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welcome

enjoy your stay in reality

By Edwin MoraPublished 3 years ago 8 min read
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“sic parvis magna”

the world being a scary place isn’t something new. it’s something well known and well documented. being born to a low income family ive seen how people become desperate to make it big in life. i’ve seen the struggle people have to go through to get something stable going on. i’ve seen the tears shed and the anger outbursts from people when they finally break down. growing up i realized the limitations i’ve been born into i knew i didn’t want to stay in this situation for long. i want to be successful so badly it hurts. that way i can repay my parents for everything they’ve done for me. just like a bonsai tree, i want to grow. it will take years , i know; but if i can make this growing process faster i can shine and bloom. with the opportunity to share my adventures, i can document my stories for my family (and the commissions from this platform surely help as well). i know i will probably die young but that won’t stop me from finding success. that being said, LA has many opportunities on its self. so i took a trip there. i’m still on the early years of my adulthood journey so being on my own was liberating at first but it soon became claustrophobic.

i wondered the streets. everything was interesting and every place seemed to hold some delicious food. i took this walk late at night due to my flight arriving late. i’m confident that i can hold my own so i wasn’t worried. my first greeting was with a person who needed help. he was yelling out what seemed nonsense in front of the gas station near the hotel i was staying out. no doubt he was once a success driven kid like me. i hope he gets well. soon after that encounter, i walked into a plaza where it seemed calm. i walked without a worry, i almost began to dance from excitement from being on my own. but soon after, i saw a homeless man sleeping. this was a continued trend i saw. there was many homeless people in need located in LA. why? just why. i had more encounters with the homeless just on the first day of me arriving than my entire life time. i’m short on money myself so i can’t do much now. but i know the feeling of not having enough to get a simple two dollar meal. so in the future days of me staying in LA i did my best to help out. it isn’t much now but once i get enough income wise, i’ll set some help for them. most people don’t know the feeling of not knowing whether you’ll eat today or not. especially the cold nights are the hardest. finally finding a warm place and getting some sleep in just to get interrupted by someone letting you know that you can’t sleep there. than having to move somewhere else, just to hear your stomach ach from not having food in your stomach. those are some unforgettable moments in life. i know wealthy people try to help out but most don’t . and that’s something i can’t stand behind. as the days passed, my excited self become to miss the calmness of my home. i missed not having to worry about my meals and where i would spend the night.

yes, you read that correct. i worried about where i would spend the night. long story short, i didn’t make it in time for my airplane ride back home so i had to figure out where i could stay for the next fifteen days. i had stayed in LA for fourteen days already so now, i had to stay another fifteen days for a total of 30 days in that city. i went to LA to explore, to adventure, to meet new people, and to meet my girlfriend at the time. love makes you do some stupid stuff. my biggest motivation was in fact to meet her. i thank her for everything she taught me and i hope she continues to be happy. if necessary i’ll write about my experience in the love department in the future. back on topic, i was able to get somewhere to stay but i had no where to stay for the first day. so i went homeless. i stayed outside of the gas station for hours where i eventually got to know more about the area around me. i saw people who needed help get passed a small bag from a car. it was clearly drugs which isn’t surprising to me. but i also saw some good sights. this gentleman came and distributed some bags with food. i was offered one myself and i accepted it. two big burritos, a bag with different types of cookies and a water bottle. thank you stranger. it meant a lot seeing that there was still good willed people. i really hope he’s happy. now that my stomach was warm i began to fall asleep on the floor. that’s went the gas station employee told me i couldn’t sleep there so i walked to the plaza where i first arrived in LA. i slept in front of the Panda Express. i rate the floor 8/10. it was cold but manageable. i woke up three hours later just to go back to the gas station. i felt kind of safer near there so i continued going. i stood leaning against the wall. this is when i meet one of the coolest people i’ve ever meet. this older male asked me if i wanted something from the gas station so i accepted. we went inside to find out he had no money himeself so he told me we could go to his bank and get some money for food. i followed him to his car and entered. it wasn’t until he drove me to the highway when i realized i had no form of communication and i didn’t know the area so he could potentially kidnap me. i got major paranoid but i stayed calmed. he actually was a super awesome guy. he did buy me food and kept a conversation going. he was a therapist with a family background in the armed forces so he was cool. even though he did looked like a drug dealer, i’m really glad i meet him. we ate in his warm car and watched some music videos. he took me back the the gas station i was familiar with so i let my guard down more. he eventually told me he was bisexual and he didn’t want me to worry. the thing was, i wasn’t worried. he was a nice guy i can tell. i hope i see him again, he made my night better and experience in LA unforgettable. he could’ve kidnapped me or done worst things but he didn’t. he really is a good guy. after i told him i would leave now, i went back to the Panda Express to sleep through the rest of the night. but this time i was awaken by this guy who offered to take turns sleeping. we eventually became friends. he told me i reminded him of his brother so we talked for a while. he became in debt due to him having medical bills to pay for his family. he’s a kind soul i know that, i only wish i could’ve helped him more. he didn’t enjoy drugs, instead he despised them. because of the drugs his family had organ problems which lead to him to become in debt and so on. he fell asleep and i kept watch. i couldn’t bring myself to wake him up so he slept through the entire night. not having a watch nor phone on me, made me kinda paranoid. i couldn’t tell time so i only had the sky to look at. combine that with the cold, i felt like ages of just sitting there waiting for it to become daytime. when it did become day time, i woke him up and told him i would leave now. he thanked me for keeping an eye on him and so on. homeless night, complete.

the rest of my days in LA normal. i saw some of my homeless friends once and a while but not much. now i’m back home and see my experience in LA as priceless. i want to go back there again but i’m short on the money so maybe later. the feeling of being alone and having no one to back me up is still in my mind. if that’s what it feels like to be on my own, than the adults now and days must be appreciated more. i learned not to overlook the hardships adults have to go through on a daily basis. i’ve been through a lot in my life, but i seem to find new things to appreciate and learn from. my experience wasn’t scary (apart from that time i could’ve been kidnapped) but instead, it was welcoming. i felt like i was introduced to reality.

i will continue to write about my adventures and about my past. thank you for reading this, i hope my writing style is different and interesting. stay safe and have a good day.

humanity
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About the Creator

Edwin Mora

new to society. still figuring out who i will become. adventures will surely help.

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