This is a long post, so have time to read some interesting story, heheh.
A Nerd's Adventure - Adventures in Downtown
Under the shadow of a tree, in a bright normal summer day, I was resting a little bit, hiding from the light of the sun. Why wasn’t I at home? I could have been in my fresh room and turned on the fan and aim the air towards my face, instead of suffering outside and covering below a tree in the warm day it was today. But that little inconvenience wasn’t bothering enough for me, because the journey I was facing is going to be more exiting from the place I was into.
I opened my eyes, what I saw first were trees, and a bench along with a pathway towards the exit of some park I used to visit. I was still sleepy, but I was decided to continue my journey, a journey of weird obstacles and awkward situations, a journey of facing fears and fighting them, a journey of discovering the world I was living in, a journey to know I’m capable of make amazing things and receive good results.
“So, Henry, let’s continue.” I said to myself before putting my backpack on and standing up with lots of energy. I followed the pathway that leads to the other end of the park. I have visited most part of it until the other end, where outside was an unknown road. It wasn’t a problem to cross the other end, if the exit wasn’t kept by a strange man.
He’s always here, pleading for help and begging for money. Once I wanted to get out of the other side of the park, this guy approached to me and asked for money, I first hesitated because I wasn’t having hardly enough money to give it. But then the guy just yelled to me to give him money. That freaked me out, I just give him some coins unconsciously and returned where I came, in fast pace (not to say I was running…). I had to return home walking because I haven’t got money to return. But mom saw me some streets away, and we returned home in her car. I told her of the strange man, and what I did to escape. Mom was pleased I had helped a hopeless man. I thought the man was insane. Since then I was visiting the park without going to that place, just to avoid the encounter with him.
But this time, I was standing some steps away from that place where last time I had met the man. He wasn’t here anymore. People was entering and leaving the park as if there was nobody there, begging them even before take a look at the marvelous view of the park. What a relief, at least the first challenge was easier than I thought; just get out of the park, and I would make it. But, man, seeing again this place since a little long time ago was a little nostalgic.
With a grip to my backpack and a firm determination, I walked out the park and looked all around. I knew if I walk a few streets forward I would find a bus stop which it would lead me to the downtown of the city. I was prepared to go to several buses if I would get lost on the city and wouldn’t get to the destination I planned to go. It was my first time I go to the city alone, and my expectations of meeting the objective were very high. But my anxious thoughts would make me shy if something outside of my Normal Motion appears. I think that’s the price I would pay in order to meet my objectives.
The flow of my steps would lead me to the objective, and not to any other place. So I walked and went to that bus stop. I know how to use buses, but that one leading to the city was the new adventure. I boarded the bus and sat on an unoccupied seat. First I looked at everyone sitting: some students who were cheerfully talking, some businessmen and some nurses telling stories, and other people. Then I saw outside, just a few minutes lasted before we entered the city, with lots of buildings and stores.
I got off the bus and started to walk. I was a little nervous. Bizarre stories involving the city were told among my bunch of friends. My mind is always prepared for every weird creature it would come across my flow of the path and tries to oppose to it. Not that I would believe in that, but those kinds of statements give some fun to the adventure. From my backpack I took out a note given to me. There were some words written:
“To get to the objective you need to cross like seventeen streets and pass through several obstacles. “,
along with the map with the route to follow and the point of the possible obstacles to pass. Those were the next challenges to face. The unknown is always an unexpected situation, which are events not handled by any expectation. Of course there’s a possibility of the unknown issue, but you can’t expect something good. That’s where my journey of weird obstacles and awkward situations begins.
Time wasn’t a problem, because it was midday, there’s plenty of time to look around and not hurrying up my footsteps so to get faster to the objective destination. But as if it were a well prepared plan, I expected to reach there in less than an hour. Seventeen streets aren’t a lot of trouble to cross, but I considered the target obstacles would take me like five minutes each of them.
I crossed like the first five streets, following the path marked on the map, and I saw my first target obstacle. When I looked around again, I focused my eyes on a bridge I need to cross, it was one of those needed just to not bother cars or to avoid crashing into one of them. So, step by step I walked through the stairs of that bridge and when I reached the top I was ready to walk and cross. A lot of images, a lot of strange images adorned the walls of each wall of the bridge from inside, in form of posters. I just can’t describe very well what were they, but overall they were unpleasantly colorful…. I crossed trying to maintain my focus on not deviate my face on seeing those images. I would guess that was that challenge. I think that was an easy one.
