Allan

Just another ordinary day in my life, I woke up at 5 am, went to the laundry room, filled a bucket with water, and came back to my little room, yes I shower with a mug because there is no bathroom in my room.

After the shower, I ran to the kitchen thinking I would find Maria, the only person who cares about me in this whole world, but as it is my life and nothing goes right in it, it was the unbearable Yohana who was already in the kitchen, I already knew that today I'm going to starve again.

- What do you want\, kid? Thinking you're gonna eat my food? Only in your dreams\, freak\, get out of here.

I run out of the kitchen, yes I'm afraid of her, she's huge and she does judo, I'm not going to risk it, I already get beaten up enough by Metralha.

Since there was nothing to eat I started my work, since I have this huge house to clean.

You must be wondering "But Allan why do you put up with all this, why don't you run away?" Well the answer is simple, it's impossible, not that I haven't tried but I didn't get very far, I was only 15 years old, and when I came back Metralha beat me so badly that I spent a week without getting up, if it wasn't for Maria taking care of me I would have died, after that I never tried to run away again. I accepted that this is my life and I just try to survive as best I can.

How did I end up here in the slums? Well, all I know is what Metralha told me, that my parents were addicts and sold me to pay off a debt. I was only 4 years old, I've been living here in Metralha's house ever since.

For the residents of the slums and for the leaders of the other factions, I am Metralha's Fiel, whenever I appear in public I am very well dressed and groomed, in front of people Metralha treats me like a prince, but the reality is quite different.

I even have a room upstairs, with a big comfortable bed and a wardrobe full of clothes and accessories and a beautiful bathroom with a big tub, but I'm not allowed in there. When I appear in public it is Metralha who chooses my clothes and brings them for me to wear.

Every day I have to clean, do laundry and organize the house, which has more than 6 rooms besides the 4 bathrooms.

I'm allowed to eat 1 meal a day, and only what's left over. I have spent many days without eating, only with water, I ended up getting used to it.

When Maria is here she lets me eat a little more.

About my personal life? Well, simple, it doesn't exist, I mean look at me?

...

I'm not handsome or attractive.

About this business of being Metralha's faithful, I don't even understand it, he never laid a finger on me, never let any of his men near me.

He always said I had an owner and that he would be coming to get me soon and I had to be untouched.

But nothing stopped Metralha from hitting me whenever he felt like it.

He hit me when he was stressed, he hit me when he was sad, and he hit me when he was happy just for fun.

He would hit me and leave marks, but only where they couldn't be seen, so as not to show up in the pictures he took of me every other day.

I live in this house with a single purpose, to work hard so that when night comes I can sleep, even if it's from exhaustion, without having to think about my shitty life and how alone and screwed I am.

I wish I was brave enough to run away from here, or at least end this pathetic life of mine, but I don't even have the guts for that.

There are few things in this world that make me happy, drawings are one of them, I don't mean the drawings on TV, even because I'm not allowed to watch TV, I'm talking about paintings, I think they're so beautiful.

The shapes, the lines, the colors, the way everything makes sense even without making sense, like my life.

I wish I knew how my hands manage to draw such beautiful lines, it's like they remember something my mind has forgotten.

Not that I paint anything as beautiful as the drawings I see in the paintings on the walls of the house, that's not it, but what I scribble with the charcoal left over from the barbecue and the papers I took from the office on the sly make me smile when I look at them.

I'm not proud to say that I stole some books from Yohana, they were in her purse, I think they belonged to her children, they were such beautiful drawings with such strong colors that I couldn't resist. That day I was very angry with Yohana, Metralha had given me permission to have lunch that day, even though I had already had dinner the day before, but the witch threw water on all the pots of leftover food, just so I wouldn't eat, so stealing the book didn't make me feel so guilty.

I have 4 books here, some I found in the office and others I stole from Yohana, I keep them as precious treasures along with my scribbles inside a shoebox that stays under the pillow here in my little room. When I feel very sad I open the box and see that there is some beauty in life.

