Magdalene

She reaches into her pocket. Literally, not a single penny-even for a candy. It would have been nice to have one, she thought. Her mouth was as dry as Sahara desert.

She chuckled. She’d rather be in a deserted place rather than stay here — on the streets looking out for another customer. Worst of all, she has not eaten yet.

It’s been slow. The economy has worsened and nobody wants to waste their money on prostitutes anymore. Money was tight for every one. It was 2020 and Manila has some of the darkest streets and trades. She had no where else to go. For someone who can barely read or write, everyone refused to take her.

How she got there? Nobody knew. Some do not even care. They would just pass by. But mostly men, look at her, with so much disdain and lust. Some women would stare her down–from head to toe.

But she walked anyway.

Now she laid lifeless near the river banks, along with the bunch of garbage. People started to surround her body. No one knows her or her name.

Her story, we will never know.