My family and I lived in a poor neighborhood.
The people around us saw life the way they took it, but I knew I was destined to do bigger and greater things.
Since I couldn't imagine myself working a regular job or going to college to become a doctor or lawyer, I came up with another alternative.
That evening, I decided to play the lottery again and hoped for the best that I would win.
For months now, I started to play the mega million, but each time, it was either I was close to winning or not.
I was on the verge of giving up since I lost many times before, but I had a gut feeling that I would win, or so I hoped.
Once I reached the corner store, I entered inside.
I heard some dance music playing in the background. I walked towards the aisle, looking at the different snacks.
While walking around, I saw from the corner of my eyes that some worker was secretly following me.
When I turned their way, they acted like they were fixing up some things.
I knew they were trying to see if I would take something, but nothing was even here to steal.
I rolled my eyes at them, picking up some bags of chips.
The store contained so many hazards and expired junk foods.
The food they cooked and sold was unseasoned and made with unclean hands.
"Shit always stale anyway," I told the guy with an attitude.
Not bothered by their reply, I walked up to the cash register, and they looked up from what they were doing.
I placed the chips on the counter, and they rang the bill.
After handing him the dollar, I thought for a minute the numbers I wanted to play.
"Can I help you with anything else?" He asked.
"Can I buy like twenty lottery tickets?" I handed him a wrinkled twenty-dollar bill. It was my last twenty-dollar bill.
"Sure." He said. I then told him random numbers for the tickets that I wanted to use to play the lottery.
Eventually, I brought the tickets and headed out of the store while opening a bag of chips.
"What the fuck?' I said, annoyed.
I felt like I wasted a dollar for nothing since when I looked inside the bag of chips, it was mostly filled with air.
I sighed since I didn't want to waste the bag of chips, so I ate the rest while walking home.
While heading home, I got a text from my cousin, Mae, asking if I wanted to hang out.
I contemplated if I wanted to, but decided to stay home to watch reruns of my favorite shows and eat some junk food. Reverting to the text, I said we could hang out some other time.
After some time, I finally reached home and headed upstairs to my room.
But while I was walking down the hallway, I heard some moaning noises coming from my parent's bedroom.
I knew the male voice couldn't be my Dad since he already left work.
Seeing the bedroom door was ajar, I opened it further and couldn't believe what I was seeing.
"Mom!" I walked in. I was shocked that she was with my neighbor's landscaper, Pedro.
"Katherine!" My mom quickly covered herself, and so did her lover boy.
I couldn't believe she would stoop so low to cheat on my Dad.
All he ever did was make sacrifices to make us happy.
"Get out!" Mom said, trying to cover herself more.
Before I moved, I heard footsteps closer in the distance against the squeaky hardwood floor.
I turned to see that it was my Dad, who was as shocked as I was.
Instantly, I saw hurt in their eyes, but he quickly masked it.
"What the fuck is going on here?!" His voice boomed, and Pedro scrambled out of the bed to put on his clothes.
My Dad was red in the face. He developed a tic as his fists clenched with hard-staring eyes.
My Dad was a nice guy, but as soon as he had that angry look, he was ready to kill.
"Honey, it's not what you think-" My mom said to calm my Dad, or so she tried.
"It's clear you're fucking this punk under my roof!" My Dad shouted venomously, "And you son of a bitch?" Dad ran over to where Pedro was like a storm out at sea.
He gripped him by the neck and punched him in the face. While my Dad was beating Pedro, I knew he would commit murder.
"Stop!" Mom cried, not knowing what to do.
I quickly ran over to my Dad, trying to hold him back.
"Dad, please stop; I don't want you to go to jail," I tried holding him back.
He was like a raging bull on the loose, but seeing Pedro slipping in and out of consciousness, my Dad got off him.
His knuckles were bruised and bloodied from the fight, being unscratched.
Pedro was out of it, huddled in a fetal position, scared of not knowing what to come next.
"Get the fuck out, both of you, or I swear I'm going to commit murder," Dad gave my mom a deathly stare as she put on her robe.
Once she did, she helped Pedro to his feet by placing his arm around her neck.
As the two stumbled out of her, my mom carried her bag that contained most of her things.
Was she planning to leave him all along? I thought.
Before leaving the room, she turned to speak to my Dad.
"I'm not sorry for what I did because you were never a real man," She replied with disgust.
"And you're a nasty bitch that was never a real woman. Get the fuck out!" He clenched his fist at his side, and she finally left out of our lives for good.
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