So, first challenge of the city succeeded. I walked down that bridge and continue following the path, walking a long way until another traffic light to make another cross. I saw between that street and the seventh one was another challenge to face. I looked to see if I can avoid that, but it seems it was the only way. I had to turn left and cross a little corridor. Along the corridor was a bunch of stores, mostly ones where you can buy aromatic fragrances and fresh herbs, for medical purposes, I guess… It isn’t a visited corridor, and with all the tall buildings between them, it was a little shady. Unusual voices coming from everywhere and strange names on each store appearing in neon lightning. They sure wanted me to scare me out, but they only made me feel embarrassed from passing all the stores.
So I was on the seventh street, I had to get into another traffic light to cross it and then turn left and cross it again. After that, another long street to walk, and then again turn left into another challenge. Well, on the map they marked several challenges, but you can see it was one big challenge. The main street of the city was amazing, yet challenging, not because it’s stores and cars, because of the people. There were a lot of people walking trough that street! If you walk along that street, you can reach almost every important store on downtown, and get into several amazing buildings. So, streets from seven through sixteen were to need crossed on Main Street, and challenge three, four, five and six were to be faced. So, this time, I accelerated my footsteps and went along with the challenges.
Challenge three was to avoid a chocolate store, I don’t know why, but they say it just don’t taste good. But it was crowded with people and lots of kids were enjoying it. “They don’t know the real taste of chocolate…” Challenge four was avoid a videogame shop, huh?, they would think I would spend the rest of the day into that store, but I confess I was tempted to go inside…. Challenge five was to avoid people selling things and saying its ‘cool’ offers out loud. It was annoying with the music and all, but still an easy thing to do…. Seriously as if I could be scared of something new on downtown. Walking all the way here took me half an hour, with all and challenges.
Challenge six was my change of mind, it was at the end of the sixteenth street, turning right and walking like 300 steps. Challenge was to avoid a group of some gang group in some basketball court. I saw it was like three or four basketball courts. Near one of them were a bunch of teen people dress indeed like gangsters, playing basketball, I just looked how they play and seem to be good players.
Suddenly: “Hey, Nerd!” I just jumped out. Looking away and speeding up a bit I walked a little frightened. “What were you looking at?” the same voice made that yell. Oh no, I thought, I knew I screwed up a lot and that I shouldn’t have looked at it. But they weren’t doing any harm…. I wasn’t doing anything bad either…. I kinda run away from the basketball courts so that they couldn’t see them.
“Come out Nerd, don’t be shy, we don’t bite”, followed by the laughing of everyone else in that place. Man, I think that was unavoidable, along with all the easy challenges I had faced, I was confident on passing each of them, but the level of difficulty on that challenge was waay stronger than I thought. Maybe because they were referring specifically to me. No other challenge was very direct, but that was one exception. Their level of extroversion of them and the unknown of the city made me feel awkward and shy.
I passed the seventeenth street, and the last challenge was near, just halfway between where I was and my destination. It was another corridor, a little brighter than the last one. I walked and approached what it seems a fountain at the center of some roundabout wider than the corridor’s width. Passing through some water splashing fountain wasn’t challenging enough, but then a voice came from the nowhere:
“Hold it right there, young boy”.
I was wrong again, as if the last challenge didn’t give me the lesson on not be confident on challenges. I was about to look back but then:
“Don’t move, don’t look around, stay as you are”
The voice sound like a teenager, well, I can’t tell it was actually a teenager. I was frightened again, thinking lots of things on my mind. What was the challenge on this!?
“You are not from here, do you?” the voice was heard again, “I can tell it because I haven’t seen you around here. So you are a tourist, aren’t you? You don’t seem to know the dangers of this city, and you still went on adventure and going especially on this place and see what happens? Haven’t they told you this is a wicked place? This has full of things your little mind can’t imagine right now.” My mind couldn’t think of anything indeed. “Yes, I can see it; you were terrified moments ago before entering this place by someone else, heheh. They were warning you about the danger on this place, and still you dared to enter. I tell it was very brave, but I think you won’t survive any longer.” followed by a malicious laugh. Petrified I was, and confused also, I didn’t know if run or stay there. Frightened and with lots of doubts, I regretted my off guarding of this challenge.
The voice continued: “Heheh, now you know it, let me tell you, those stories you heard from your friends are true, and you shouldn’t have ignored that warning, you must have been prepared, and you will suffer from the wrath of the spirits within this place.” What? Evil sprits? Although it wasn’t plausible to believe, my mind is still rambling about screwing the challenge, and that voice still is referring to me, so with all my shyness and the position I was, I couldn’t think of anything better than to stay.
Still the voice continued: “Yes, indeed. Even if you don’t want to believe it, there are here around us. They are mad at you, you did not make a good welcoming here so they will teach you a lesson so you can learn to respect the spirits from the underground, hehehe.” again that creepy laugh. “Enjoy it while you can, by the way, do you have a girlfriend?”
