An Introvert's Revolution

Part 1:

Another day is another threat to me...especially since I'm alone and homeless.  It has been this way ever since my parents died last week.  They got shot by 2 police officers.  One had bright green eyes, and the other, with icy blue ones.

My parents were in a protest about the NSA when they got shot.  But I've been homeless all my life so I'm used to it.  Sadly, I'm also a middle school dropout.  It's always been incredibly embarrassing going to class every day with raggedy clothes and a broken pencil.  I never had any friends before because I guess people think of me as stupid.  It's so stereotypical of society to judge me without knowing what I've been through.  Just because I'm homeless, it doesn't make me any dumber than you...we are getting the same education.  But I consider myself to be an introvert.

It's about 6:30 AM right now.  Which is breakfast time...if I have a breakfast.  Fortunately, today I do.  I sit here, eating some stale bread before I head off to find some fresh water.  A man comes by and drops a $1 bill by my feet and gives me a water bottle.  This man always does this.  And by "this man," I mean an Asian college student with ash blonde hair, and hazel eyes.  Everyday on his way to school, he gives me either; money, food, water, etc.  I've never learned his name, yet I know I feel a special connection to him.  I've taken it upon myself that when I get enough money, I will repay him.

"Thank you very much!" I smile at the man as he passes by.  The man just smiles back and nods.  

Now that I don't have to find water I can continue on my mission.  My mission is to continue in my parents' legacies, find a way to let the people know about what they were fighting for.  

My parents told me at a very young age, "Riley Hope Grayson, listen to every word we tell you.  It's very crucial.  We live in America.  'Land of the free and Home of the brave.'  We are expected to go to school, graduate high school and college, obey the law, get a good job, get married, have children, not do drugs, etc...and we are supposed to say we're free?   Doesn't make any sense to us.  Furthermore, if WE lie to the government, it's a felony, but when the government lies to US, it's politics.  Remember, we live in America.  We are one of the most powerful nations in the world.  We have 900 bases in 153 countries.  The military is not fighting for our freedom, but creating an empire."

I thought about what they said every night.  They would tell me something like that everyday before I went to sleep.  They would teach me survival skills, personal experience, whatever they could do, to raise me to be a good kid.  And because of them, I can live.  And I can see the world in a different way.  I like to say, I'm awake.  Most others are aimlessly following the governments orders.  To be honest, we really don't need the government.  Saying we need the government to live is like saying animals cannot survive without a farm.

The last thing my parents told me before they died was, "If the government doesn't respect our existence, they should expect our resistance."  They told me this right before their protest.  

As the man continued his way down the sidewalk, a couple other homeless people came and looked like they were moving somewhere else than their usual corner.  "Get your stuff kid," one man with a scruffy beard said.  "The police kicked everyone out of the soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and everywhere in general.  You'd better hurry up too, Tommy refused to move and they shot him.  By the way, I'm Alex."  

I started packing up the small amount of items I had.  "Nice to meet you, I'm Riley.  Why are they making us move?" I asked.  Alex replied, "They say we make the streets look unattractive...get ready to make some protest signs."

We live in Los Angeles, where majority of the celebrities are.  That means enforced security.  We're forced to obey them or else we get shot.   Police in the past decade have gotten more and more violent.  And I for one, am sick and tired of this.  

I took my old faded blue backpack and duffel bags with me, as the others led me.  Alex continued, "Look at this," He gestured to a crowd of people outside McDonald's who seemed anxious to get inside, to try a new burger. "When I was a boy and we learned about the holocaust in school, I used to think 'Wow, how did Hitler get so many people to aimlessly follow him without question...but now I realize, I'm watching America do the same thing...."

Before my parents died, I always felt brave.  Knowing that they were there just made me feel 10 times stronger.  Now that they're gone, I feel so weak and helpless.  My parents had so much life experience that in any bad situation, they could fix it.  Too bad I can't say the same thing about myself...  

We reached a local park where several of us homeless, already were.  They made signs saying things like, "WAKE UP!!!! YOU'RE LIVING IN LIES!" or, "Truth, Justice, and Wisdom are more satisfying than 99 cent burgers!!!"  One even said, "Just because you gave a 'like' to helping the poor on social media doesn't do anything!"

All of them had these "Disobey" shirts on with an eye.  The eye seemed to be crying a tear of blood.  Someone threw me a shirt.  I put it over my shirt and went to get a sign.

As I was grabbing a sign, I realized that these people are my family.  My new family anyways...I've always wanted to corrupt the system, but I knew I was too weak alone.  Because I have confidence in my new family, we can start a revolution.  These would be the people who I change the community with, the people I would live with.  And I'm pretty sure we can work together well considering we all are going through the same struggles.  

Us homeless have a saying, "If you love peace, you must learn to work together as if you love war."  And we will work together to have our freedom.

"Stop revolving your life around money!!!  You think you're free?  TRY GOING SOMEWHERE WITHOUT MONEY!"  I protested.