act of twisted generosity worked. Eunice felt better. She adopted the cynical worldview, telling herself she would “never feel Sad about this Prostitution of a job again!” She exchanged self-respect for economic survival, adopting the hardened exterior necessary for the life she was forced to lead.

Part 2: The Gilded Trap

Chapter 3: The Home Service

One night, the cycle repeated. Eunice and her mother prepared for the “usual” job. A sleek, imposing car stopped, and again, the client chose Eunice—her beauty and “endowed” figure making her an immediate target.

The wealth of this client was immediately apparent. “Wow, this Car is really huge, the man must really be so rich…” Eunice thought, the logic of her new life taking over.

The client bypassed the usual hotel ritual, driving instead to his secluded, huge house.

“Ahnn Ahnn, why didn’t we go to the Hotel to do it, why your house?” Eunice asked, a small flicker of professional worry.

The man, smooth and reassuring, offered a simple incentive: “I’ll double the payment, I guess they do double the payment for Home Services right?” He dismissed her worry about a potential wife or children with a casual assurance: “Ohh, I don’t have a Wife and Children, I live alone.”

Satisfied by the double fee and the privacy, Eunice entered the luxurious house, suppressing the instinctive unease. She admired the beauty of the room, relaxing as the man headed to the shower. This was her new normal.

Chapter 4: The Red Calabash

Alone in the vast, silent room, Eunice gave into the universal curiosity: she explored. She checked the shelves and the wardrobes, drawn by the sheer spectacle of the man’s wealth.

Then she saw it.

On a side shelf, hidden beneath some clothes, was a strange, local plate tied tightly with a Red Cloth. Beside it rested a huge, brand-new luggage bag.

Eunice’s professional curiosity was immediately replaced by primal terror. She cautiously approached the luggage and unzipped it. Inside, stacked in neat, overwhelming bundles, was a gigantic sum of cash.

“Jesus!!!” she screamed internally.

The sheer volume of cash was shocking, but the presence of the cloth-tied plate next to it was utterly terrifying. Her mind, saturated with local folklore and horror stories, immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion.

“Why is this Red Calabash beside this Luggage of Money, Does this Man wants to use me For Sacrifice? What would I do now?…”

The question hung heavy in the silence of the luxurious room. Eunice, who had been conditioned to sacrifice her body for money, was now confronted with the terrifying prospect of losing her life for it. Her mother’s cynical logic, which had offered comfort in the face of sexual exploitation, offered no defense against this new, supernatural threat.

She was trapped—the ultimate price of survival suddenly escalating far beyond her control. The moment the water stopped running in the shower was the deadline for her escape, forcing her to make the most dangerous choice of her short, brutal life.