“Whaaaaaaat!?”
My level of awkwardness reached up to the top. That question made my face to blush a very red color.
“Oh, just asking, hehehe.”
My legs were trembling and my hands were shaking. The only think I could do was kneeling and repeating the same words:
“Please spirits don’t punish me. Please spirits don’t punish me. Please spirits DON’T PUNISH ME!”
I was nearly at crying but then a familiar voice came from behind:
“Hey Henry what are you doing?”
I forgot about everything and jumped to myself and turned around. It was my friend that was looking at me worried, my face wasn’t showing happiness, behind my friend I looked to the person who was taking to me. And then my eyes couldn’t believe it.
It was the SAME MAN that was begging for money at the park! And he was talking to me all along!!
I couldn’t take all the emotion and then, I blacked out…..
…..
I woke up, the first thing I saw was my friend, this time he had a worried face.
“Hey man, what’s up? You got all freaked out with all that weird stuff. You were crying too. I’m sorry for that…”
I touched my face, tears were over my cheek, I could have been crying after I had lost consciousness. But then I looked around, I was lying on a couch, in a living room. I was in the house of my friend.
“Heheh, you made it man, kind of. Wasn’t that difficult to find isn’t it?”
I didn’t react on that question; I was wandering my mind again. But I was strong enough to open my mouth.
“I’m sorry; I couldn’t pass the last challenge….” That guiltiness made me cry again.
“It’s OK buddy, I have brought you to my house, but whoa, that fade out you had was crazy, I’ve never seen something like this, especially at that place we were a moment ago.”
I let out a small laugh, even though my tears were still flowing.
“And I didn’t think the last obstacle was very challenging. Seeing you cry wasn’t my purpose. That’s why I put those marks to avoid it the best you can’t. Seems like you couldn’t continue on the last one.”
And then I told him: “Yeah, I should have ignored him like any other challenge. But I was afraid, I didn’t know anything about it, and I was confident on passing them!”
Yeah, that’s right, but the challenges before the last one, even the one with the gangsters, weren’t as difficult to pass. This comes to the thinking why was that man on that place. Then he said to his friend.
“I saw that man once. On the park I used to visit, I thought I would encounter him face to face at that place, not near here. When did he come here to your place…?”
“Oh, that man near the fountain. Well, he lives in one of the nearby houses…”
“He is!?”
“Yeah, once he just disappeared for let’s say a week. Odd stuff with that man, returned fine, but I don’t know how he got into the idea of spirits and other creepy things. Oh, they found him in some place near the bus station…., oh, the bus station was near your park…”
So that man was only there at the park for a week or less… My mind sure has blown away…. The curious thing: I was one of the fortunate people to make an encounter with him. I was about to say something but my friend continued:
“But he’s a good man, not in his good mental faculties indeed, but nevertheless a decent man. He is being taking care by some good woman; she made lots of things for him. The day the man was lost, she made lots of effort to find him. She was very happy after that, even we celebrated a party after his finding at the fountain….” He stopped talking and looked at my worried face. I told him my experience of the encounter, and how I gave him money to him.
“…, but I didn’t think he was at that state. I thought wrong about him. I’m such a jerk.” Darn emotions and my continuous crying, but better tell the truth.
“OK I get it, don’t have to be emotional about it. Sure you had your weird experience, very coincidental man, but maybe he used money you gave to him to go to the bus station. You should be proud of making the finding easier buddy.”
What I first I felt guilty for it, now I feel a little more comfortable about knowing the situation. After that, I gave it a big smile to my friend.
“Heheh, that’s my buddy” he said smiling back at me, “Now get up, let’s go upstairs with the others, we are missing the fun of the videogames Kevin brought.
“Oh yeah”, I remembered that I came to the house of my friend Landon to play videogames. “Let’s go”
We had a good time playing with my friends, that I forgot what happened at that time, all worries and awkwardness of the adventure taken. Near the night, everybody else was leaving the house of Landon. He kindly would take me a ride to my house; well his dad would do it.
My friend’s dad’s car was at some parking exclusively for the people of that area, across the fountain near the street I passed to get here. Before leaving, the man who said weird things to me was wandering with the woman who was caring for him. We all greeted each other. Then the man to me:
“May the good spirits be with you, young boy, hehehe.”
Although only my friend and I knew the story, I could tell the man’s phrase was a way to say “Thank you” for my awkward kindness of last time.
I returned home thinking of all this that happened of the day.
“Did you have fun with your adventure, Henry?” asked my mom.
“Yeah, I sure did”.
“I hope you have learned about all things of the city, and of course of life too”.
“Yes mom, that adventure I had was amazing…”
Life learning…. That’s when I feel very proud for helping that hopeless man, and turned him into a happy man.
