Hotel

The hours continued to pass quickly, and a lot of people started to come in to shop, it was one of the most difficult times for me during the week. I could only concentrate on receiving and checking in the items. I felt that several things had been stolen but the only way to check was by the cameras and if I called the police it would make my work day much more difficult. I just wanted to leave it was already too much stress for me. 

There were more than twenty people taking things. It was impossible for me to do anything, but surprisingly. The owner of the store appeared out of nowhere. 

He looked like he came from a party. His hair was really messed up. He walked up to the cashier and spoke to me.

-For everything they steal, you have to answer.

He looked angry, maybe something had happened to him and he came just to take his anger out on me. I didn't say anything back, I was in no condition to argue with anyone. 

The man continued to be annoying and began to take several things from the store and put them in a bag. He left without registering them. 

I didn't go looking for him or tell him anything, I just memorized some of the things he took to write them down and keep track of every extra expense he produced. Since we had registered part of the inventory and if something was missing we were deducted. 

[...]

The night passed slowly until it was finally dawn and I could finally rest, but my partner did not arrive. It was already after seven in the morning and he did not show up. The store could not be closed, so I decided to call him. His phone rang, but he didn't answer, and I was very annoyed. The longer he delayed, the more my rest time was reduced. I could only take another energizer to stay awake longer, I had to get to the subway as fast as possible and take the train to the suburb where I lived. 

And there were still people in the store, some of them drunk. They were the worst customers there were, breaking things and screaming when they thought I was charging them more than what they were buying. They weren't all like that, but several of them had given me a hard time.

All of a sudden I got a message from my partner. 

<<I will be a little late, my last son got sick and I had to lend money, forgive me I am still in the hospital, I left my other job for a few hours, they will deduct the hours I did not work>>.

I read the message and knew at once that he would be at least two hours late. I had to wait a while for him to arrive. I finished drinking the bottle of energizer, as my day was about to get a little more complicated. It could be truth or lies from my partner, but he didn't have much time to make it all up. He was a very busy man, and even if I didn't like him I should help him with his difficulties, but one of his problems came at a moment's notice.

The boss came back to the store quite drunk, smelled of beer and was thoroughly unpleasant. 

-What are you doing here? Where is the other one of you?

-He'll be here in a little while.

-I need to talk to him, the bastard showed up and got into a fight with one of the managers of the place where he works.

I thought it was a bad joke from my boss, but after listening to him talk I realized it was true.

-It's a girl who worked at the restaurant. He treated her badly and a fight broke out. Your partner is ungrateful. I found him another job of four so he doesn't get stressed here and goes to fight over there. He made me look bad.

I didn't know which version to believe, but I decided to tell him about his problem at the hospital.

-He has one of his kids in the hospital.

-I know, that's why he fought. According to what they tell me, he always makes excuses and is always late. There he gets paid much better than here in 4 hours. Imagine earning 25 dollars an hour, it's double what he earns here, but well, I won't help him anymore....

The man was quite serious, it didn't look like he was going to change his mind about my partner.

[...]

After almost an hour and a half I brought my partner back. He looked tired, but he was calm.

-Good morning, I'm sorry to arrive at this hour, but the care in that hospital is a problem, I almost didn't make it out of there. Well, at least I got out of that place. 

He put on his shirt from the store and went to the cashier.

I got out of there and grabbed my briefcase. Plus some stuff I checked in. I didn't want any trouble, so I just left it paid for.

Now I had to get home faster so I could sleep and do the same route as the day before. The only good thing was that at this hour there were not so many people in the subway and I could get home more comfortably.

I wrote to my girlfriend before leaving. I told her I had some news to tell her, so I wanted to go see her. She lived in an apartment a few meters from the suburb where I was staying, she was a waitress in a restaurant.

[...]

In less than thirty minutes I boarded the subway, there were almost no people so I could sit more quietly and rest, but I had to avoid falling asleep. If I was careless I would pass the station, and I would lose more time to rest.

But as always the insecurity of the city was in front of me. 

There was a group of armed men who were taking things from all the people in the subway. Maybe it was one of the gangs in the area.

I had nowhere to hide my cell phone, I simply kept the money I had and without protesting or anything I decided to hand over my cell phone.

