Life down here was never easy. No one ever said life was easy. But when you've lived your whole life beaten, cold, worn, and starved... Well you just get used to the fact that this is your life. It's never gonna change. It's that simple. Isn't it.
Life in Midgar.
Life under the plate.
Life in the Slums.
These are the memoirs of a young girl. A young girl with hopes and dreams.
No. These are the memoirs of a young woman, who fell in love with a young man… and would never stop loving him.
My eyes open to only see darkness.
It is morning, but there is no sun.
No sky. No sun. Nothing but that depressing metal plate.
I was thirteen. And never seen the sun. Never met my parents. Never accomplished anything. Never went to school. Never had a job. But I am a survivor because of him. No he is not my husband, he is not my boyfriend, he isn't even my lover… he is my best friend, he is my only family.
Drugs deals. Late nights. Parties. Gangs. Fights. The normal life for a young person surviving in the slums. Pimps. Hookers. Hustlers. Drug Dealers. We ran with the other people just trying to survive in this miserable place. Me... I am no hooker, like many of the other girls here my age. If it weren't for him, it might be a different story… I'm pretty enough, I'd make more than enough money, but he wouldn't let me degrade myself like that. I even got offered a job at the infamous Honeybee Inn, but he refused to let me sell my body. We didn't need money that badly, he had told me.
So how do we survive? He is a hustler. He does anything he can do to help us survive. Drugs, stealing, scams, and not to mention that we had a very well-known friendship with The Kings. A gang, of course. I know it's not a respectable lifestyle, but what else could he do? He didn't just have to take care of himself, he had to take care of me… and even if what he did wasn't considered traditionally respectable, I respected him for all he did for me. To many others it might seem like he was ruthless, or even that he had a cold heart, but I knew better.
I rose from the single bed, and looked over for a moment at him lying on the couch. He always slept on the couch, every night for all these years. Lighting a cigarette and sitting at the window sill, I see water falling from the plate above. It must be raining up there. It must be a storm. This is the only time we ever get a taste of the life above. I inhale and the strong smoke filling my lungs revives me. It makes me feel alive. I feel... something.
"It's raining up there…" I spoke to the man I loved, not looking down at him… I never looked him in the eyes, I was scared he might see how I felt about him. I had always thought he was good-looking with his tall thin frame, wispy crimson hair, and those ever-sparkling turquoise eyes. I caught girls staring at him all the time and I was often pained with jealousy, but like I said, his good looks had no influence on the way I had fell for him.
He had cared for me, really cared for me. No one else had put in this much hard work to take care of me; the adults at the orphanage never cared, and my parents had abandoned me for drugs when I was only a baby. This young man took care of me, fed me, clothed me, and made sure we had enough money to stay in this hotel every night for these past three years. I loved him, and it was a love much more intense than anyone could ever know.
Still looking out the window at the bar across the street, I returned my focus back to this place we lived in. There was a fight and a lot of yelling going on outside, and he would be getting up soon to go see what was going on. Looking down I could see Darien from the Kings. He was tall and broad, with long brown hair and brown eyes. I hated him, he was always so full of himself. He was one of those guys that thought he was god's gift to woman, and he was always trying to hit on me.
He stopped and called up towards our room. I would've just ignored him like every other day, thinking that he just wanted me to come down and have a drink with him at the bar, but today it was different. He wasn't calling for me and there was yelling come from the bar. Something was wrong. I looked towards the man I loved, and feared for his life. I felt this for him at least once everyday, but like everything else today, it was different.
"Be careful…" I spoke to him as he ran out of the room, but he didn't hear me. "I love you."
I know it's going to sound typical of anyone in my position to think what I'm thinking but...
I wish I knew what life was like on the upperplate.
Life of the rich and famous. Life of the lucky ones.
Sun. Rain. Sky. Stars. Fresh air. I want to experience it all.
Just Once. Fuck Shinra. God damn fucking Shinra.