I know that my life is numbered, and it terrifies me to know that soon this Tae will come and get me, I know that I will suffer greatly at his hands, Metralha makes a point of telling me in detail everything that the Thai will do to me when he gets me, sparing no dirty detail he says that when I am in Thailand in Tae's hands, I will miss the beatings he gives me. And it terrifies me. I don't want this life, but as always I have no choice, I just hope this day takes a long time to come.

In short, this is me, Allan, 17 years old, virgin and prisoner of the owner of the slums.

Santo's POV

I'm Rodrigo, but everyone in the hood knows me as Santo. I'm 25 years old, born and raised here in Penha, and I've never liked the way Metralha runs this hill. I've been working for the faction since I was a kid, learned everything I know from my close friends who, like me, aren't satisfied with the way Metralha is doing things. So we decided to make a move and take him out of power.

Today's the big day. We're finally going to take over Penha and put an end to Metralha and all the crap he's been pulling on the people here.

While I can be kind, those who know me don't call me "Morte" (Death) for nothing. The nickname is suggestive and very real.

I've been preparing to take over the hill for a long time. I want to be the owner of this whole thing, yeah, for the power—'cause I'm no fool—but also to give a better life to the people here. Metralha charges taxes on everything, doesn't protect the population, lets his men wreak havoc, and puts no limits on their brutality. With me and my men in control, things will change, oh, they will.

I'm here looking at Metralha's shack, which is not a shack at all, more like a damn mansion. We're going in with everything, guns blazing, no one gets out alive. Today, Morro da Penha will have a new owner, me.

And so it was. Me and my right-hand man, Jotape, led the soldiers who were also against Metralha. We stormed the place, all guns blazing. We already knew it was going to be a war, and that there would be casualties. The order was to leave no one alive. Anyone on Metralha's side was dead, but Metralha himself, I want him for myself. I want to make him pay for every single thing he took from me.

The absurd taxes he levied caused my father's small bar to close, pushing him into depression. He drowned himself in booze and drugs and one day, he committed suicide. To raise me, my mother turned to prostitution and ended up murdered by a client who didn't want to pay. Because of Metralha, I lost everything when I was only 12, and I'm going to collect on that debt.

It was years of living alone, having to fend for myself for food and clothes. I did things I'm ashamed of, others I'd rather not remember. Days and days just surviving.

I dropped out of school in high school. It was a drag to work all day and still have to study at night. I tried as hard as I could, but exhaustion got the best of me. Besides, getting involved in drug trafficking didn't make things any easier at school, so I decided it was better to leave than to keep dealing with those clowns who only knew how to judge me.

I only had one friend in this life, Jotape. He showed up one day to run some errands with me. We got chased by the cops, and he helped me hide. We've been inseparable ever since, I trust him with my life, and he feels the same.

Jotape and I have a pact: never involve kids in trafficking, and never do to the people what they did to us.

He lost his mother too, but it was to an overdose. He never knew who his father was, and like me, he was a child alone, since his younger sisters were adopted by wealthy families down in the fancy part of town. Being older, he wasn't chosen. Just another injustice on the list.

Jotape and I have a lot of scores to settle, but we didn't sit around feeling sorry for ourselves, complaining that we were wronged. We fought to ensure that no one would ever dare step on us again because if they try, they get lead.

As for the rest, I'm a simple guy. I like hanging out with friends, barbecues, pagode music, everything nice and easy. I don't like stuck-up people; they stress me out.

I love animals, especially my dog Mathias. I'm crazy about food; I eat like crazy. I think because I've been through hunger, I'm kind of crazy about it, but I work out hard so I don't turn into a tattooed meatball.

I'm a die-hard Flamengo fan, I love football.

In terms of relationships, I don't have any, and I don't want to have to get over anyone. I don't even have time for that.