They were about five assholes with tattoos on their faces and bodies. They all had guns in their hands and their faces showed that mental emptiness. They were people who were only interested in doing harm and having that false power that they would lose in a few minutes if they were captured.

When they arrived in front of me they pointed the gun at me. I gave them my cell phone and they kept pointing at me to get me to give them the briefcase I had.

I decided to give them the briefcase, it only had what I bought in the store and it was old. There was nothing that would be of any use to those stupid people.

I stayed quiet while the wretches continued stealing from people as if nothing, but there was always someone who would not let them. Sometimes rage was stronger than reason and at that moment several shots rang out. I stood up and walked away from the place. There could be an exchange of gunfire. There I noticed that the person who opposed the robbery killed three of the robbers, but one of them reached out and killed him. 

The people in the subway like me did not know what to do, but I decided to take my things from them.

-It's better not to touch them, they could get you in trouble too. You're already on them.

When I heard the man's warning I stopped touching the things that person had stolen from me and I walked away from there. I was incommunicado from that moment on, I had to wait for the police to do the whole investigation process and hand it over to me. 

[...]

The subway stopped and people immediately got out of there. The few who tried to enter were surprised to see that scene. At the same time the police appeared and surrounded the area. By now this subway would not go out anymore they had to clean up and take pictures of this place. 

So I had to go out and get a cab, it was the fastest I could take and at least I was safer there.

I got out of the subway station and noticed that many people like me were left stranded, so taking another means of transportation was complicated. The place I was going to might be far away, but it was close to where my girlfriend worked. It was the right time to talk to her and explain why I didn't have a cell phone right now.

The weather was a bit cool so I didn't have to worry about rain or sun. I had to head south of the city. I knew the road a little bit, that helped me a lot. I was close to my destination, but the amount of blocks I had to walk was really quite a lot, maybe 20 or 30, and to get to the suburb where I lived maybe 45. 

I stopped thinking about it and started walking, I had nothing they could steal from me, but they could kill me for not having anything. This was the new mobility of murder in some places, maybe I had to give them some bills I had in my pocket.

I just hoped that somewhere I could take a cab and avoid this exhausting walk.

[...]

To my bad luck I had to walk for more than an hour, I did not find transportation, everything was full thanks to that subway station was stopped and in different parts of the city people took cabs to take. All of them had passengers and some of them came from far away.

I had to do the exercise of a month, but at least I was in front of the restaurant where my girlfriend worked. I could talk to her and explain what had happened to me.

I was two meters away and it was not long before noon. I was a little sweaty from walking so much that I was almost aimless, I followed the directions that were in different places.

When I got to the restaurant I tried to enter, but I was in for a surprise. She was sitting across from her boss. We were once introduced. At first I didn't mind, but seeing the looks they were giving each other bothered me a lot. It was evident that there was chemistry between the two of them, I tried to open the door and they saw me. She got up from her chair and looked at me. 

The man in the chair spoke to him.

-You haven't told him?

-What? -I asked.

She put her hands on her head and hesitated to speak to me.

-I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you days ago...we broke up. I already have someone else.

At that moment I thought it wasn't worth making a fuss, nor fighting with that man who laughed at that moment. Compared to me he was a real stud and I could give him anything he wanted. 

I just left the restaurant without saying anything, she was no longer important to me, just a reminder of how foolish I was. I had helped her look for a job and she left me for someone else. 

[...]

I kept walking to the suburb where I lived. I didn't even try to look for a cab as I had tried to do earlier, I preferred to walk. I felt it was the only way to relieve the rage I felt. Without hurting anyone.

The sun began to rise at noon, and it was worse for me, I would have to look in the mirror to see if I had not burned my face and apply creams, since I still had a few meters to go. 

I was walking down an avenue, this was the fastest way to get there rather than walking for blocks and exposing myself to the neighborhood gangs.

Suddenly someone stopped and spoke to me. At first I ignored him and noticed it was one of my brothers from the orphanage. His name was Erick, he had brown skin and was quite tall, maybe six feet tall.

-Hey... Why are you walking in the avenue? You're going to get burned and you won't be able to move well for a few hours. Everything that touches your face will burn.

-I know, but I've been walking for more than two hours already. I got robbed and my girlfriend broke up with me...it's the best I can do to relieve some of my anger.

