Slum

It was crowded—too crowded. The metro was jammed with people, pushing and shoving, each lost in their own world. This was the second time I’d lost my memory and ended up here, and still, I had no clue how I got in. All I could remember was the fight. Some street girls had crossed me. They were fucking b*tches. I hit them hard. My fists were swollen now, throbbing with pain, but I didn’t care.

The gate finally opened, spilling me out into the harsh afternoon sun. I started toward home, feeling the sting of exhaustion in my limbs, but worry wasn’t my priority. Ever since Mom died last year, I’d drifted into carelessness. What was there to care about? Health? Life? Money was all that mattered now. I needed to escape this slum, get rich, make a life that wasn’t drowning in drugs, filth, and death. Around here, rape and murder were ordinary. Every day someone disappeared or was killed. The police did nothing. They stuffed their pockets, laughed behind closed doors, and ran away from crime scenes. Fucking bastards.

“Where were you last night?” my sister’s voice broke through my thoughts, sharp and mocking rather than concerned.

Maybe she was with a guy—her new boyfriend, the one who always tried to take chances with me. I could almost feel his eyes scanning me naked. Bastard.

“What did you just say?” she demanded.

“Nothing… go finish your work on the sofa,” I muttered, my voice low.

I knew what they were doing on that sofa. My sister loved this kind of fancy. Her room was plastered with pictures of porn stars. She changed boyfriends like clothes. This one was worse than the last, and probably more perverse.

“By the way, go to the kitchen and make tea for us,” she ordered.

I obeyed, walking past the piles of garbage and grime in the hallway. My little brother, Ruhan, was nowhere in sight. Nine years old, and already lost in a world that didn’t care. I searched the rooms—every corner—but he wasn’t there.

“Where’s Ruhan?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.

“He’s playing with his friends,” she said casually.

“Shut up. He has no friends,” I snapped.

“He made some last night,” she said, smirking as if it was some kind of joke.

My brother was too little to fight back. Last time, some kids had beaten him badly. He’d felt ill for days. He was so sensitive, fragile, and she didn’t care. My sister only ever thought about her pleasures, chasing men, chasing fantasies. But I wasn’t like her. I was different—different from her, different from this place, from this slum world, from this craziness.

I clenched my fists, feeling the pain from the earlier fight flare up. Memories of the streets, the punches, the chaos, all mixed with the suffocating stench of this place. It was a slum where every day was a battle, and no one cared. I wanted out—money, freedom, anything that would get me away from this misery. But first, I had to survive today—navigate through my sister’s twisted world, find Ruhan, and somehow keep myself from disappearing into the madness that had become our lives.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***