Epilogue

 
    "The community has a lot to offer you Ramie, are you sure you don't want to get involved?" That was John talking, Ramie’s best friend.
   
  "Get involved in what John, I already live in this neighborhood, why should I want to sign up for the community, what's the difference?" John put his burly hand on Ramie’s shoulder and sighed, "you'll be respected Ramie, no one would even think of coming near you".
   
 Ramie shrugged John's hand off,” that’s the thing John, I don't need respect to live my life" he said and walked away.
  
   I followed him that night, scared that they might shoot us from behind but to my surprise, they didn't.
   We lived in the bad part of the streets, everywhere I looked were rundown building with cracked windows, broken doors and singed roofs. The flowers in the ground were ripped out of there habitat and eaten for food. The poor slept on the ground or broke into houses they didn't own. Money was sparse and when you had some, people came looking for you. Since I was born, Ramie always told me there was no one you could trust here, no one except your family.
   If you did, you might get killed in one blow. You wouldn’t know it at first but you would be walking on the streets with your friends and before you know it, someones firing a gun and one bullet, unluckily, lands on you. And there you are, lying on the floor, curled up with blood seeping out of your stomach. And as you call for help, you see the one person that you thought would always be there for you, your best friend, running, leaving you there to die.
   I always trusted him and I still do, I'm 16 years old now and I still listen to whatever he tells me. Of course at times, I'll scream and throw a temper tantrum but that's part of the job. Even though he thinks I don't listen to anything he says, he doesn’t know how thankful I am to have him in my life. Even if he did know, I don't think Ramie would care about how grateful I was towards him. He would only shrug it off, telling me it’s his job to protect me, and that’s the way it’s always been.