WEB OF RICHES AND RUIN

“What a day”, Andie thought to himself as he waited in line to get what was his. He had been working all day on a construction site and, since the day was over, it was time to get paid. Working on a construction site was tiresome and for a guy like Andie without much of a body to show, still being energetic at the end of the day was next to impossible. He stood all droopy and all he was thinking at the moment was how he would go treat himself to a nice hot meal. “Hey, you! Want your money or what”, Said the man paying the workers. Andie had slipped off reality and was thinking of the hot meal he was about to get and had forgotten that he was next in line. He quickly grabbed his money and counted to confirm if it was the right amount. The workers had not been paid off the previous day, so he was expecting double the amount, and after he had confirmed it was the exact amount, he gave a nod, and off he went, slowly dragging himself to his favorite kiosk. “The usual please”, he said, waving at the kiosk owner. Sure, the food was sweet and hot, but it barely satisfied his hunger. He had a strong urge to request more, but he didn’t. He just couldn’t. He reached into his pocket and paid for the food and was on his way home. Andie was in his early 20s, but his physical appearance told otherwise. He was small and emancipated, thus giving a general appearance of a boy. His unkempt hair and droopy face gave out more of his background, he seemed poor and, yes, that was the case. He lived with his mother and younger brother. The mother wasn’t a saint herself; she was the village’s drunkard and easily slept with any man just to pocket a few coins. Andie’s relationship with his brother wasn’t similar to that we watch on television where the older brother’s love for the younger one knows no bounds. On the contrary, Andie despised his brother to such an extent that he occasionally thought of selling him. This was among the many schemes he was cooking up in his brain on how to get rich; well, that’s what most people are always thinking of; how to get money, and for Andie and his crocked thoughts, was just another needle in a society full of needles. The distance home was quite long. Andie thought of visiting Trizzie, it had been quite some time since they had last met. Their friendship had started way back. That was at a certain period in Andie’s life when he used to attend school. This was before his father’s death or that’s at least what he was told by his mother. He was too young to understand whatever that was happening. His younger brother came along later after Andie was much older and no one, even Andie, knew who the father was. Being his stepbrother was one of the major reasons he hated him so much. Trizzie was always grumpy and argued about almost everything. She had dropped out of school complaining that it was too hard. She never seemed to give a thought about her future, all that she cared about was that she always got food which was easily available at home. Her family wasn’t rich, but they got just enough to get by. As far as she cared, she would be married to a rich guy who would willingly provide for her, then she wouldn’t have to worry about providing for herself. It wasn’t clear what had made the two remain friends for such a long time, since they seemed so different and yet way too fond of each other, but one could argue that it was Andie’s effort, since he always went an extra mile to maintain the friendship. He did this, trying to fill up the void in his hollow heart. He always felt so lonely and unloved, since his mother could not handle such feelings. It always felt as if her humanity had left her. Unlike Trizzie, Andie always thought of his future. He always argued that, unlike Trizzie, he wasn’t expecting any rich man to marry him. Rather, he was to be the rich man providing for himself and his family if he was to be lucky to get one. He had tried saving up the little he got from the odd jobs he did to join a technical school to acquire a marketable skill, but this had proven impossible due to the high amounts demanded by the institutions. He gave up, debating that school was just a long shot and for which he wasn’t sure if it was worth it since it wasn’t clear if he would get employed even after getting a certificate. He used whatever he had saved up to build himself a tiny scrap house a few meters from the main house. This was of course after a series of long debatable arguments with his mother. He had then decided to save up whatever he could and buy himself a motorcycle which was to be the start of his rich legacy or so he thought. They had their favorite spot; this was a creek on the edge of the village. They enjoyed spending time gossiping about the villagers and how stupid everyone else was. This was Trizzie complaining about everything just as she had always done. Andie loved Trizzie’s grumpy attitude and found her fascinating for it. He just could not understand how one could be so beautiful yet so grumpy. On this particular day, she told him of a family that was to move to their village and who was to occupy a certain mansion that so happened to be where Andie had been working for quite some time. He didn’t care that much about the house owners just that at the end of the day, he got what was his. Trizzie just couldn’t stop going on about how she wished she could get a rich boyfriend. She hadn’t failed to mention severally that it was said there was a guy just about their age who was a member of the affluent family moving in and how she wished they could be together. How she had known of the guy was beyond Andie’s understanding, but for a village that small, gossip spread like wildfire, probably explaining how Trizzie had come to know of the guy. Andie mostly never really got concerned about what Trizzie used to talk about; he just enjoyed her company, but this particular talk made him uneasy. He always thought that he would end up having Trizzie for himself. Andie used to like Trizzie as a friend at first but as they grew older, he developed feelings for her but was always way too scared to make a move fearing that he would ruin the only good relationship he had going on. Hearing Trizzie go on about how she wished she could have the rich guy to herself broke his heart. Losing her felt more real than ever and all he could do was just stand by and watch it happen; He could not risk it. Deep down he hoped that Trizzie would one day appreciate him and have him as his boyfriend. It was getting late; they had to break their little gossip club and head home. Andie escorted Trizzie and was on his way to his scrappy house. All he could think on the way was Trizzie and her story. He thought of confronting her about his feelings but couldn’t find enough reasons to mess up their friendship and for as far as he knew, these were just make-believe stories Trizzie told herself to justify her laziness.