Karma

An estranged mother, three lost children, and one divorce later, Kevin Arma was broke, left with nothing except a ramshackle log cabin on the outskirts of town. There was only one person poorer than him: the town hermit.

However, he was proud and strong. Life could chew him up and spit him out as it pleased, but nothing could break the will of the lonely, poor, uneducated street sweeper. Those that knew him well (although they were few in number) combined his first and last name to give him a rather fitting nickname: Karma.

The town of Diamond Head was a sprawling land of natural beauty, located in the heart of the wilderness. Its citizens were few and far between. While the area surrounding the town made for gorgeous hiking trails and campsites, the town itself was a decrepit sight of graffiti-washed buildings and abandoned warehouses. Its heyday had long ago faded away, a dilapidated soul waiting to die.

It was known for one thing, and one thing only: diamonds. Due to its prime location, diamonds could be found everywhere like sand on a beach. Diamonds were the sole reason the town of Diamond Head was even on the map.

Every day, as Karma made his daily sweep through the center of town, he passed what was known by the townspeople as The Circle of Life. It was a curious thing, the circle of diamonds that populated the town center. Scrawled on each diamond were the initials of a one townsperson's first and last name. When a child was born, a new diamond was added to the circle. When a townsperson passed away, their diamond was removed.

Every diamond was supposed to be perfectly polished. That was Kevin's job, the lowest-paying job, given to the uneducated and desperate. Every day he swept the area around the diamonds and ensured they shone like stars in the sunlight.

Today was nothing different. Karma's daily routine was boring and bland, just like his life. He awoke, bright and early, to the sound of an annoying alarm clock. The damn snooze button didn't work, but that sure woke him up.

He skipped breakfast (food was for the weak), downed a bowl of the cheapest coffee money could buy, and ventured out to the town square, broom in hand.

There were 150 diamonds in the circle, and each took about a minute to shine. The diamonds were mesmerizing; so much wealth surrounded Kevin Arma every day, yet he could have none of it.

Following his diamond duties, he swept every street in Diamond Head from dawn to dusk. It was not hard, but it was monotonous. His annual salary was a mere fraction of the worth of a single diamond in The Circle of Life.

At night, he returned to his lonely log cabin on the outskirts of town and went to sleep. This routine repeated for 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. It was a rather uneventful, boring, and pointless life.

It was around 9 PM when Karma finally settled into his uncomfortable bed, sinking into the smell of decade-old blankets that had not been washed in years. Washing machines were a luxury Kevin simply could not afford. And he did not trust those fools who washed their clothes in the Diamond River, because who knew what chemicals thrived in there.

However, Kevin was so tired and sunburnt from sweeping around town that he could have slept anywhere. Within minutes, he was snoring and sound asleep.

A violent knock on the door jolted him awake. What the heck? His eyes popped open and glanced at the clock. 1:47 AM.

It must be the wind, Kevin thought, and he allowed the grogginess to consume him once more. He never received visitors, not in over a decade.

If only the wind quit being so annoying...

It refused to stop. Rap. Rap. Rap.

"Dammit," Kevin muttered under his breath. There was definitely a person at the door, and this person did not want to leave. What the hell could someone want from him at this time of night?