I am waking up on a street corner in the Upper East Side to the sound of buzzes coming from all the phones around. But it isn’t just sporadic buzzes, it is all at once. Like in one split second, all the buzzing happens and I am starting to get a little creeped out. I stand up and start walking around in my worn out clothes. I try and peek at other people's phones to see what all of the buzzing is about, because I don’t have a phone. People are all talking about if this is real; I am getting cold shivers. I see people dumping out their cash just onto the floor. The immediate reaction for any person is start picking it up, but I’m confused why everyone is just dumping their money out on the floor. I hear the coins clanging against one another and the dollars drifting down. The tears hitting the hard concrete. All at one, and I am just left standing there--in the midst of all of it--left to ponder--what is happening? Then I hear one man shouting out, “All of my hard work, my effort, my blood, sweat, and tears, all vanishing, why does all my money have no value? Thanks a lot congress!”. I’m starting to ponder the idea; money has no value … then it hits me, since I have practically no money, that doesn’t affect me really, and for all of the rich people with millions and billions of dollars, it affects them severely and in a extremely bad way. “Woo hoo!!!!!” I scream as I sit down and absorb what happened.

I wake up the next day overly happy as I am realizing that I fainted. I’m still overwhelmed by what happened. I realize that I need to get some new things and take advantage of this law. I head to the Apple store not to far down the block. And since money has no value, they are just letting people in and basically stealing their phones because you don’t have to go through the whole process of paying. I sprint in. I reach into the pile: everyone is pushing and shoving and I even feel the heavy breaths of the people around me because of how cramped they are next to me. I feel one and I think it’s a good one, I snatch it and pull it back to me, I look down… it’s a 6s, “Oh yeah!!!”. I felt overjoyed, to think that a day ago, I was just a normal homeless guy and now I am starting to get life back. I thought, what else do I need to help improve my life? Then it hits me, the thing I always wanted, and begged, to have, an apartment, All. To. My. Self! So using my new iPhone 6s, I search up apartments in the Upper East Side, and then I found it. I am so excited, but nervous because it would be a responsibility of mine to keep it neat. And since there would be no one enforcing me to keep it clean and neat, I would have to enforce it upon myself. I click purchase, and as I hit that button, I felt like I was opening a new chapter in my life.

The next day, I wake up actually feeling pretty good, and I remember I am actually sleeping on a bed instead of a cardboard cut-out. I look out of my window, “Ahhh, the East River”. I have always known it’s there but I never actually put in the time to see it, since I always had a bigger and more important priority. I opened up the double doors to my patio, it was so beautiful, so peaceful, so calming, I felt like I was in nirvana, like everything was perfect, right there in front of me. I need new clothes, I just need it, I have been in these clothes now for about a year and a half now, which is WAY too long. I look up clothes stores around me on my new iPhone and I see that there is a really “expensive” store a few blocks down. So I go out of my apartment and haul in a cab. As I am arriving, I see people sprinting out with tons of clothes so I sprint out of the cab and run into the store. As I am running into the store, I snatch a cart and go to the clothing aisle. I just start grabbing things because there are less and less clothes. Left and right grabbing clothes until I can’t hold any more. I drop all of my clothes into my cart and walk out. As I am walking out, I mainly see people hanging out with their family and friends making me realize that I really have neither. I have no friends and I have never contacted my family in about a decade. I realized that I need a friend, someone to just hang out with and be able to talk to about anything. I look around and I see this guy sitting on a ledge next to the store. I walk over and sit next to him. “Hello” I say.
“Hi,” he replies
“So,” I say awkwardly. “How’s life going?” I was feeling tingly inside. I didn’t really know what to say to him because honestly, I had no friends. I was the one kid who always just sat on the side and observed what the other kids were doing. Believe it or not, you can learn tons of things about kids just from their actions.
“Okay.”
“Why just okay?”
“Well, uh, today is the 40 year anniversary of the day my parents died in a car wreck.”
“Oh,” I say. “I’m sorry to hear that. What’s your name?”
“Paul, Paul Smith. And your’s?”
“Jacob Brown”.
“Nice,” he says.
I didn’t know how to ask him to be my friend, do I just straight up say, do you want to be my friend? Or should I hint at it and then ask him? Or do I just not ask and imply it? Then it hit me, how about I ask him for his phone number. “What is your phone number?” I ask.
“Uhhh, (111) - 222- 3333,” he says. “And yours?”
“Mine is (111) - 234 - 4321.” I am so overjoyed. I am actually starting to get my life going. I got a house, clothes, a phone, and now a “friend” all to myself.
“I have to get going, I have to, uh, go get food for my family,” he said in an awkward tone.
“Okay, bye.” As I am walking away, I feel a little uneasy about Paul. I just felt that what he was saying wasn’t from the heart, like it didn’t have meaning behind it. He was just doing it for show. Was I being too pushy? Did I force him to become my “friend”? No I wasn’t, I was doing just fine, I did what I had to and that is just fine.

I wake up feeling awkward, like not complete. There is one voice in my head saying, “don’t trust Paul, he is a bad person.” I don’t know if I should trust that voice or not. So just to be sure, I dial up Paul, ring--ring--ring--ring--ring--ring--beeeeeep. Well that’s just great, he isn’t picking up. Now I am starting to feel a little uncomfortable. He is my friend--my only friend. He needs to be the person who I can lean on, the person I can trust, the person that when I am stuck in a dilemma, they can help and lift me out of it. Without him, I would be just a lonely, hopeful, clueless guy. “I know!” I’ll ask him (by text) if he wants to meet me at a coffee shop in an hour. “Send”. Okay, now I wait, and I wait, and I wait. I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket, I pick it up, it’s a reply from Paul, he said “Okay”. Score!

