Working At The Recreational Center Narrative

I met a man while I was working in the recreational center. He began the conversation with the classic line “do you come here often?” Every moment after that was indescribable. Over the years, we built a strong bond. All the years I’ve worked at the recreational center I never questioned why he was there. This was my best friend and I never asked why he was here. So one night on our date, I asked him “so what made you volunteer at the center Zaire?” At first he looked away, he tried to change the subject but I continued to ask him. Finally, he took a deep breath and began “When I was a teen, I hung around the wrong kids. You know the type your mother told you to stay away from. We went to the suburbs and stole this car. It was a sweet …show more content…
I let him finish “Long story short, I served my time in juvie and ended up doing community service cleaning up around the rec center. I always take off my vest when I go in to see you. I didn’t want you to see that side of me. I’ve really cleaned up my act since that night; I didn’t walk out my house that evening planning on killing anyone”. He said. “We all make mistakes, you just got to live and learn, but I’m always going to be here for you” I said. He smiled with a sense of relief, I smiled back. Then we held hands walked all the way home. The next few days, I looked for Zaire to come out van but I didn’t see him. Then my phone rang and I answered “Hello?” “Hey! You missed me?” it was Zaire. “Yeah, I did” I was smiling ear to ear. My co-workers were looking at me and they began laughing at me. I felt like a teenager talking to her high school crush. “Well I’m done community service and I got a job working at the nursery home now. Anyways, I was wondering if I can take out sometime?” he asked. I began to giggle like a little girl, I was so embarrassed. After I calmed down, “That’d be great” I said “Alright, I’ll pick you up at eight” he said. “Okay, see you then” I said then I hung up. Later that night, I heard a knock on …show more content…
Every time I called his phone it went straight to voicemail. A million thoughts ran through my mind. “Was he cheating?” “Was in the hospital?” I began to pace back and forth in my living room. Finally, I calmed down a little I sat down and turned on the television. I turned it to the news channel and saw the headline “Local Thug Gunned Down by Heroic Police Officer”. All I see is Zaire’s body lying face down on the concrete. So soon? I thought. Tears began to stream down my eyes. Gunned down? He doesn’t even own a weapon. What possessed this officer to kill an unarmed man? A segment of Zaire’s past was featured they labelled him as a murder. My heart sank as I watched the news. All I can ask myself was A Local Thug? All he was trying to do was turn his life around. I began to cry, why did I have to find out this way? So what’s next? He’ll be the next trending topic for the next few days and Rev Al Sharpton comes to the rescue. The only problem with that is that they didn’t know him. I grew to love this man to learn about his life and yet they can summon it up in one segment? They didn’t know him I like did. He was the complete opposite if a thug. Now he’s gone and his side of the story will never be