The alley

'Hey, wake up!' Said a muffled voice from the dark. 'I don't know what you were thinking, but an alleyway isn't the best place to sleep. The rats are literally crawling over you.' As my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting that was coming from a window across the street, I slowly gained back my senses. And when I looked up to see who was yelling at me, I just saw my father. A skinny and short man with balding spots across his head.

'Look, I know the farm has been doing awful, and that our relation isn't the best right now. But you should never give up on life just because it's going bad at the moment. You will never discover the life ahead if you stop caring now. So please stand up and go home. And this doesn't mean that you won't be in trouble, because you are young man.'

I can't remember anything else that happend that night, nor why I even was in that alley in the first place, but at least I woke up in my bed. When I went to have breakfast I saw my father praying to the gods to let the drought end, so his family can have food this winter. I ignored him and took a bowl that my mother had made for me. I just saw some sort of concoction consisting of water and some old and shriveled up grain. When I asked her what this mush was, she said, with a dry voice, clearly from crying 'We don't have much food left, so we need to be careful with our food supplies.' After she finished speaking, my dad yelled across the room 'Consider this as part of your punishment!'

I finished up and went to work. Well, that is what I would normally do. But you can't do much on a farm with no plants. That also meant I had a whole day of. Usually, I would spent my time helping my neighbors. but for a change I decided to go to the city. Normally, I don't like it there, especially because the rich live there. But I just needed to know what had happened yesterday.

So on my way I went. It was a very long distance. And than out of nowhere, I got mugged. It were two males, both around the same age. I could also tell they weren't for form Rome, because they were screaming at me in a language I had never heard. Most people would instantly panic and scream for help. I, however, kept calm because this wasn't my first time being robbed. This has actually happened multiple times before. That is also why I never have anything valuable on me when I go to the city. And I don't know what was going on in their minds, but these guys were the stupidest I have ever seen. I could see from there faces that they nearly instantly knew that I had nothing on me. But instead of just leaving me and finding another civilian to annoy. They just continued to harass me! Normally, I'm a very calm person and don't like getting emotional over something, but when you do something that I really don't like, my words can leave you sitting in tears. And I know that for a fact, because I have done it multiple times before to people of al ages. But it has mostly been my sister.

After I verbally destroyed the two that were trying to get something out of me. I finally saw the ginormous gate that, above the archway, read in beautiful golden letters, Rome. Rome is a very special place for me. Even if I live an hour away from the city, I have my whole life here. I help my dad sell the product of his farm here. That way I have met a lot of other people. I have lost some on the way, but the ones that are stil here are even more amazing than my own family. So when I have some time of, like now, I always have somewhere to be if life isn't going to well, or if I am just bored and want to do something.

I knew that I couldn't spend my whole day just looking at the alley, so I went to visit some people. First of all I went to look for my sister. She works at a small but successful bookshop on the outskirts of the city. She doesn't make much, as she just sells the books, but she still loves the job. I wasn't sure where the store was, so had to walk a lot, just for there to be no sign on the outside. 

I told my sister to tell her boss that they should really put a sign outside, because people don't like walking for two hours. 'So what are you doing here? Did you learn how to read?' I told her that, yes, I did learn it, but she knew I was lying. 'Well, if you don't have anything to say, than you should leave.' Than I told her about what happend last night, and that I was on my way to investigate to maybe find any clues about yesterday.'I don't believe that you will find anything, but good luck anyways. See you soon!'

Next, I went to my friend Vitus. I like Vitus because he is always so full of energy and is really positive. Vitus is half Greek, with his father being Roman and his mother being Greek. His father is a wealthy business man. He imports oil and wine from Greece. This is also where he met Vitus mother. Vitus is a very smart kid. He hopes to become a important philosopher, but his dad want him to continue his business. Vitus is very lucky to have a family like that.

When I arrived at his house, his mother welcomed me in, but that was only because Vitus was also there. I know she hates my guts because I come from a poor family and when she was young, her parents told her to stay away from 'people like me'. I hinted at Vitus that we go away from here as soon as possible, so I don't have to be in the same room as his mother for longer.

While we ate the lunches Vitus had brought, which was a lot beter than my breakfast, I told him about last night. He sounded way more enthusiastic about it than my sister. He was so enthusiastic in fact, that he told me to just eat on the way there. On our way I told him about the rest of my day. When I got to the part when I got mugged, the expression on his face changed to something I have never seen from him before. It was some sort of combination of worry and angst. I told him to don't worry and that I took care of them. He sort of calmed down, but I could still see some emotion in his eyes.

It took some time, but we finally made it. After we had made the last corner we could see the alley. It looked kind of scary and Vitus was wondering if it was such a great Idea to go in the alley. I started having my doubts too, but I was to invested at this point, so the doubts where overshadowed by the curiosity. So in I went. I could remember the spot where my dad had found me. And I could recognize the window across the street. But that was it, there was no other clue about why I ended up here. As I lost all hope, I saw something. It was something shiny in a pile of trash. I pulled it out and it was, a book? The title read:

How to become a god.

That's when the expression on my face changed. Vitus also read the title and thought it was fake. Then he saw my face and knew something was up.'What's wrong?' I looked him in the eyes and said with a stutter from shock,'I could read the title.'