I am waiting at the shop. Nothing, he isn’t here, Well, isn’t that great? I mumble to myself. I am starting now to really question Paul as a friend, he hasn’t answered any of my calls and when I text him he replies, but he doesn’t show up. I don’t think I can trust him. And since he is my only friend, the only place I only have one place to turn--myself.

I lie down in my bed, questioning Paul. Weighing out the good traits and bad traits in him. “He seems friendly, trustworthy, nice.” Now for the bad, well there actually aren’t any bad traits in him, but he just seems like awkward, like the wrong piece in the piece in the puzzle, not for me. “Can I trust him? Is he the one for me? When I have a problem, will he be there for me, there to pull me out of it?” Honestly, I do not know the answer to any of those questions. I open up the fridge and crack open a Coke, “ahh” and my body cools down. I just take a little and lie back down on my bed with my Coke in my hand right next to me. I stare at the sky through my glass sealing. The sun, twinkling in the sky, with the blue in the background--perfect. The clouds just floating around up there, doing their own thing, mindless, unaware, easy-going. I wish that’s what life for me is like. You can do your own thing without any consequences for your actions, but I can only dream, and hope, for a better life ahead. 

I start thinking of my family, my childhood growing up, my school. It makes me remember the time I went to the Mets game wit my dad, and the ball that I caught at it. It was so cool, I would totally relive the moment; it was a really good day. So I reach out to my family: my mama and papa. Just to check on them, ask how life is going, like a check up. I don’t have their phone number so I look it up. There I see it, my papa, Ben Brown, I type in the number onto my phone, dial, ring--ring--ring, “Hello son! No time to explain. I just got beaten and I am currently being robbed for my furniture and my house is being lit on fire. I am tied up in the bathroom. Hurry and come, my address is 91 Main street in Westchester.”
“Okay dad. I’m on my way.” I hang up. What--just--happened? I was just going to call and check in on my parents and my dad is getting beaten and is trying to steal the baseball! I am in disbelief right now. I hop in my car and drive away.

My. Jaw. Dropped. There are police, firefighters, and the ambulance all around the ablaze house. I hear a man shout, “There isn’t much time, someone go in and it ain’t going to be me.” I look around, the firefighters are still getting on their masks. The police are just standing there waiting for the thief to run out of the fiery building. I have to run in, even though I barely my dad, he still is my dad. I would still do anything for this, especially run into a burning building with him in it.

I run in.

People around me gasp with amazement on their faces. As soon as I get in, I smell and feel the gases of the fire cloud around me and it is definitely much harder to breathe. I hear my dad screaming in the corner of the room. I feel my way to him. “Take one more step forward and this man is dead,” said a mysterious man (assuming that it is the thief).

“Let him go!” I say.
“No.” The man says.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want too.”

Then it hits me. It. Is. My. Brother.
He must be jealous of the ball. He must be. When I caught the ball, he didn't have the attention, which is why he is trying to steal it.   
“LET--HIM--GO!!!”
“NO!” He says mocking me.
“That’s it!”
“What, are you going to cry?” He says trying to act all cool.
“THAT IS IT!!!” I say as I swing my fist right across his head and what I think is knocking him out. He falls  to the floor so hard releasing my father. I jump on top of him. Left, right, left, right, as blood drips out of his mouth. “He--is--done,” I say with a deep breathe in between because of how thick the smoke is. I grab my dad and I run towards the door. It’s blocked my fire. “Great, what do I do now,” I say to myself. “Look out above you!” I hear. I look up, and I see the roof caving in on up. I cover up my dad under me and tighten up for the roof against my back.

I wake up confused. There are people all around me that I don’t even know. “What is happening?” I ask.

One man that I think is a doctor says, “You’re alright, you were unconscious, and a brave young man grabbed you and your father and pulled you out of the pile. You could have died, you should be thanking that man.”
“I am, where is he?”
“I’ll bring him over.” After what feels like a decade the man arrives. I realize--it’s Paul.
“PAUL!”
“Hi Jacob.”
“How’d you find me? I didn’t see you when I pulled up.”
“I was watching the news and I saw the report, I saw the last name and I knew it was your father so I hopped in my car and was off. I’m surprised, I remembered, I have short term memory loss.”
“Oooh, so that’s why you were saying “uh” a lot when I was talking to you earlier.”
“Well anyway, thanks a lot! I could have died.”
“Yeah, that’s why I pulled you two out, because I didn’t want to lose a friend. It would be like a knife stabbed right through my heart.”

The next couple of days are the best. People are treating me like I am a king and they are my servants. I sort of like it, I start reflecting on my past. I was so desperate; everyday I would plead to people for money, any amount, I didn’t care if it was $0.01 or $10, I would feel satisfied. I was so miserable, living on the streets with a cardboard box. I would see people with their rich clothes, family, friends, laughing, and I was just left there sitting miserably. Now, I am completely different. I now have the rich clothes, a friend, and a loving family. I now am the happy one laughing with my friends walking down the street. And at that moment, my phone vibrates along with all of the people around me, all being in one split second; I start to freak out. And then it hits me, “NO. THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!!!”