The rain beat against the rusted tin roof of the slum, creating a bitter symphony that echoed throughout the dark, narrow alleys.
Under that roof, huddled in a corner of a dilapidated hut, a boy with sunken eyes stared into space—unblinking.
The boy had a thin, weak body with bones protruding from his body.
The boy was dressed in rags and smelled terrible like a dead rat.
The boy's hands were clenched and purple with cold.
That boy is none other than me, my name is Tran Duc and I am seven years old this year.
I have endured much pain that is difficult for a normal person to endure.
My childhood was not a childhood of toys or lullabies, but was formed in screams and in hunger.
When I was born, my father left my mother and me in a dark and cold alley.
Even though I don't know what my father looks like, I never want to see that man again because he abandoned me and my mother in this dark alley, without once visiting me and my mother.
My mother and I live in a very old house but it is also fully furnished for my mother and me to live in.
My mother is a heavy drinker and drug addict. Whenever she gets drunk, she takes her anger out on me and says very harsh things to me.
At that time, my body was so weak that I could not resist. In the early years of my life, I was tortured by her both physically and mentally.
When I was seven years old, I couldn't stand it anymore and ran away from that nightmare house.
The following days, I felt disoriented, not knowing where I was going, I had to rummage through trash cans to find leftovers to eat and survive the day.
Then one day it was raining very hard so I tried to find a place to shelter from the rain, then I saw an abandoned house.
I immediately ran into the house to take shelter from the rain. I sat there, watching each drop of rain fall.
When I look at the raindrops, I say to myself.
[I'm so hungry, I wish there was a loaf of bread here. If there are gods in this world, please give me a small loaf of bread, that would be enough.]
But nothing happened so I smiled bitterly and closed my eyes waiting for death to come to me.
As I was about to give up on my fate, someone's voice rang out:
"Hey boy, why are you in this shabby house and where are your parents?"
When I opened my eyes, I saw an elder woman looking at me with a worried expression.
I was so tired and hungry that I couldn't say a word, then suddenly passed out.
I don't know how much time passed but when I opened my eyes, I found myself in a clean room, surrounded by children looking at me with curious eyes.
I was lying in the elder woman arms, when I witnessed that scene, I felt scared and escaped from her arms, running into a corner of the house.
Seeing me like that, the elder woman brought a bowl of food, walked towards me, smiled and said:
"Hey boy, here's your food, eat it before it gets cold."
When I saw that, I immediately grabbed the bowl of food and ate it as if I had nothing to lose.
When she saw me like that, she smiled, looked at me and said:
"Eat slowly or you'll choke, but let me ask what your name is and where your parents are, what are their names so I can take them home?"
Hearing that, I stopped eating and looked at the woman in front of me, crying and trembling as I spoke, I told the woman in front of me what I had experienced.
When she heard my story, her expression changed from happy to sad and pitiful, then she said:
"So if you don't mind, you can stay here with me. If you don't know, this is an orphanage, a place that takes care of children like you."
Then she hugged me so tightly that I couldn't react. It was the first time I felt like someone really loved me. At that moment, I couldn't keep calm and said:
"I...I can really be here"
When she heard me say that, she immediately replied with certainty:
"Okay, you can stay here with me and I promise I'll take good care of you."
The following years I lived in this orphanage and I also knew the name of the girl who brought me to this loving home was Suong Mai.
During my time here, I was treated like a child, I learned new things, learned how to write and read, and I also learned basic math under the guidance of Ms. Suong Mai, and here I ate foods that I never thought I would eat in my life.
During these years, I also had my first friend named Duong Tu, he was three years older than me, his situation was quite similar to mine, he was abandoned by his parents since birth and was adopted and cared for by Ms. Suong Mai until now.
If we talk about his personality, he is the complete opposite of me.
If I were a quiet person, not interested in people around me, like an introvert.
He is an extrovert so he talks like a machine so he has a lot of friends and is very open with people around him. He also teases all the other children in the orphanage.
Even though I hate the way he talks a lot sometimes, I still respect him because he always protects me from everything, and when I'm sad, he tells me jokes that help me forget my sadness and he also helps me communicate with people around me.
In my memory there was one time he did something that I never want to remember. It was when I was eleven years old, while I was engrossed in reading a book, he gave me a book and told me to read it, it was very good.
At that time I was also confused and didn't understand what happened, but I also took the book he gave me before.
At first I looked at its cover and it was no different from any other book I read.
