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Institut Samuel Gili i Gaya<br />
annoyed, like he didn‟t like having<br />
to repeat things twice.<br />
I saw him smiling, he looked<br />
happy and free. I felt jealous. His<br />
life was careless, he was wearing<br />
ugly and dirty clothes, smelled<br />
horrible, hair un-brushed... but he<br />
didn‟t care. He had no one to<br />
judge him. He was free.<br />
I wanted to ask him where he came<br />
from, why was he wearing those<br />
clothes, but I‟m not allowed to<br />
interact with the customer.<br />
“What‟s your story?” he asked. He<br />
wanted to know about me.<br />
“My wife left me, took everything,<br />
I lost my job because I have anger<br />
problems, and now I have to sit in<br />
a car all day driving idiots like you<br />
around town!” I felt proud of my<br />
answer “What‟s yours?” I asked.<br />
“Well: My family is very rich, but<br />
they don‟t love me or my brother.<br />
We always had everything we<br />
wanted except love, they never<br />
loved us, so I and my brother<br />
always turned to each other for<br />
comfort and love, we had a special<br />
place behind a wardrobe, we<br />
always met there to talk about our<br />
private stuff, it was the part of the<br />
day I always looked forward to...<br />
When we got a little older, about<br />
15 years old, my father lost his<br />
job, and he started to be really<br />
miserable, but instead of turning<br />
for comfort to his wife, he started<br />
to drink. Every night he had a bit<br />
more than the night before. After a<br />
few months, he started to get really<br />
angry, the rage that had been<br />
building up in him over the years<br />
was coming out, my brother and I<br />
were the ones to get the blame, he<br />
always said that we were too<br />
spoiled and that we had too much<br />
stuff that we were greedy and we<br />
had used them. At first it was only<br />
offensive words, and me and my<br />
brother coped with it, but<br />
eventually he started hitting us, I<br />
always got hit first, I‟m not sure<br />
why, but I always thought it was<br />
because I am the oldest. Every<br />
night we ended up with a few new<br />
bruises. My mum never got<br />
involved, not doing anything about<br />
it, she never called the police or<br />
anything, I think she loved him too<br />
much to let him go...”<br />
As he was talking, I somehow saw<br />
myself throw his eyes, I had been<br />
the drunk dad that shouted to my<br />
wife, I never hit her, but I was rude<br />
and disrespectful to her, I could<br />
understand how his father felt, but<br />
his case was sort of extreme.<br />
Hearing what he was saying, and<br />
making the connection to myself,<br />
it made me feel sad, and terrified<br />
at the same time. I had put my kids<br />
through a similar position, they<br />
weren‟t getting hurt directly, but<br />
they could hear me treating her<br />
badly... The guy in the truck<br />
continued talking.<br />
“After a while, my brother and I<br />
stopped talking, I don‟t exactly<br />
know the reasons, I think we<br />
didn‟t want to talk about dad and<br />
stuff. Our special place began to be<br />
our hiding place, we hid there so<br />
that our dad wouldn‟t find us, and<br />
we were too scared to even talk...<br />
The years went by, and things got<br />
worse, my dad started to hit my<br />
mother as well, and one day I<br />
decided I had had enough. I got my<br />
stuff, took my dad‟s credit card<br />
and ran away. I did what I thought<br />
was right. I have been living in the<br />
woods for almost five months now.<br />
Living free. I don‟t regret my<br />
decision; I just hope my brother<br />
had the courage to do the same<br />
thing. I haven‟t seen any of them<br />
so far, I hope they are alright...” I<br />
couldn‟t listen to him anymore, he<br />
had left his family by choice, he<br />
had left them... I felt angry, in my<br />
head I could hear the voice of my<br />
boss „One more sick note and<br />
you‟re finished, fired‟, the guy<br />
f r o m t h e t a x i s v o i c e „ f r e e ,<br />
careless...‟, my wife‟s voice<br />
screaming „leave, I don‟t love you<br />
no more, it‟s over, forget about me<br />
and the kids...‟. I felt ashamed, I<br />
hated my life and his was fantastic,<br />
he was free, with a past that had<br />
been forgotten.<br />
I realized then what my actions<br />
had caused, the pain I had caused<br />
to my family and to myself. I<br />
drove the carless man to his<br />
destination and his words and<br />
thinking changed the way I looked<br />
at life, he made me change to a<br />
better man.<br />
I signed into a rehabilitation<br />
centre, to try to get off the alcohol.<br />
I stayed there for a few months,<br />
and eventually I got better. I got an<br />
enjoyable job as a teacher and a<br />
bigger apartment. And finally, I<br />
was ready to go and see my family<br />
a g a i n . I a p o l o g i z e d f o r m y<br />
mistakes and I gained shared<br />
custody of my kids. I wasn‟t the<br />
happiest man on earth, but it was<br />
enough to keep me going. And<br />
sometimes I remember those dark<br />
days in which I had lost myself<br />
and I have to thank that carless<br />
man that with his words he made<br />
me see the light and sometimes I<br />
think how unbelievable it is that a<br />
man that I met randomly could<br />
have had such a big and good<br />
impact in my life.<br />
Accèssit Batxillerat<br />
UNTHERNEATH YOUR LOVE<br />
Autora: Núria Serrando Salinas<br />
1r BAT<br />
”Dear Michelle I am a hopeless<br />
romantic there’s this guy at school,
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