Now, sex, that's another story. I don't go without, I hook up with whoever wants me and I'm into. I've done it all in bed; I've been to plenty of sex parties. Even fooled around with guys, just for kicks. Done it all.

But I've always made it clear that I'm not interested in relationships, let alone kids. I even got snipped. Had to threaten to blow the brains out of that Bolivian doctor wannabe, but he did the surgery, and it worked.

I don't want to bring any kids into this world. I'm not a good person; I'll never be a good father, and I would never condemn a child to live in this world. Of the few things I've gotten right in life, the vasectomy was one of them.

But getting back to the reason for my hate.

Metralha...

Wait for me, Metralha, the new owner of the hill is coming.

This is me: big, bad, and good-looking.

I feel like something is very wrong happening on this hill today.

And something tells me that Santo, that pain in the ass, is involved in this up to his neck.

I don't know where my head was at that I haven't blown that jerk's brains out yet.

Actually, I do know, I still have hope of bringing Santo to my side to be my successor, but the kid is full of scruples and has this thing I hear people talk about sometimes, honor, I think it's called.

Bullshit! Look at me, look where I am, do you think honor, honesty or scruples helped me get here?

No, definitely not. I used every way you can imagine to get to the top, and believe me, it wasn't pretty.

Here I am, 57 years old, and still hot as hell.

I need to start thinking about what to do with the plague that haunts the back room of my shack. Damn the hour I agreed to hide this kid, although it was thanks to his owner that I was able to kill the former owner and take over the hill.

I couldn't wait for Tae to come back and get this nuisance, until I thought a little.

My deal with that sneaky Chink Tae was to look after this boy he "bought" from his parents until he got back from Thailand. But that story was always fishy and I always had my doubts about what hole the pest crawled out of.

So I decided to investigate, I went after every clue, spent a ton of money but I found out what's so interesting about the pest, and as far as I'm concerned, this valuable little "pest" is never leaving my hands!

The only thing that worries me is Tae, he is obsessed with the kid, he keeps asking for pictures of the little bastard, asking if he is healthy and mainly if he is still as he left him, untouched.

Tae swore he'd be the boy's first, and he's going to turn him into his submissive, baby boy or whatever, I don't know about that queer stuff, all I know is if anyone touches the boy I'm a dead man.

That's why I made everyone believe he's my Faithful, that way no one will be crazy enough to mess with him.

And I've already taken care of Tae, he received a little present from me back in Thailand, and any minute now he'll be in the devil's lap.

Now the pest only has me as his owner, and as soon as he turns 18 I won't need him anymore, and I'll have all his treasure all to myself.

Tell me, am I a clever fox or what? There's a reason I got where I am, handsome, hot, intelligent, charming...

Author's POV

Metralha's delusions are interrupted by the sound of an explosion coming from the front gate. Soon one of his men arrived warning about the invasion, Metralha grabbed his weapon and went outside, encountering a confusion of men shooting everywhere.

Metralha was furious, he knew who was behind this bullshit and blamed himself for not foreseeing a move from Santo.

But now there was nothing left to be done, the only thing Metralha could think about was that he had to escape, taking his "golden goose" with him.

Metralha went down the stairs ready to get Allan when he heard a voice that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"What's up, grandpa, leaving so soon? Now that the party was getting good, come on in, let's have a little chat, just you and me..."

The smile on the corner of Santo's mouth could only mean one thing.

Just you wait, Chink, I'm going to hug the devil right along with you, thought Metralha.

Metralha was thinking that he would be tortured in every way before being killed, and he was sure that was what was going to happen judging by the look on Santo's face as he dragged the older man to the clearing, where everyone could see what was going to happen next.

But the only thing that was heard from Santo was:

"I'm not like you!"

The sound of the gunshot fired that night was heard throughout the community. To Metralha's allies, it sounded like the end of a reign, to others it sounded like the beginning of another cycle of violence and abuse, but to those who knew Santo, it sounded like new hope.