THE DREAM BOOK

When it all began

NARRATOR'S P.O.V

Poverty. The second skin of most humans nowadays. Improvement in technology has done nothing to quench the thirst of the poor or satisfy their hunger. It has only made the rich richer, from the bone-breaking hard work of the poor. And the poor drown in the ocean of poverty with the tides of death, their companion.

For Jasmine and Luke, it's another day to hustle. Another day to push their way through and make it to tomorrow together.

Luke met Jasmine a year ago. He was out one cold night to get some medications for his headache. When he heard muffled cries in a dark alley just along the way to the pharmacy. Curiosity and the urge to help whoever it was he heard pushes him towards the dark cold alley.

He was shocked and vengefully angered by the sight before him. Three men all between the ages of 35-40, who were old enough to be the girl's parents, held her down on the wet and cold ground. Two were holding her down as drunken laughter echoed around them. The other one was busily unbuckling his belt and the two holding her down were occupied with touching her breast and molesting her that, they didn't see him pick up a stick from the ground and sneaking up on them from behind.

He knocked them all out by hitting them at the back of the head. Then he carried the unconscious female in his arms taking her to his home with him, completely forgetting the reason why he went out. This unfortunate incident happened at 10 pm, on the streets of Queens, 2025.

He brought her to his home, cleaned up her wounds, stayed up all night to care for her since she had caught a cold, he fed the 17-year-old when she regained consciousness. But She didn't have anywhere aside going back to the streets, so he let her stay with him. They learned so much about each other, they grew to care for each other, the affection they had for one another was well past the kind between friends.

They only started a romantic relationship a year ago, when love began to blossom in their hearts for one another.

Their house is nothing big. But it's what they call their home. A two-bedroom apartment with a television set, white walls and brown tiles, a center table, and two couches with a lamp beside it. The bathroom is moderate with a sink, mirror, and a bathtub, and a WC. In the bedroom, there's a queen-sized bed with grey bed linen, two lamps, and a closet. The kitchen has a brown center table with two sinks, a stove, and utensils all packed perfectly in the cupboards above the stove. A refrigerator and a second-hand washing machine.

It's not much, but it's all theirs and that is what matters.

Education is hard to acquire at this time. A century where the poor dies and the rich live forever. The money needed to access it is not easy to come by.