I decided to take a shortcut that Shane had shown me to my room. Ascending a flight of stairs I ended up in a sketchy alleyway. This alley was called 'pat's den' and was a breeding ground for opium and heroin parlours and whorehouses. Close to me were a group of people rolling dice and arguing loudly. I stealthily crept past them so I could avoid paying tax. Once I was a safe distance away I walked normally. Up farther ahead I noticed something. A pale pasty and skinny man covered in crude tattoos was threatening a child. I groaned, I wanted so badly to ignore what was happening, I wanted to avoid any conflict but I couldn't just stand by while a child was likely going to be assaulted… or worse. "Hey!" i shouted, "put him down!" The man dropped the child and turned. "And who the hell are you?" he shouted louder than me. At this point my legs were shaking, my voice became weak but I managed to reply, "I'll pay his tax," the man laughed, his laugh was disturbing. He put the child down. "Oh it's too late for that," he chuckled as he approached me. Tears streamed down my cheeks and urine streamed down my leg. The man stopped when his nose was touching mine. His eyes bore into mine. A while passed before the man hugged me, "I'm just messing with ya," he laughed and pushed me playfully. I gasped in relief and the man laughed harder and louder. "Now gimme the money," he growled with no trace of humour. I nodded and handed him the appropriate money. He snatched the money and disappeared into a nearby opium parlour.
After the incident at pat's den I scurried to my room quickly, my plans to get a job had been derailed because I was too rattled to do anything hard. However, it had got me thinking, if I had died then; I'd have been remembered and died as a depressed weirdo with few friends, the only notable thing that would have happened to me was moving to Valera. I decided I wanted to try living better and happier but it was still hard to get motivated. One day, a week after my near-death experience, I was having breakfast at Roberto's when there was a commotion near me. The people around me had their eyes fixed on the same spot and their expressions were a mix of shock, horror and wonder. Forcing my way through; I cast my eyes upon the source of the uproar. A body lay, limp and lifeless, pale and pasty. A hand tickled my heart when I saw the body and when I realised who it was; the hand squeezed my heart. "Shane?" I whispered as I slid to the floor. The world around me spun, "Shane!" I whispered again. Soon I was hauled to my feet with familiar hands.
"It's gonna be ok bro," reassured Roberto. I shook my head and pushed him away. Slowly I began trudging, aimlessly. Eventually I fell to my knees. My eyes brushed over my surroundings. I was on the peak of Valera. Broken - miscellaneous items and rubbish bags encircled me. Near me was a pitch constructed from tightly packed rubbish. A group of small kids were playing hockey. Soon the kids started filing out with haste. "Hey, oldie!" called one of the kids. I looked up. The boy from pat's den stared at me, the other kids had left. "I'm Peter," he said with an outstretched hand. I shook his hand, "Obi,"I replied. The kid smiled. "Thanks for saving me, that guy probably would've killed me!"
I nodded and stood up to leave. Peter retrieved a small plastic bag with colourful coins inside and handed them to me. "If you come back once a week you'll be paid in full!" I smiled and tousled Peter's hair. "I'll need 50% interest!" I chuckled, Peter just looked confused. "It's just extra money you add onto a loan," I explained poorly. Peter still looked confused but he shrugged it off before saying his goodbyes. The hand on my heart loosened.
I returned to my room feeling better because Peter's gratitude had cheered me up. For the next couple of days I went about my life almost as usual but I wasn't motivated enough to find a job. Then the day of Shane's funeral came. I came dressed in my finest attire, a plaid shirt and blue jeans and old Timberlands. The funeral was held at the public park which was relatively litter free. About twenty plastic chairs were arranged in two sets of ten facing a stand built from broken drawers. It was one of the colder days so people quickly read through their eulogies. There was little regard for the quality or impact until the final eulogy. Shane's girlfriend - Keira took the stand. She greeted everyone and spoke about the things Shane had done for her, but the final part was what really resonated with me. "Shane didn't mind dying," she said. "It wasn't because he was depressed, he loved life, it was because he had no regrets, he lived life to the fullest, tried almost every drug out there, he was infamous for his cockfights and he saved a little boy from drowning, Shane came here after he ran away from home and. volunteerism: participating for an event/organisation of your own accord with no wages
Unpaid work: work you do without pay (usually a hobby or as a favour)
he loved it… because it was free, he could do anything, he didn't think of this place as rock bottom, he thought of it as home." I left the funeral instantly after her eulogy, I was going to the job centre.
The job centre was a small shack on the edge of Valera, there was a line but it was short so I got in quickly. A pink, round man covered in acne scars was sitting on a stool behind a desk. "What are your skills?"
"I'm a musician!" I replied
The man fished out a poster from a folder and handed it to me. "Now get out!" He growled. I obliged.
Over the next couple of weeks my life improved, I got a job DJing at a nightclub and I began making an effort to make more friends. I still felt depressed on many days and found myself yearning for the time before Valera, but that's just the way life goes.