18 In 2075

Something the 1st.

An empty class room , there is nothing more peaceful , while I sit there I always realise a class is never itself without its students , but there are always a few one could do without . Hi , I am Aseof, it's been a long day , you know with class and everything but since you can't mind your business I'll try to explain , first let me explain where we currently are , this is a classroom ,'duh' as is evident by the black board and the desks , in the city named libertatem 'ironically' in the 5th sector , well I am taught not to use the words slave house, slums and plethora of other words which I wouldn't care to mention to describe the 5th sector .Well you might think , "what is this hypocritical bastard talking about , he said he is in classroom well isn't that part of a school and this place is a place for slaves then why bother educating them ? "Firstly ouch , and secondly calm down ,I know you're new here but chill , and wasn't education a right where you're  from even for slaves but i digress, it's not the same. Education here is a privilege and it either has to be earned ,inherited or stolen. Here the walls are not as white as you might imagine ,the people are not without wrong as you'd imagine even if it is for the right cause , the crackling of the walls and the wobbling of the desks and every raindrop that falls on the thin roof hits us with the cold prickly realisation, that this was wrong , what we were doing was wrong, getting a education isn't a right rather it's a privilege , only reserved for the upper sector, here in the lower sectors you either struggle or perish , hard labour in return for empty promises for the future, I am not from a good background actually I am not from any background , I lived or should I say survived underneath the over pass in sector 3 my days were bleak and boring for the most part until that day .
       
       *Aseof Retells one of his stories*

"

Hello my child " said the man in the cassock , he was aged to say the least , he had a smug smile and it rubbed me the wrong way , I replied "Who?" He then proceeded to place his hand on my shoulder before I could erupt in anger ,he said " You believe what you think is true , you think the world is either black or white, it's either right or its wrong , the world is much more grey than either of us is willing to admit " he lifted his hand and suddenly all the honking of the traffic and the hustle and bustle of the street became apparent as if it was all quite when he was speaking as if time stopped when he spoke and when he stopped the surrounding sounds all came to life , well whatever I couldn't be too bothered with all that , I had the daily goals to meet , in order to get my food for the day , collecting trash  , somewhere in the middle of all the muck you'd find a coin and believe me nothing is more exciting , more valuable , you seem to cherish the shiny coin more than what it's worth money becomes much more expensive when you have to earn it . I lived with my uncle, right underneath the overpass, we did not have much, a wire shopping cart contained everything we owned even the tarp we slept on at night under the cover of the night sky, how grand I thought when uncle explained it to me like so, but he forgot to mention the empty stomach, the cold air and never ending despair , well even as downtrodden as I was I had friends , NO, I think of them more as family , everyday we would meet up and go collect plastic to give it to our collector , in return for our food , it wasn't grand but it was a living . Every month, near the same overpass I lived under , one day when the sun would go down and the shimmering stars would come out , a market of the most delectable food would be set up for almost no price , the lights were bright and food smelt exquisite for the people who had money for it. It was a place of dread for us, everyone stared at us and I could never understand why , they laughed and it only took eye contact for them to feel sorry for us , it disgusted me how they looked down on us as if we were lower than them somehow, it frustrates me so much and makes me so angry , it's like a burning ball of steel in my chest and the only thing that made me calm was the happiness of this girl ,almost nothing got to her she was like a rock in a flowing river , she wasn't pretty in the conventional sense , rather she was pretty in every way possible , she cared for me , which was rather hard to come by , but unlike everyone, she wasn't regular she wasn't normal not even by a long shot , she knew me she saw me but she never heard me , it did not only make me sad but it made me realise that what I have is not only important for my own being but also for those around me , I was her hearing or rather I wanted to be that essential but I am sure she never looked at me that way , rather I think it was more of a marriage of convenience, nevertheless it made me happy and at the time happiness was so hard to come by . Oh did I mention she was deaf . ("Insensitive fuck!" You mumble )

The best gift you can give someone is your time and attention , maybe a hug , but the cold tarp that I slept on and the shade of the overpass taught me a lesson even more valuable , desperation , the desperation to eat , drink and maybe be warm , so I ventured into the world , I wanted to live more, I wanted to come to that market with enough money to fill my stomach or earn the right to just be happy . I saw the priest agian ! With his black-white clothes and grey way of talking , racist , whatever not like I knew what a being a racist was at the time .

Somewhere deep down I knew i was wasting time here no matter how content everyone one made me ,i wanted to make the people who look down on me to know they are no better to have enough money to buy them , if not enough to buy their dream and live it , and the priest just offered me a way to do just that ....