1000 words

                I looked at the dust covered streets wind their way from house to house as they lead to the main road. Foreign cars and petrol fumes pollute the tarmac as they move from city to city along the coast. They growled obscenely loud as the more privileged members of society made their way to their busy lives. None of this mattered to me as I made my way to my house. The town I lived in was littered with poorly made squares of corrugated iron and wooden planks. The people who run this country seem to ignore or just not care about us. Crime is an ever present threat but for others it is their way of life and how they cope with living in such conditions. We all called this place home, because for some it could be worse.

 I saw the other children all playing soccer on the ochre coloured dirt, trying to make the most of their time. The ball has almost all the covering ripped off from several years of being passed down year by year. But that doesn’t stop them from having at least some fun. Those are the luckier ones. They have their schooling although their education is limited by both their willingness to work and shortage of money. Kids like me have to work in order for us to get through the day with bread. They have a source of food every afternoon and morning. And what is it that makes them so much luckier than me or my brother. They have parents.

I brought down my beanie closer down my ears as I told myself not to get distracted by their loud cheers and boos as the one side scores. It was becoming late and I had to get back to my brother. As I was passing they were shaking hands and having a good laugh with each other as they too left to head back to their houses for dinner. I would only be too happy to join them, but I had work to do. It was getting colder. As night fell and I got closer to our makeshift house the streetlights came on flickering almost as if they were shivering with me. When I reached the shelter I gently shook my younger brother awake to show him the spoils of the day’s work. I had managed to pickpocket twenty bucks and had got some bread for us to eat that night. We both dug in and after we were done my brother offered me my sheet, but I declined and gave it to my brother who was still very cold.

I noticed a bit later my younger brother finally fell asleep; I took this moment to sit and wonder how I will manage as we get older. We cannot afford to live our lives just by stealing. The older we get the more risky and dangerous the jobs would be. I cannot allow my brother to fall into the same problem I have. Neither can we go to an orphanage; there is always the problem of corruption and adults who will abuse us, physically or sexually. The more I think of these problems the angrier and more useless I feel. In order for me to keep my brother safe is to at least get him to a trustworthy family, he is younger and that way he is safe from my crimes and hopefully poverty. I adjusted my beanie as it was starting to make my head itchy. But I need money too, tomorrow will be the last of my pick pocketing, tomorrow I will fetch us a prize large enough that I can focus on getting my brother to a foster family.

I woke up the next morning and told the same lie that I always told my brother. I tell him that I have to go to work in the factory a few meters up road. I suppose it isn’t a total lie usually, since that is where I get my easy pickings but today I make a turn for the main road and follow it down towards the busy bustling city. The road was long and took a good two hours to get to the city, and was especially hard without enough good clean water. The city was amazing and yet horrible. The towers dwarfed everything, I knew that they were big but now I actually came to one. The buildings looked clean and flaunted their wealth to everyone at the bottom. But what disgusted me was the wealth being left on the sides of the building and between the cracks. Small items of food and clothing that if they were combined together could make anyone’s life in our town so much better. But the smell tells me why people don’t flock to get someone else’s scraps. After seeing these sights, I made up my mind, if someone thinks that they can waste this much money and resources on trash and their ego’s they would not be so sad if they were to lose just a few more bucks, or even jewellery.

I straightened my beanie and made my way for a more crowded area, full of people bumping into each other. That way I would not be as noticeable as I bump into people to make off with their cash. I got to one of the larger buildings that were closer to the beach. The place was full of people on the beach paying little attention to their belongings and more to them having fun. The beach here was much more swim friendly as there were no rocks jutting out, but the sheer amount of people made fishing seem out of the question. There are even people out surfing, even if the sea is full of sharks. I suppose I should be like one of those surfers, fearless and just go in, I’ve done this many times before, I need to do this for my brother.

1000 exactly