-Ah...Alex, she already told me...you helped her find that job...-Well, stop complaining, I'll give you a ride.

-I'm close by and where I live you can get robbed....

People get scared when they see me. I'm over six feet tall, I'm a giant, when those thieves see me, they're going to run away.

He was walking too slowly to keep up with me from his car. At his insistence I decided to get in his car and go to the suburb.

[...]

In less than fifteen minutes I was already in front of the residential complex where I lived. There were people crowded around, as if something had happened.

-Andrew...well, trouble is looking for you...if you need anything call me, I can help you find another place to live.

-They stole my cell phone too.

-I see...

He took out a pencil and a piece of paper and started to write something and I ignored everything and got out of that car, but he came out and gave me that number.

-I wrote my number here, so don't forget to call me, and don't start crying for that bitch.

Erick went back to his car and drove away. I didn't know what he did for a living, but he seemed to be doing very well. Unfortunately for me the bad things were not over yet. 

I saw the administrator of the complex talking to several people. He was a pretty serious old man, he wanted to intimidate everyone with his attitude.

I saw a new guy standing at the guard post, he was neither of the two I had seen.

-Ah...look at Andrew, he was late so he wouldn't talk about what happened. They say you provoked the robbery. 

-Wait, I did? I was at work for twelve hours and I left three hours ago. 

-The cameras say otherwise. You made a sign to the robbers and provoked them, you know there is a gang here and if you disrespect them. They will start bothering us. 

The world is getting worse and worse. Now everyone was in favor of the thief and the victims were the guilty ones.

I tried to go up to the fifth floor, but he spoke to me.

-The watchman died. He tried to stop them from stealing more apartments, but the thieves fled and broke into yours too. In all, they robbed twenty apartments. There are several people from that gang here and they made it easy.

The day couldn't get any worse for me. I just went upstairs and expected to find the worst in my apartment. 

[...]

When I got to my apartment I noticed that the lock was damaged and would no longer lock. I went in there and noticed that everything was in disarray. They threw all my clothes on the floor. They damaged my TV. I walked to my room and noticed that the bed was on the floor and the sheets were on the floor. 

There was no money here, nothing worth stealing. The bills were on the floor. They totally ignored them, so I decided to see if the lottery numbers were the same as the ones I saw in various places and compared them. It was 4032812706 on a $45 million dollar prize ticket.

As I looked at them I felt they were. They were exactly the same. It was good news and bad news 

News to me. I had to get out of this place. As stupid as they were, the lottery numbers that had come out were stuck in various places for weeks or months. They might recognize them, just as I had the impression hours ago that they were the same.

I took myself out of the apartment and looked for a drawer where I kept some of the money I had earned working. I could not stay here, it was too unsafe a place.

I went back to the living room and took some of the clothes I had and put them in a travel case. I only kept the most important things, as I would never come back to this place again.

[...]

I went down to the second floor and there they were all gathered together still debating what they would do from now on. 

I didn't even try to say goodbye. I ignored them all, but the owner of the building spoke to me.

-Are you leaving here for a while?

-No... I'm just going to live at a friend's house, after what happened here, I'm out of here. You can vote on everything here. 

I gave him the money for the month to never come back here again.

Everyone looked at me and felt a little annoyed.

-Did you win the lottery or what?

-No, it was just some savings I had stashed away afterwards. A friend of mine offered me a better job, so I'm going to take it and move to another city.

The last was a lie, but it was the best I could think of, I wanted to avoid being suspected. 

[...]

I left that place quite calm and I felt better. Now I had to take a cab and go to a hotel and stay there for a week, then I would go to collect the reward, but the problem was that this neighborhood was too dangerous. Cab drivers hardly ever came here, there were very few of them.

Again I had to walk to the avenue and take a cab to take me to the center of the city. There were most of the hotels there, but they would charge me at least seventy dollars. 

I stopped thinking about money and opted for my safety. I couldn't start saving money knowing that my life was in danger.

I started to walk to the avenue, I was a little afraid that I would be robbed again. If I was robbed again it would be the fourth time. I just hoped it wouldn't happen to me again.

The sun was quite strong at this hour. I had to take a bath after arriving at the hotel.