The Witches Gift

Rock bottom

My name is Gray I am a 19 years old college drop out who lives in a rural community on the outskirts of Gilbert town with my mother and my to siblings, my younger brother Adrian and younger sister Anna. We were not very fortunate in many ways and quite frankly all we had was a better dream for our future.

I am not the brightest star in the sky but was good enough to make an impact educationally speaking, I fought my way through high school and made it college. I started off pretty well until my mom finally came to a dead end with money due to her high responsibilities of fending for our family survival.

She is a single parent working a janitorial job for over 7 years, it didn't pay much but she was able to help herself and us to the point where things looked hopeful until "it" happened.

A friend she met at work told her about a deal that could turn her a lot of cash if it was successful. With three promising young kids under her wings she thought that if she could do this the future of her children would be well taken care of.

Well lets just say things went upside down, the plan did work but her friend doubled crossed her and made a couple back door deals and claimed all the that was won.

My mother cried for days upon days almost driven into insanity, should found it vary hard to accept that her life savings was just swept away from her just like that.

As a result of this unexpected tragedy my tuition fee was unable to be prepared in time and I was kicked out of school, now I roam the around like a mindless zombie. My dreams taunted my pride and ambitions became just a shadow of what I had longed hope to be.

These days dinner is now seen as a privilege and not necessarily a right and so is the rest of the other stuff on the list of basic needs. My clothes were getting old and torn and I had only one pair of shoe left, I felt ashamed to talk on the streets because I didn't want my colleagues to see the present state I am in.

I can't even think about looking at beautiful women with any hope of achieving their attention, the scornful expression on their faces says it all. Even my girlfriend broke up with me because she saw that my life has come to a dead end.

I don't like to be seen so I don't go out much only when I find it necessary, but I like to go to quiet spots up in the hills where I can look down at the world below me and think with a clear mind of all the wonderful things I would like to achieve if I had a shot at life.

I don't sleep much so most nights I sit outside on the veranda and look up at the sparking night sky choose the brightest stars in each constellation and make wishes on each, I am not really a superstitious person but at this point I don't know what to do other than placing my hopes into something even if it doesn't really makes much sense.

I seek jobs in outside my community but the requirements were mostly higher than what I was qualified for and to make things worse they all were looking for experienced persons to work with.

Could my life get any worse I was literally down to zero, I had nothing but an empty life I felt like a runaway train ....more like a train wreck.

One day while I was walking just minding my own business thinking about how pointless my whole life is I stumbled upon this mysterious old woman.

She looked really sick and she was sitting by the road side groaning. "Mmmm the agony of life is upon me I wish to be gone from this world I can't handle anymore pain"  she mumbled through her lips.

I moved swiftly over to her sat down at her side " mam what happened?" I asked her, she replied " life...life is what happened young man" I didn't quite understand what she meant by that but I thought if I could help her out the day would end on a peaceful note.

"I live just a few corners down the road if you would like I could take you there and my mother could help you get well" I have no idea why I said that to a total stranger but the words came right out of my mouth.

"Bless you child" she gracefully accepted my offer. I took her home and introduced her to my mother and told her what happened.  My mother is a very kind person so she was more than happy to help.

Even though our food was short mother provided her with a plate so big tears came from the old lady's eyes. "Oh my child such a blessing you are I can not thank you enough for such kindness" she expressed.

We had a long talk and she told me her name was Mariam and that she was from a far away town called Trinity where she lived alone after her husband passed away, all her children and grand children abandoned her and left her alone in the world to struggle.

She said that she has given up on life and wishes to pass on. I told her the story of hope my family ended up in a misfortune also and how I feel like I am a lost soul.

She looked at me for about 10 seconds and then said " your heart is good and you deserve better, and I want to repay you for your kindness "

I smiled at her saying " if only you could really take us out of this deep stress Mariam that would be the best payback ever but nevertheless I appreciate your intentions"

In my mind I was saying this poor old lady the only thing she cold offer me was her prayers she looks to be in a worse position than I am.

Then she said to me " do you have any traveling bags" I answered " yes two actually" she then said. " please lend me them and I promise to repay you, you will wake up tomorrow with a brand new life".

Okay now this old lady sound really crazy, I just thought old age was finally getting to her brain so I smiled at her and said " ok just please bring them back I might need them" I gave her my bed and I made my bed on the floor, I wished her good night and we went to sleep.