A Burdened Boy

After a long day at school and work the teenager was driving home in his car, it was a car he got when his grandmother passed when he was 15, it was a Toyota Corolla. His car had 188,000 miles on it when he got it, but by now it had already passed 200,000 miles; however he loved the car because it had a unique personality, like him. His car was blue, although the paint was faded and it had miscellaneous scratches and dents all around it. Once he got home he breathed the fresh air, he was wearing a pair of jeans that he got as a gift from his mother, shoes that he took from a friends house, and a cheap t-shirt. It was just another day for him. He got home before his mother, who worked for a local nonprofit organization in the city. Even though it was just them, the best house they could afford was a small home in a half decent suburb in a more wealthy outer-city. The house had 2 main features, a small living room and a couple bedrooms connected by a hallway. He walked through the front door which creaked every time it moved. His dog was asleep but immediately woke up when she heard the faint sound of the door, for she was old, older than he was and could not hear or see very well. He helped his dog outside, then he realized he was hungry, so he walked to their fridge to look for food. Realizing that the only food in the fridge was water and old leftovers, he went to their pantry. He opened the door only to find stale chips, some rice, and a couple cans of various vegetables. He did not want any of the food they had so he let his dog back inside and went to his room. He lived in a 10 x 10 foot room. The room was very messy with clothes strewn around his floor because he has not had enough time to clean it. His room encompassed a small twin bed that when he laid down his feet would touch the frame, a desk that was cluttered so he barely worked there, and a dresser that was falling apart. At that point he then realized that he had work tomorrow. He worked at a local fast food chain in order to help pay for bills and put some money in the bank so he could go to college without being in debt for the better half of his life. He went to the bathroom to shave and wash his face, afterward he stood looking  at himself in the mirror. He was an average height, skinny and had worn out facial features probably because of the lack of sleep he had been getting the last few nights. When he stepped outside he realized his mother had gotten home. He said hello, inquired about what dinner would be that night, she replied with, “I don’t know, but I’ll call you when food is ready. I still need to go to the grocery store but I haven’t the time or money right now.” He sighed and then disappeared back into his room. He crashed onto his bed hearing the springs croak when he laid down and checked his phone. His phone was old and cracked, therefore it did not work very well; however he was fine with this because he knew that if he wanted a new phone he would have to pay for it himself. He watched Netflix on his phone and found himself asleep soon after.

He woke up around 7 P.M. in a hot sweat, while he was annoyed by this but he knew that he couldn’t make it cooler because they didn’t have enough money to keep it cool in the house. He rolled out of bed smelling food. His mother had just finished reheating lasagna from last night. They had a dining room that connected with the kitchen and the living area. In total this space was maybe 20 feet long and 15 wide. Instead of eating at the table, they ate on the couch they bought at Goodwill while watching a a show on their tv, which they had inherited from her parents when they moved into the city. They couldn’t afford cable so they watched Netflix instead by connecting her computer using an HDMI cable, while they enjoyed leftovers. They watched a show called The Red Comet, it was about an ex-con who was in a freak accident and was given enhanced speed and senses, although instead of living his former life, he decided to change his morals and walk a better path by fighting crime. After the show was over he went back to his room to do homework. He liked to stay on top of his homework despite not having very much. His task was to write an essay for conveying certain type of mood, he chose to write about someone who had more money than him, but was still unhappy with what he had. He chose to write about this because he is content with what he has and gets angry when people who are more fortunate than him are unsatisfied with what they have. After he finished the essay he checked his phone and saw three notifications: one was for school reminding him to write the essay, the other two were from his girlfriend, Mary. Mary lived in a neighborhood like his but 10 minutes away, she was the spawn of divorced parents, same as him, but she lived with her dad mostly, who had more money. He called her and they talked about their day for a while when he yawned. He checked the clock, it read 10:42. Remembering he had a long day ahead of him he decided he was going to hang up and get some sleep. After brushing his teeth and using the bathroom he tried to flush the toilet. When he did so it slowly filled with water and then vanished, not working how it should. This was normal for his bathroom, for the toilet broke a while back and he spent a couple hours to fixing it; despite fixing the issue at the time it started to work slowly and less efficiently. He walked back to his room, which was down the hall on the left side, on the way he passed his brother’s room. It was very cluttered with random things that normal people don’t use. His brother was a hoarder who used the room for storage. He lived at their father’s house which was far away so he could go to the local college there. He rarely visited, for he was very busy as well. As he passed the room he thought about his father, who he hadn’t seen in years. His father was a drunken man who retired many years ago and spent his money on unsalted chips and bourbon. He knew that his father had recently gotten another divorce but he didn’t really know his step mom and only met her once at the wedding. That was the last time he saw his father; however he was satisfied with it because they never got along very well. He went back to his room and decided to listen to a playlist on Spotify that consisted mostly of Mos Def, Jimi Hendrix, and The Wu-Tang Clan. He fell asleep quickly because he was very tired from his week so far.

The next morning he woke up feeling more tired than normal, he had determined that this was because he hadn’t gotten much sleep the last couple nights and actually rested well, making his body actually acknowledge how tired he was. He stumbled into the shower and thought about what he had to do today: go to school, take an AP physics test, go to PE, then leave school early to go to work. Because he was a senior at his high school he had off campus, so he only had two classes a day. He was smart despite being economically disadvantaged, so he took advanced level classes. He packed his backpack, which was battered from being used for years, and threw it into his car to do it all over again today.

Limited                                             Restricted                                  Burdened