Chapter 1 Humble Beginnings 1 of 2

Abijah P.O.V

My family and I grew up on the south side of Chicago in the Chicago Projects called the Robert Taylor Homes. It was a terrible place to live but affordable. The four of us, my dad, Josiah, 38, my mom, Leah, 37, and my younger brother, Elijah, 15, lived in a cozy 3-bedroom apartment here.

The buildings were L-shaped and up to 16 floors high, with about 10 apartments on each floor. There was an elevator in the middle, stairs on each end, and an incinerator next to it. An incinerator was a garbage shoot, filled with rats & cockroaches; which began on the top floor and made its way down to the furnace on the bottom floor, that burned or 'incinerated' everything or almost everything that was thrown into it. The mailboxes, building managers' offices, and laundromat were also on the bottom floor.

I've heard of the horror stories about people finding animals and/or other people inside of the incinerator. Also the stairwells.. just imagine any and everything bad that can happen, it happens in there. In those stairwells I personally have seen people living in them, getting robbed, beaten up, drunk, high, raped you name it! And the infamous raper-man, it is literally a guy stalking females of all ages and sometimes even other males solely for sexual pleasure, eww it's just disgusting!

We lived there forever and I was so over and done with it. The second I was able to go somewhere else I did and I never wanted to return! I got accepted to a local 4-year college to graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Culinary Arts. I applied for the cafeteria manager position at a school in nearby Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I have family living there and it's not too far away from home.

I got the job at Cedar Falls K-12 Academy it's a private school on the south side of the city and moved in with my aunt Sandria, 31. She's 10 years older than me, my mom's younger and only sibling. She lives on the northwest side of the city in a 3 bedroom, one-and-a-half bath home. With her son, D'Leon, 9, and daughter, Monique, 4, my younger cousins.

Her husband, David of 11 years died 7 months ago, from a freak accident at work when an unstable heavy load toppled over and crushed him inside of his forklift. She was waiting on his settlement to be finalized so she could move to a better neighborhood. I moved into her basement and turned it into a fairly cozy living space.

She had allowed me to set up the basement like it was an apartment saying, "It's a good experience for when you do get your own place, Abijah."

I had worked part-time as a CNA since my sophomore year in high school so I had some money saved up, not much but enough to have something until I'm able to get paid from my new job. My favorite colors are purple, white, black and grey and that's the color theme I used on the dull concrete block walls and concrete floor of the basement.

I bought a deep purple, gray and white paisley area rug, purple pleather sofa, wooden 3 piece nest of end tables, a glass top wooden coffee table and a 32" smart TV mounted to the wall with my gaming systems in my livingroom area. I also had my office area set up with a full PC, all-in-one printer, wire mesh rolling filing cabinet, glass top desk, pegboard and purple mesh office chair. In my bedroom area a white metal daybed, black zero gravity recliner, purple end tables with a black/white lamp, a smaller purple area rug, purple chest of five drawers and black hanging closet storage. My half bath was decked out in black and purple. Or sometimes white and gray.

And finally my kitchen/dining area, I got blue because they didn't have purple, 3-piece blue glass dining table with blue Plexiglas chairs. I had got a black 6ft long wooden table to use as my cooking/prep surface, all purple dishes and cooking utensils, pots & pans, a mini-fridge, hot plate, griddle, slow cooker, NutriBullet, and a tea maker. I love gardening and I have plants scattered throughout all of my areas. Every area was separated by floor-to-ceiling drapes on tracks or rollers connected to the ceiling, in different shades of purple, black, white, and gray, I got everything from IKEA. I LOVE IKEA!

I had been here a week and finally finished all of the decorating. I called my aunt to come to see it, her face lit up,

"It's beautiful down here!" she exclaimed.

"Thanks, auntie I appreciate it immensely!" I beamed.

"And yeah you're welcome, but I appreciate the extra help in paying my bills too!" she chuckled lightly.

I love how it turned out and so did my aunt it was amazing. I've always wanted to be an interior decorator so this allowed me to just go wild with my imagination. I also learned how to crochet so I've made several throw blankets and matching pillow sets that I lay on my sofa and bed, in various shades of light to dark purple. I love to crochet in my downtime. So I have a wicker basket full of yarn and hooks near my sofa.