Chapter 1: Chapter 1: A Nobody
Looking out at the view of the sunset outside the balcony of a small apartment, Mark started to reflect on what he had accomplished up to that point in his life. His shoulders dropped and his eyes were heavy. Though the sunset was a beauty to behold, he started to wander in deep thoughts. With his day of birth fast approaching, the thoughts of the success stories from his friends stirred up inside of him a new desire. He was happy for his friends but he realized that he needed to make something of himself. Yesterday, he met his friends. They went on about how life was going well. One of his friends named Joe said, "I plan to invest in properties. The high-end villas in the next town seem promising." Jamie, another friend of his pronounced, "Let's invest together in the stock market." Randal, butted in, "Help me out in my new business. I am excited about its great prospects. We will make it big, I'm sure." It was a happy atmosphere of conversation and Anthony tried to absorb it all. He is genuinely interested in listening to how his friends were able to succeed. It was his way of gaining first-hand knowledge from people who are more successful than he is.
Joe turned to him, "How about a story from one of our Lead Life volunteers? I heard you did a great job setting up that livelihood center."
Lead Life Foundation is famous for pushing programs in community development. It is famous for having a great impact everywhere it implemented projects. However, the foundation relied on volunteers who only received a minimal allowance. Only those who had the heart to really help ever bothered to stay.
"Ah, Yes," Mark responded with a smile.
"You are truly amazing and passionate in what you do," Joe commented.
"Thank you for your compliment. I couldn't do it without you. You all chipped in for the center to be complete." Mark replied warmly.
"We will always be at your back," Jamie said.
They all celebrated that night and went home with delight. Mark was then dropped off by one of his friends a few blocks from his apartment. They had gone home so late that he laid all day until late in the afternoon the following day. That was the time he walked to the balcony of his apartment and reflected on his future.
After an hour, it started to darken and get cold. He checked the refrigerator and found it empty. He did not have anything to cook. He then decided to head to a nearby convenience store. As he was walking forward, he saw a man in an expensive suit who was about to assault a woman. The woman was terrified and tried to raise her hands trying to block the attack.
Mark shouted at the man startling him and causing him to stop.
"Stop that," Mark called out. He was determined to prevent the woman from getting hurt.
The man yelled, "Stay out of this boy, it's none of your business."
Mark retorted, "I'm going to call the police and report you."
The man said, "Go ahead!" And went back to trying to hit the woman. His face was furious and he was clearly out of control.
Mark caught his arm successfully protecting the woman but the man attacked again swinging hard and hitting Mark in the face. Mark dropped to the ground and his nose started to bleed.
Luckily a police car passed by and the policemen saw the incident unfolding.
They went to restrain the man pulling him away from the woman and Mark. The man was furious and started to curse at the policemen.
The man says, "Do you know who I am? Oh, you guys are in trouble. I am the Deputy Chief of Police John Renald. You will all pay for this. You are not even allowed to touch me."
The policemen were terrified and looked closely as they recognized their officer. They immediately released their grip on him. He slapped the policemen's faces. He seems not contented and raised his fist to punch them but restrained himself.
"Since you know who I am. Make this man apologize to me for having the audacity to meddle with my business," John said and pointed at Mark.
The policemen immediately held Mark and forced him to say a word to appease John. His nose was still dripping with blood.
John sneered at Mark and said," Get down on your knees and apologize."
The police officers kicked Mark in the back of the leg forcing him to kneel. The police were taunting him to apologize.
They said, "You are out of your place boy. Apologize!"
Mark refused to be humiliated. He said, "Why am I going to apologize when it was clearly him who was unashamed of his actions instead of acting as someone who should uphold the law?"
John got angrier, grabbed the gun from one of the police officer's belt, and pointed it at Mark. The policemen were stunned at the scene. One of the officers tried to calm John saying, "Sir, let us take care of these two troublemakers for you. We will bring them to the station and give them appropriate punishment." He slowly held the gun and took it from John.
John started to walk away. He was still clearly angry and fuming with rage. He hailed a cab and went away.
The two police officers took care of Mark and the woman. They apologized for how John had acted. They admitted that they were unable to make a move against him since his father was a retired chief of police who had a lot of pull on the current high-ranking officers of their department and was close to the politicians. He was practically untouchable.
The policemen offered to take Mark and the woman to the hospital but they refused. They then went back to the car and left. They were apologizing as they hurriedly left.
Mark could not believe what happened and could only wipe the blood coming out of his nose. The woman came closer and introduced herself.
"My name is Lisa, she said. Let me treat you to a meal before you go. Besides, I do not know what would have happened if you weren't there."
Mark hesitated but Lisa looked at him with a sad face. She insisted saying it was the least she could do. Mark and Lisa went for a meal and conversed about what had happened.
"So who was that guy to you and why were you with him," Mark asked.
Lisa was obviously a pretty woman. Even more, she had a dignified look and exhumed an aura of confidence that made her attractive. She worked at a bank as a manager. She was courted by John and just before she was going to be assaulted was trying to turn him down. That time John was also acting inappropriately wanting to enter Lisa's house and convincing her to let him stay for the night. She didn't realize her refusal would lead to a violent situation.
Mark then smiled and said, "At least you are okay."
"By the way, what do you do?" asked, Lisa.
"I spend most of my time volunteering for Lead Life Foundation," Mark replied.
Lisa quickly reacted, "You have such a noble heart. Let me know what I can do to help you out in any of the future projects." She handed a business card to Mark.
As the night deepened, Lisa asked Mark as she was about to leave, "What do you plan to do about what happened tonight?"
"You saw how those policemen cowered from John. He is untouchable. Even if I reported him, I wouldn't be surprised if the dash cam of the police vehicle would be reported broken or malfunctioning. In the meantime, I will try to learn more about him through my connections and see what I can do from there," Mark replied.
Lisa who was about to leave apologized and thanked Mark.
"You have my card and you know how to contact me," she said before standing and walking out the door.
Mark had a long night and the ordeal got him even more tired. As he went home, he went straight to bed. While lying, his mind flashed back to the incident. He bit his lip thinking I will not allow myself to become a victim just because I am a nobody. The pain of getting hit was nothing compared to the fact that he could not do anything. After a few minutes, he was overcome by his tiredness and dozed off to sleep.