You'll Be Okay, Champ.

His mother died when he was only a year old, leaving him with his grandparents who took him in. They decided to take him in because he was their wonderful daughter's second youngest son, one that they had grown to love dearly. They could not really take care of him, but they hoped that their love would be enough to bring him up into this world cruel alone.

Most people argued that his father could take him in but the father himself was a man that was broken by his wife's death, a man that had chosen to drown in alcohol and a man who had forgotten his children, even when he really didn't want to. His father lived a few blocks away from him but he hardly stopped by, he hardly came to see if his son was doing okay, because his son reminded him of his wife whom he lost due to complications during birth and Asthma. He didn't only lose his wife, he also lost one of his twins, it was like she took one baby with her and left the other one behind for him, but he could not even take care of that baby. The father's world was over and he lived with conflict in his heart, every single day.

He grew up with his poor grandparents, the grandma sold bones and collected bottles and his grandpa whom he loved dearly was a sick old man, he was in bed all day, told him stories about his mother and some of the things he went through as a young man. He learned about little bits of life by just sitting by his grandpa's bed, listening to him tell folktales and sing the night away.

A few years later, his grandpa passed away but he was too young to understand that, they told him his grandpa went to heaven where he would be with his daughter, his mother.

It's now a couple of years later, he is currently ten years old, he hasn't even grown that much yet and it feels like he already carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. He still lives with his grandma, an old lady who still collects bones and places them in front of her house where a company picks them up on certain days and gives her a small amount of cash. This time around, its different because he helps her too. He helps her collect wood, bottles and bones. That must be his favorite time of the day, just him and his grandma, talking about anything in the world, pure joy running through his veins.

Another favorite time of the day is when he goes to school and learns new things everyday, hangs around his friends and buys a small packet of chips by the vendors, that's a luxury for him. Sometimes he stares at how some kids get picked up by their parents after school or how they are walked to school. How some of them receive kisses and a pat on the shoulder before they go into the school yard, he had never had an experience like that.

He has learned to be his own person, learned to take care of himself in a world where drugs, sex and alcohol surround him everyday. He has witnessed how someone tried to rape his grandma and was almost beaten to death by one of his uncles. He has smoked with some of the boys in the neighborhood because they would bully him if he didn't, he had no choice. He had seen some of his friends have sex with one another and the pressure is getting to him, he might just do it one of these days.

That's not even the sad part, the sad part is that this ten year old boy has no idea what a mother's love feels like and he has no idea what it is like to be a child because he's learned to take care of himself at such a young age. This ten year old boy cries at night when he sleeps outside with his grandma because he does not understand why he lives in a world like that.

My one hope is that I will be his saving grace, that I will step in and make a difference in his life because I don't want to see him go down the road his father and some of his brothers did. I don't want to get a call from somemone I know and hear that he was found dead behind his grandma's house. I want him to know how it feels like to be loved, to be spoiled, even if its not too much and I want him to know what it feels like to be a ten year old boy. What he really is.

I LOVE YOU, MAY GOD TAKE CARE OF YOUR LITTLE SOUL FOR ME... I WILL BE HOME SOON.

hearts, Queen