My Dream
My dream may not be a beautiful fantasy with fantastic creatures like fairies,
gnomes and giants. It may not be the weirdest dream that anyone has ever had. In
fact I wouldn't call this story 'My Dream' at all, but rather 'My Worst
Nightmare' because it is disturbing, horrific and sad. Yet it is true.It happens!
Many people live on the streets and have no where to sleep. Children come home
and ask their mother for something to eat, but the only thing she can say is...
"I'm sorry, honey. I have nothing for you to eat," my mother said with a crystal
tear running down her soft, red cheek.
"But mum," I begged,"I'm hungry!" It had been a long day at school with only a
few biscuits to eat at lunch.
"Sorry Derek, I don't have anything at all," mum replied with a cold sadness in
her eyes. I walked to my room slowly, feeling desperate and lonely.
I thought of all the times when I had come home from school crying, longing for
my mother's loving arms,but she would be out looking for work to keep the family
alive. Since my father had died we had lost everything and knew what poverty
meant.
I walked through the gap where once a door had stood. This was the fourth wall of
my tiny room, if you could call it a room, for it was only an old, dusty closet,
with all the shelves taken out and no windows. On the far side of the closet, a
metal bar ran from wall to wall, held in place by rotten string. From it hung a
old metal hanger with my single pair of shorts.
Also in the closet was a small table, its legs struggling to keep itself
balanced. What stood on the table was my favourite possession, a small mirror. It
reflected a twelve year old boy staring back at me with two sparkly blue eyes. A
pale face with ginger hair and a big, ugly nose. The body was skinny with musclar
arms and two enormous feet.
"Mum," I called from my room,"Can I go to the shops?"
"Sure honey," she replied,"and guess what I found in the bottom of my plastic
bag, two dollars!"
"What!?" I cried with surprise. Finding two dollars was like finding a piece of
gold at that moment.
"Yes," said mother fiddling with her silky black hair. A sparkle in her hazel
eyes. Mother was pretty with fair skin and a small nose. Her body and head were
small, but she had long, skinny legs and long arms.
"You can go down there and get us something to eat," said mum, handing me the
money.
"Okay, if there is anything we can all eat for for two dollars," I said, making
my way to the front door.
"Hey, you're not going without me!" shouted Justin. He was the oldest in the
family. He had black hair like mum's and blue eyes like our dad's. Before my
father had died, we had lived in a huge house. The rooms were five times bigger
than my closet bedroom. We were wealthy, but we lost everything. The other kids
at school tease us, since they found out. The worst person is Mason Coalbernot.
He is the toughest and also the richest kid in school. No one, I mean no one
messes with him.
I start racing Justin to the door and just about to grab the door handle when I
trip. I fall flat on my face and Justin laughs. He opens the door and walks out
in triumph. I pick myself up and go out, not realising that the precious coin had
fallen out of my pocket.
As we turn the corner dicussing what we could buy, we hear shouting behind us.
"Hey, little boy, what's happening," says a voice behind a mask.
Five teenagers all with masks and four of them carrying bats are standing across
the pathway.
"Is that you, Josh?" my brother asks the voice.
"Yes, it is, Justin," replies the teenager without a bat. Josh is my brother's
best friend in school. The teenager removes the dark mask to reveal his mop of
blonde hair. A gold earring hangs sits in his left ear.
"You got any money?" asked one of the other masked teenagers.
"Not much," I replied.
"Give it to me, now!" the teenager demanded.
"What?" I said, beginning to shake.
"You heard me, give it to me !"
"No!" I stammered. The teenager started to push me around and my brother shoved
him away.
"Leave him alone," Justin said.
"Okay boys, get him!" shouted the teenager. They started hitting Justin with the
baseball bats.
"Leave him!" Josh and I cried together, "leave him alone. What has he done to
you? Leave him alone!"
Josh tried to pull the teenagers off but Justin fell to the ground, unconscious.
Suddenly, the young men stopped.
One of them asked in a strange voice,"Here, are you alright?"
They picked Justin up and a knife appeared from nowhere and one of them thrust it
into Justin's body.
I will never forget that moment, although it all happened so quickly.
The teenager withdrew the knife looking confused and scared. He stared at his
hands with shame. They dropped the body to the pavement and they all ran away,
including Josh. I screamed and ran to him.
"Justin...Justin!" I cried, he was so pale and there was blood everywhere. My
brother, my best friend, lay lifeless in my arms. I started to weep and couldn't
stop.
...
One of the teenagers must have hit me on the head with a bat, for I woke up in
the gutter with a huge headache.
My brother's body was gone. Strangly it didn't seem to matter.
I was hungry and searched desperately for the two dollars..it was gone! I looked
up. A stranger was standing in front of me. He seemed familiar, but I couldn't
remember who he was. He threw five dollars in my face and walked away. I picked
it up off the pavement and walked to the shops.
On the front window of the newsagency was an advertisement." Buy a five dollar
lottery ticket and you could win 2 million dollars!" I could buy so much with all
that money,I thought to myself. It would change everything. I went inside to the
counter and asked for a ticket in the lottery. The lady didn't even look up, she
was too busy reading her magazine. She handed me the ticket and I walked home.
The next day, I walked into the newsagency and gave my ticket to the lady. She
put it in the machine and looked at me in a funny way. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"Congratulations, you have won 2 million dollars!" she said. I couldn't believe
it. She brought a huge sack of paper money from behind the counter and gave it to
me. I could hardly carry it.
On the way home I passed a begger sitting on the corner. He asked me for a
dollar. I reached into the bag and gave him a handful of notes. He just looked at
it and I walked away.
When I got home my young sister Sally was crying."Mum has gone looking for you
and left me alone". All I could say was that I had won two million dollars,over
and over again.
"Derek! Derek!" a woman's voice shouted.Is that my mother? "Wake up,wake-up!" I
slowly awoke to find my mother looking at me. My bed was warm and my pyjamas felt
so cozy. I looked up and there were my "Spiderman" posters on the wall. It was
only a dream or rather a nightmare!
I quickly got dressed and ran downstairs." Can I go to the shops,Mum?" I ran
outside, not waiting for an answer. As I neared the corner, a beggar was sitting
on the pavement."Please,please give me something to eat," he pleaded. He looked
strangely familiar and I smiled to myself.
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