Hi Friends,
My name is King, and I discovered Steemit in September. After observed this incredible Community for a while I decided to join in on the fun. There are many talented writers on the Steemit platform who have inspired me to pursue writing. Now that I have the time I’ll begin contributing to our Community in a meaningful way. I have many ideas that I will be submitting to the community soon. However, this is an Introduction post of myself, but also my first submission to the community.
What makes Steemit special is the engagement of community. The crazy part is we have the potential for ten times as much engagement. I’m starting a Collaborative writing effort. Below contains a beginning to the story and wild ride we’ll go on together.
FORMAT: Anyone that wants to Contribute will have until Friday 6pm EST to submit their chapter. The Community will decide what chapters are selected. I will make a post containing a poll that will be open until Sunday 12am EST. You can post your contribution and email me at [email protected] with the link to your chapter each week. I will add the links to each submission on the polling post. I look forward to reading your work and contributing myself.
When this Steemit wide project ends I would like to publish it crediting all contributors. @publica can be the platform we use to accomplish this goal. If you have any suggestions that can improve this project, don’t hesitate to contact me. Please Follow me to stay updated.
The Reluctant Hero
Tired and nearly breathless I ran to the bus stop. Why did Ms. Hawthorne choose to have a private meeting about performance on my time? Hell, it’s already the end of the day. I’ve done my eight hours. She drones on waving a stack of papers with numbers, which I care nothing about. God! It’s 5pm woman. You’re stealing my time woman! Is what I’d like to say but I need my pay rent. It’s a bit too cold this time of year to sleep outside. The relentless wind reminds me that I left my scarf on the coat rack at the office. No turning around for me since the snow has already drenched my socks, and sneakers. Why did I wear sneakers? Icy spots on the sidewalk nearly sent me to the ground three times, but I’m not slowing down. I need to get to this meeting on time.
My cousin Rob's friend James is with a new company called Envision. “Sammy, this is an opportunity to make a lot of money. All you gotta do is sell people on joining these utility companies, and a few services. Then bam you get residues every month off of that one sales pitch. If you recruit some people, then you get residuals off what they bring in too. You're getting in on the ground floor. All you gotta do--.” “Don’t they charge a fee to join?” “Yes, they do but James is my best friend and you’re my cousin. I’ll put in a word, and he’ll cover the entry fee of four hundred dollars. All you gotta do is show up on time and prove to him you’re a hard worker like I said. There will be a fifty dollar a month maintenance fee for your website and stuff be once you’re in be able to pay that easy. Sammy don’t give me that look, relax. This is solid man. You can stop renting a room and get your own apartment when that money starts rolling in. Don’t forget I’m doing you a favor here so don’t embarrass me. Be on time.”
So, I’m now half a block away as I see the bus pull up. I pick up speed but there are only two people at the bus stop waiting to get on. I won’t make it on time! I call out to the people boarding. “Hey, wait! Tell him to hold on!” A short woman boards and then the guy behind looks at me with a mean mug then walks on. I know I don’t have a prayer, but I keep running. I can hear the bus shifting gear as it’s about to pull off, then suddenly it stops. After a few moments I get to the back of the bus, and then it pulls off. The driver honks the horn taunting me. I’ve already reported this idiot two times before. I guess the transit department is like everyone else. They just don’t care. Only dollars make sense. I’ll have to foot it to my train line 10 blocks away in this rundown neighborhood.
If I called a cab I’d make it in plenty of time, but I was already stuck eating ramen noodles for the next week. I only have 50 bucks to get me through the week. I decided to save the few dollars I had and continued walking. In this placed my hands were not in my pocket just to stay warm, but to keep track of my wallet and cell phone. I kept my pace fast. I passed several blocks, when I when I got to brown street. There was a shortcut behind a bar down the street. It would shave five mins off my trip, but I didn’t feel right about it. Not too many people were on this street yet and happy hour wasn’t for another hour. Usually when I walk in this area I have people with me. To hell with it. My name is Sammy Dean and I’ve been making wrong decisions my whole life.
I cut down Brown street towards the bar. I got to the alley behind the bar and was about to speed walk through when I heard a woman’s voice. “Stop, this isn’t funny anymore.” There were two men and a woman. Both guys were around the woman. One was blocking her from the back entrance to the bar. The other was trying to hike up her dress while she was resisting. All sorts of thoughts raced through my mind. How could I help her? The fact that they were bigger than me, and that if I were to backtrack all the way around I’d miss my train were my first thoughts. I thought I could end the situation just to walk through alley. They will realize it’s a public area and let her go. I looked straight ahead as I passed by and the woman started shouting louder. “Let me go! Help me!” Against my instincts I stopped and looked back. The guy who was behind her let go of her skirt. As I looked at him, he turned to face me and swayed a bit. Damn, he’s drunk. Any hopes I had of his self-awareness and my non-involvement died when he reached in his pocket. But I was spurred by her words and the desperation in her voice. “Please help me.” “Guys let her go. Just go back inside and enjoy your evening.”
The one with his hands in his pocket approached me. He got right in front of me and took his hands out. I expected to get punched in the face, but his arm swung towards my chest and I blocked it with my arm, feeling a sting of pain. As the realization hit me that he had a knife, I got stabbed in the stomach. I collapsed to the ground stunned. He bent over me and stabbed me a few more times. I could hear something in the distance like a scream, but it was so far away. Everything sounded far away. It had been cold day, but I felt warm now. I couldn’t feel my damp feet. “Whoa, am I gonna die?” I think I heard a door slam, but I couldn’t be sure it was so far away. I was stabbed but surprisingly it’s not painful now. I just want to sleep. I remembered the bad luck on staying behind at work and something about a meeting. The bus driver, and my reports on him. I’ll be sure to write another one later. Later… Ha, I don’t even know if I have a minute. Sleepy, I feel so sleepy. I’ll just close my eyes for a bit.