Chapter 1

      The wind was blowing hard, making it very hard to travel on foot.,the howling sound of the clattering roofs. Tthe outpouring of rain, children happily dancing on the street, the thunderbolt that created light on the already dark skies - those were witnessed by the young boy of seven, wet and chilling all over his body, he kept on walking, carrying a small bundle of clothes, not knowing where to go.

     His small feet were already aching, he had been on the road for a long time, crying his heart out, tears were flowing from his emaciated face. The young boy looked up to the skies and asked desperately, "Where am I to go? Nobody wanted me, hu!...hu!...hu!...How I wished my father didn't leave me!" Only the howling wind and the unceasing rain seemed to hear the plea of the young boy; no one bothered to even look at the sight of the pitiful creature. He trod and trod until he got tired and hungry. Sitting at the bench, he saw a young girl looking at him. Her eyes were focusing on him, and he got scared. When she was about to come close to him, he suddenly got up, with a bundle in his arms, he immediately ran away but the young girl called him and said, "Excuse me! Are you not hungry and cold? I only want to give you this bread. Please come back!"

     Perplexed and anxious, the young boy hurriedly walked back and took the plastic bag which contained pieces of bread, from the young girl. He ate the bread quickly, eating every crumb and even licking his small fingers. The young girl was observing him, wondering why a child like him was left alone at the park, starving, without anyone helping him, when suddenly a woman's voice was heard from behind.

     "Jane, why did you run away? We have been looking for you everywhere!"

     The young girl turned around and answered, "Auntie, I saw someone who looked very hungry(pointing at the young boy who had just finished eating his bread), so I gave him my food."

     "It's alright, let us go, your mom and Cassandra(her cousin) are waiting for you inside the car."

    The young girl and her aunt quickened their paces, went to the store nearby where the vehicle was parked. Meanwhile, the young boy followed them and shouted, "Thank you for the food, miss!"

     Jane looked back and smiled at him. She was very glad to have helped the young boy. She was a six-year-old girl who came from a wealthy clan, an only child, she had everything in life but remained humble and kind. It is not the first time that she had shared her food with others. Her family owned the biggest supermarket in their hometown. They also owned thousands of hectares of land. Though an heiress, she is a good and kind-hearted person. She was also enrolled in an exclusive school for girls just like her cousin, Cassandra.

     "Where have you been? Do you know that we have been looking for you everywhere? her cousin asked the young girl. She was haughty and proud. Unlike Jane, she was known as a spoiled brat who has no empathy towards other people, especially the poor ones. She may be a lot prettier than her cousin, but their behaviors are opposites, the other one - kind and humble, while she was haughty and proud.

     They are of the same age, their mothers are siblings. Jane's mom was older and got married first but gave birth after three years, the same year that Cassandra was born. "When I was about to come here, I saw a young boy, he was crying so hard. I felt pity for him so I approached him....he got so scared and ran away...I called him back and told him that I only want to give him food to eat...he looked, awful mom...." Jane explained to her mom.

     "Oh yeah! For you, everyone is good, what if he is a thief, huh? And worse, a kidnapper, you know, some gang uses kids to lure children like us...it is better not to trust anyone..."

     Jane's mom, who was as kind as her daughter understood what she did but she would not like their argument to continue. She had enough of the two girls' bickering that she said in a calm voice, "That's enough girls, nothing happened to our dear girl here, so let us stop this conversation, and let us all head home."

     "You are right Luisa, there is no sense in making this a long and tiring discourse, let us go home, okay girls?" Amelia, Cassandra's mom retorted.

     Amelia Martin married a businessman who was older than her by ten years. It was a business marriage. That was the time when their construction company suffered a loss due to stiff competition in the market. Rafael Agustin was already a very rich businessman who was engaged in food production. He also owned some restaurants and resorts in the country. At first, Amelia did not want to marry him but in the end, she was persuaded by her parents, fearful that she may end up homeless. Rafael, who knew that the marriage was not to his advantage, did not hesitate because he had been in love with her since he saw her when she was a teenager. He had helped her family financially which resulted in the stability of their company, which made Amelia fall for him during their married life.

     The two girls finally smiled at each other and played with their respective dolls just like any ordinary young girl - forgetting what had transpired on that early morning.

     Left at the park, alone and chilling, the young boy finally decided to walk faster, grateful to the strange young girl who had given him something to eat to fill his hungry stomach. He felt renewed again, his energy coming back, he started to look for a place where he could spend the rest of the day and to find shelter where he could rest or sleep.

     When the sunset, he saw himself at the company of other children, one of them asked his name and the reason why he had been roaming around the streets. He was adamant at first to talk to the young boy, but he had to, if not, what else a poor lonely boy could do?

     "I do not have a place to, my father left me, and I have no one. Can you help me please?"

     The stranger saw desperation written all over his face and retorted, "You can stay with us, we are living on the streets and we begged for food. As you can see, we are homeless. Are you sure you want to live with us?"

     Perplexed but determined, he answered affirmatively. Immanuel, at that age, was helpless and needed all the support he could get from anyone, even to children, who looked as desperate as he was.

     He shook hands with Antonio, nicknamed Anton by other vagrants, a young boy of nine who had been homeless ever since he was three years old. His parents died when he was seven, leaving him alone with other strangers, who became his family.

     He did not go to school, and he did not learn to read or write; the main reason why he had a hard time understanding the conversations of other people around him. Imman, on the other hand, was taught by his mother at a very young to read and write; even his father had given him some lessons. He was enrolled to enter grade one when an unfortunate incident had occurred, changing his life completely. His father was accused of killing a construction worker. The sad part about it was that he was not the murderer - he was framed. The dead person was his friend, and both were working at the construction site near their house.

