Slums And City (BxB)

Chapter 1

The shack was as empty as usual. Only the old men with bulbous faces and sagging stomachs sat inside. They were no clients though. They drank from their own plastic bottles and ordered nothing, but I let them stay anyway. Who was I to deny an old man the chance to sit, an hour an evening, on our cheap plastic chairs to get away from his, once again, pregnant daughter and rude grandchildren.

My Best friend though, enjoyed their company. She sat her scrawny self besides them while in her brother's shorts and a neon top. The men talked with sweat on their lips. They talked about war, politics and prostate cancer and she used this as an opportunity to rant as well. About school, boyfriends and shaving cream. She also sold them rumors about the guys down the street and the girls at the beach. But the old men wouldn't remember by tomorrow, she knew, she just wanted to waste time.

I listened with one ear and wiped the counter with one arm, leaning on the other. I looked at the kids who passed in front of the shack's door, riding their bicycles. Sweaty kids with chubby cheeks and dark skin like the one I should have, but didn't. I was albino, and this country never failed to remind me.

I laughed as one of the kid's bicycles rammed into a crack in the road and catapulted him to the ground. It was a common occurrence, we lived in the slums of the country, our roads were either dirt or broken concrete. Most houses were stuck together or had minimum space between them. They were mostly assimilations of cheap wooden planks, rusting metals and unpainted brick walls.

"I going eh Stephan," Jenny called from the door. The older men had already left and the sky was tinting purple. I glanced at my watch and sighted: 6:24pm.

"Geez, you could at least wait for me to finish the shift" I complained, I was stuck here till seven.

"No way boy, nobody coming anyways." She said sucking her teeth. " See you Monday, whitey."

"I'm not white!" I called back, but she had already skipped out the door.

I sighed and looked around the desolated shack. I hated being alone in this shop. It was too dark, hot and silent. Usually, Curtis, a family friend, would be there to help out but since he got offered that job in the city, we never saw him anymore. That, and my dad was always too busy drinking or on the construction fields.

I decided to take a beer from the back, it was warm and gross but it was all I could get for now. I stepped outside, the beer against my lips. It was hot and humid and I pressed my back against the shack's walls.

There weren't many people around. I spotted a few teens running their mouths at the end of the street and some of the Houses across the road were lit up. I sighed. I was so sick of this. I had homework waiting at home, two projects and 3 test to study for. I'd just recently gotten into college, the only one near the slums, and I was determined to graduate so I could go to a university in the city and leave the damned slums. But this wasn't making it easy. I worked every day at the shop, from 4 to 7, right after class and then went home to cook for Jasmine and I. By the time I finish all my work it's usually past 01:00am and I have to wake up at 06:00am to make Jasmine's breakfast and school lunch, leave by seven to reach school at eight, usually late.

The sky was practically black by now and only a few yellow street lights were on. The others were broken and served as piss-spots for the dogs. There was finally some cool breeze passing and I took another mouthful of beer. Then I heard a shifting besides me. A shadow crept over my body and I had barely turned around when a hard object collided violently against the side of my head.

I screamed. Pain shot through my skull like current and I held my head, tears instinctively forming in my eyes. The beer bottle crashed to the ground and I stumbled away from the shack.