Building My Life

Chapter 01 Running Away

1980

Josias Rocha opened the door to his room, entered, and closed it behind him. He had just come out of the shower, with only a towel wrapped around his waist, and headed to the wardrobe to put on fresh clothes.

He opened the wardrobe carefully because the doors were warped. His father had wanted to assemble the furniture on his own and hadn’t done a good job.

As Josias pulled on his briefs, he heard a loud noise coming from the living room door. His father was watching television.

It sounded as if the door had been broken open.

Next, angry and disturbed voices alternated with the frightened voice of Josias’s father. It was not just one visitor; Josias heard three or four voices, indicating a gang.

There was a fierce discussion going on in the living room.

Curious and a little afraid, Josias went to the door to listen more closely. He didn’t dare to leave his room to see who these men were, but by their tone of voice, it was clear that they were not good-natured people.

“I swear to you, I’ll pay next month, even if it’s only half!” said Josias’s father, almost crying.

One of the visitors said, “We know you don’t have a job, and you haven’t even left home to look for one. How are you going to pay us?”

Josias shook his head. His mother had got divorced because she could no longer stand her husband’s unwillingness to keep a steady job.

She had been so furious that when her ex-husband demanded custody of Josias, she accepted without question and left, abandoning her son. She was probably out of town or even out of state by then, married to another man.

Josias’s father had continued to “raise” his son while living a lazy life and avoiding work, until the bills accumulated and could no longer be ignored. Josias, in turn, did odd jobs appropriate for his age to earn some money. If he had depended on his father for everything, he would’ve gone hungry and deprived.

He had spent all of elementary and high school wearing the cheapest sneakers and clothes, using the cheapest school supplies, and being mocked by better-dressed students. But his dedication to his studies and his good grades had made the teachers proud.

Then, at 18, Josias needed to face adult life, but apparently he wouldn’t be able to count on his father anymore, especially financially. In fact, it seemed his father was in increasingly serious trouble.

As the conversation continued, Josias realized that his father had borrowed money from a loan shark.

Even someone as young as Josias knew that borrowing money from a loan shark was a risky and foolish decision. They had no scruples about collecting debts, and they didn’t even flinch at charging extortionate interest rates.

Josias grew even more concerned as the argument seemed to have no end. To make matters worse, his father had been drinking, which must have irritated the collectors even more.

Tired of hearing excuses, they resorted to physical aggression. Josias heard furniture being knocked over and fists striking his father, who screamed in pain and begged for mercy.

Josias would’ve been crazy to leave the room and confront them. After all, he was only 18, with an average build for his age, while the attackers were probably between 30 and 40 years old — and there was more than one of them.

“No, please, listen to me... NO!”

That was the last time Josias heard his father’s voice.

One of the collectors fired three shots from a revolver.

Pressed against the bedroom door, Josias heard only the gunshots. Shocked and astonished, he was unable to move.

“Let’s see if there’s anything interesting here for us to enjoy.”

Great! If Josias had been unable to move before, then he reacted as if he had been struck by lightning. If the collectors found him in the room and realized he was the son, what could happen?

There were two possibilities: either they would kill him to leave no witnesses, or they would try to collect the debt from him. Josias considered the second option the worse of the two.

He wouldn’t allow strangers to intimidate him into paying a debt he did not owe — but he did not want to die either. What should he do?

Without thinking twice, Josias spotted the gray sweatpants he had been about to put on and quickly grabbed them. He also noticed some bills lying on top of the dresser and took them.

The bedroom window was open. Josias slipped on his sandals, climbed onto the bed, and crawled through the window. He looked back and heard the footsteps of the killer collectors walking down the corridor. Luckily, they walked past his room. It made his escape easier.

With a sad look, without seeing his father one last time, Josias looked at his room for the last time and jumped out the window. Fortunately, the house was only one story tall.

Outside, he hurriedly put on his sweatpants, stuffed the money into his pocket, and ran as fast as he could.