Red Roses

Chapter two „ Anna"

My sister Anna and I owned a four-room apartment in Cologne with my mother. At the time, my mother was working as a presenter at a radio station. I've never heard it before, but apparently she did well with it because the pay wasn't exactly bad. It even happened that I even got money from her at the end of the month. I always saved with the money, unlike my sister Anna. Because she was 16 years old and was in the middle of puberty. Sometimes she came back from school, Max Weber Realschule, annoyed, threw her things in the corner of her room and then didn't come out for the rest of the day. That was a few months ago. Now that changed a few weeks ago because she found a boyfriend. A friend who was supposed to support her in everything, but didn't. His name was Kells Farmer. A strange name, who was called that? "He's not a real friend," my mother always said to her, but of course it didn't help. Because how should you explain something like that to a pubescent girl? She was in love, I thought to myself, who would be different in this situation and react differently. I've never had a girlfriend before because I've never had the opportunity to meet someone more than three times. It was said that you should only meet someone two or three times before you could consider whether you wanted to spend another lifetime. I have to say that a few years ago there was a person who I found really nice. Her name was Lara Baier and as far as I knew she was the only one I found extremely pretty and nice. Unfortunately, the meaning became clouded and it was anything but nice. With her it was more like she took the money out of my wallet. Although she was nice and helped me at school, the rest of the time she met other boys and did other things. In the end I found out that she was smoking and doing other things that weren't legal. This also included smoking weed. Exactly 30 days ago my mother came happily from work, she had an early shift that day, it was Friday, and was holding a piece of paper in her hand. I can still remember it. I was sitting in the small kitchen of the apartment and was feeding our cat Speed. "I received a message from my employer. " she said. At first I didn't really know what she wanted to tell us, but in the hours that followed I received the news that clearly forced me and my sister to make a change in my life. It turned out that my mother kept her job but was moved to Berlin due to an office takeover. Well, that was good or bad. At first I didn't know how to prepare for it. Now what did that mean? That I couldn't finish my training. Now what did that mean?

So I had to move to Berlin and apparently everything was already over. But I was allowed to finish my school exams, but then I couldn't start my training. But that didn't matter because I still had no idea what I wanted to do anyway.
Everyone in my class said how great it was, but nothing more. A good friend, or rather the only friend I had, his name was Leon Blake. He understood and told me that he was also moving to Berlin and that he could explore Berlin with me. I agreed and told him that it was a good idea but that I needed time to get used to the big city. It wasn't exactly comparable to Cologne. Maybe a little, but there was so much for me to experience and explore.

Well, now you sit here and write these pages. My room, five square meters, two windows and attic. Just great. My gaze falls through the thick glass of the window and lingers on a laundry line on the house opposite. Who else is hanging their laundry outside this time of year? Snow flakes fall from the asphalt. "Matt?" someone called from the kitchen. It was my mother's voice. I left my room, walked down the long hallway, past my sister Anna's room, who was once again listening to loud music, and then went down the long wooden stairs until I reached the kitchen. My mother sat in front of the laptop with reading glasses and drank tea. "Matt, is everything okay with you? I met a good colleague when I was shopping earlier. You certainly know her. She told me that there was also the possibility of moving into a shared apartment here. You had thought of that, right?" I thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, that's right," I replied. It has always been a dream for me to move into a shared apartment. But unfortunately I have no idea how to do that. Where should I inquire? My mother handed me a piece of paper with the names of shared apartments that existed in Berlin and which sounded reputable. I thanked him and went back to my room. The Coldplay music concert from the next room echoed throughout the entire hallway. Maybe I should just talk to Leon Blake about it. He lived in Berlin. Unfortunately I didn't have a number.