     Armando Gonzales, the poor wretched father of Imman, was taken by force by the policemen at the sight of his sobbing son; his relatives did not take the young child to their care, instead, they ignored the plea of the young boy and even sold the little abode where they used to live.

     All his childhood memories were gathered in that small house - his mother's embraces, kisses, the sweet talks they always had at nights before going to bed. His father's hugs, his never-ending patience towards him, the days that he used to play with him or the days that he used to tag along with him especially on Sundays, memories that he promised to keep as long as he lives, inside his heart.

     For our young hero, being alone with strangers seemed to bother him at first; he could not understand how they have lived under the bridge with a filthy surrounding; mosquitoes and flies bothering them while they were sleeping, with no clean water or food; wearing shabby clothes, not taking a bath, unless it rained. That blatant reality he had seen and experienced while he lived with them. "I am just like them now. I only need to survive...I have nowhere to go so I have to stay and must not cause trouble," he once told himself.

    Unlike other children, he tried to work as an errand boy; the place where he lived was near a store and he had asked the owner to give him a job as a helper at the said place. The owner took pity on him; asking him to carry bags when she had come from the supermarket, putting them inside the store. Doing this menial job, the owner gave him money and some food to eat. She was so impressed with the hardworking boy, asking him from time to time if he wanted to continue schooling. He replied positively, to the envy of the other children who were contented by just begging on the streets. Anton, for one, wanted also to help at the store, so Imman told Jessica, the store owner to help him too, but she said that she could only help one of them.

     Disgusted by her decision, Anton vented his anger towards the innocent boy. One night, while Imman was sleeping, the jealous boy wrung his neck, punched his face hard, which almost caused his life to end. Fortunately, one of the older boys woke up and stopped Anton.

     There was hatred in his eyes, so vile for just a nine-year-old boy. He shouted and yelled, "Get out of here! You are selfish and I hate you!"

     Other children heard how he had screamed and vilified the poor innocent boy but none of them tried to stop him. They had listened to him spitting out obscene and defamatory words against Imman. Tired and frustrated at hearing derogatory words spoken against the young boy, a sturdy and well-built young man of sixteen, advised him to just leave and never to come back again.

     Sobbing and disoriented, without knowing what he would do next, he decided to take his bundle out and leave. He walked the streets; not even looking behind, his heart almost breaking! "Where will I go? Who would take pity on me? Oh, father! Where are you now? I miss you so much!"

     He trod his way to the store. It was closed so he tried to knock, twice he did, but no one answered. One of the neighbors who was passing by saw the young lad and told him that the owner went back to her hometown and would only come back after a week. Saddened by the news, Imman found his way to the park and slept on one of the benches, looking pitiful and hopeless.

     When he woke up the following morning, he made his way to the supermarket and tried to look for a job that would help him sustain his basic needs - food and shelter. He tried to talk to some of the vendors and asked if he could do some errands for them; luckily, one of them said that he needed a boy that would help him carry loads of his commoditites which he sells to the passersby. The vendor assured him that he would give him money and food in exchange for his work. At first, the well-built man, huge and chubby, of middle age, treated him well and did what he promised but after two months, he started to abuse the poor young boy; the slightest mistake would result to harsh punishment by beating him a wooden stick. His miserable situation would continue until one day, he decided to leave the cruel man, bringing with him a little amount of money that he had saved. At that very young age, he had learned not to trust anyone - telling himself repeatedly that most of the people were bad and that most of them would only want to hurt him. Trust for others had become hard for the young boy.

     One rainy night, while he was out again looking for work, he saw an old man who was alone and seemed to want to cross the street. He was almost hit by the truck but with the young boy's help, it was prevented. When Imman saw the oncoming truck about to hit the old man, he immediately rushed to the scene and helped him cross the street safely. The grateful old man thanked him and bought food for him to eat. He observed that the young boy was homeless because of his shabby appearance. Looking curiously at the young boy who was eating, he was asked by the old man where he lived and inquired about his family too. With all honesty, the young boy essayed his story, starting from the time when his father was accused of murder and was taken by the police officers at their own house; how he was abandoned by his relatives, and lastly how he tried to live with other homeless children. He also mentioned that his mother died when he was very young and that he had been trying to work hard by doing errands to earn money so that he could go to school. Moved by his story, the old man asked him if he wanted to come and live at his house and then if he would like to go back to school with his help.

     Immanuel did not reply, he had doubts that the stranger would hurt him too, though his countenance showed otherwise. He thought how he was maltreated before, that all he could do was look out from afar, without emotion, whatsoever. "Do not worry, I am not a bad person. I lived alone, without any family members. It was just a pity that a young boy like you had been living like this. You have to study and later find a job so that you would have a better future. By the way, my name is Pocholo Asuncion, a school teacher, a widower, and I can see through your eyes that you are a smart and kind-hearted boy. Do not be disheartened by the attitude and behavior of other people, my friend, remember that as there are bad and evil people like the ones you have met, there are also those who are kind and nice individuals," the old man smiled at the young boy.

     Though he did not understand much of what his new friend said, deep inside his young heart, he believed that he had found a true and gentle person that he could trust. He looked at him and smiled for the first time, for a very long while. "Sir, thank you for your encouragement...I will always keep that in mind. My name is Immanuel Gonzales and I promised that I'd do my best to finish school and I will make you proud."

    The school teacher laughed and patted his head and asked, "By the way, what do you want to be when you grow up? Do you want to be a school teacher like me?"

     "No sir. I would like to be a lawyer!" he replied enthusiastically.

     After enjoying the meal and after a lot of thinking on the young boy's part, he decided to accept the old man's offer. He had lived with him and was treated like a son of his. Immanuel studied hard, graduated on top of his class, and became a top-notch lawyer. A year after he graduated, his mentor and friend died.