But when I opened his book to read, there were some unhealthy words and images in it.
After only a few pages, I threw the book aside, unable to believe what was before my eyes.
When she saw me suddenly throw the book like that, Miss Suong Mai immediately come to me with a worried look asked me
"Hey Tran Duc, why did you throw the book away?"
When I saw Miss Suong Mai in front of me, she didn't say anything but pointed at the book I had just thrown.
Seeing that, Miss Suong Mai immediately went to the book I had just thrown and picked it up to read.
As soon as she opened the book, Miss Suong Mai face went from neutral to angry as she walked towards Duong Tu then she made him kneel almost two hours and must apologize to me.
Even though everything was resolved, my mind was no longer innocent from then on and I later regretted reading that book.
When I was just fifteen years old, the orphanage doesn't have enough funds to operate, so Duong Tu and I and others have to go to work to earn money.
In the early days, I did all the jobs that could make money such as security guard, waiter, sales person, shipper and other jobs.
But with so little money it is difficult to maintain the orphanage and perhaps this orphanage will no longer exist.
But I promised myself that I would not let the orphanage be destroyed because I considered the orphanage as my home and the people in it as my relatives.
So I made the riskiest decision of my life, which was to go start a business.
With the knowledge I learned from books, I established a small company specializing in selling salt, braised fish and instant noodles.
This company is named after me and it is located in a long abandoned house,The first workers were all orphans.
My original company was doing very well and was profitable enough to support the orphanage but unfortunately an earthquake hit and destroyed most of my factory.
When I was at my lowest, Duong tu was the one who came to comfort me and helped me regain my spirit.
At that time I learned that there was still no sugar refinery in my area,That's why I decided to start my own sugar refining company and still name it after me.
My company is located in the city,Just as I expected, my company was very successful and I immediately opened many companies trading in different types of goods.
Meanwhile, the country was entering a period of strong industrialization,At the same time, the government implemented a policy of focusing on companies to develop the country by protecting competition and providing maximum financial support to companies.
That's why my company is getting bigger and bigger and expanding to many regions in my country.
But that was not enough for me, I wanted more, so I took up the electronics manufacturing industry,this is an industry that no one in my country does.
I founded a company in technology - electronics,After many years of research, learning and testing, my company finally produced various electronic components
Over the years, my company has continued to produce various types of electronic technology and monopoly on domestic technology field, my branches have also covered most of my country.
The last one also became the richest man in my country, when he had money he used that money to support my orphanage and other orphanages across the country.
As for my friends from the orphanage, I immediately gave them various positions in my companies.
But this world does not have such a rosy story,One day suddenly the orphanage caught fire this fire burned fiercely burned down the orphanage.
When I heard the news, I immediately left my work and ran to my orphanage. When I got there, I only saw a coffin with the name Miss Suong Mai on it.
The other children in the orphanage were lucky to survive, As for Miss Suong Mai, when she saw that there were still a few children who had not come out of the fire, She immediately ran into the fire and tried to save the remaining children.
When the child was finally rescued, people did not see Miss Suong Mai coming out of the fire. When the fire was extinguished, people saw her body inside.
At that moment my heart was broken and I felt extremely painful, I was crying, it had been a long time since I cried like that,But those were not tears of happiness but tears of pain,When I lost someone I considered my mother.
After that, I attended Miss Suong Mai's funeral. When the funeral ended, Duong immediately took me to a private place to talk.
When we reached a quiet place, he looked forward and said to me:
"I know that you are very sad about the passing of Miss Suong Mai. I am just like you, we both consider her as our mother, but the dead are dead, What we have to do now is to live well and take care of the children in the orphanage, so that Miss Suong Mai's departure will not be in vain"
I still didn't say anything, my head down. After a while, I looked up and said:
"Thank you for this comfort, I know what I have to do, goodbye Duong Tu"
But I didn't know that this was the last time I could talk to him because the next day Duong Tu had a car accident.
When I got to the hospital where he was being treated, then the doctor came out and told me he was sorry but we did our best.
The following days I just sat at home drinking to forget everything.
I blame myself for not talking to him more,Now I have no relatives around me anymore,So what is the point of me living like this?
Then I smashed the wine bottle, the pieces of the bottle flew everywhere, then I took a piece and stabbed my wrist.
Blood kept flowing from my wrist, then I closed my eyes and thought.
[If there is a next life, I hope I will meet them again and live a meaningful and happy life]
Then I fell into a darkness with no way out like my miserable life.