-A source of happiness-

The sounds of gunshots block out the sound of the rain and people screaming in agony. Off in the distance a voice shouts

"keep firing"!

The thumping of buttons on the keyboard and clicks on the computer mouse almost creates a beat that could be played as the rhythm to a heavy metal song.

"We're losing this fight"!

The commanders voice shouts from the speaker.

A drop of sweat slowly creeps down the boy's face as he is in almost a kind of trance. All the focus his developing brain can produce is directed to the face of his computer screen.

The intensity of his focus is finally shattered when a voice of a woman calls his name from downstairs.

"Samuel"?

Suddenly the sounds of gunshots, people screaming and commanders giving orders stop when the voice of a commentator says with disappointment

"Game over. We have been defeated"!

The boy looks into his lap with disappointment, then after a few seconds looks up again and takes a sip of his energy drink.

"Samuel dinner is ready"!

The voice from downstairs calls again.

Samuel gets up from his chair and stretches his arms as he has been sitting on that chair since he got home from school. He realises that the sweaty odour coming from his school clothes is getting quite bad so he decides to change into some more comfortable clothes.

He takes out the small bible from his blazer pocket and gently places it on his desk. He always carries this bible with him because his dad gave it to him before he died.

He chooses to change into some PJs as he decided that he will shower in the morning.

As he walks down the stairs he hears his dog run towards him with such overwhelming excitement that it struggles to grip to the tiles with its tiny paws which forces it to drift around corners.

He crouches to the floor and embraces his dog. A warm feeling of happiness rushes through his body from his limbs straight to his heart.

"Good boy, jack"

Jack's tail is waggling so fast that if it waggles any faster it will fling off of his bottom and fly into one of Samuel's mother's expensive pieces of glass and shatter it into thousands of pieces.

Samuel sits down at the dinner table and starts to say grace for the food with his family. A table with its history scratched into it by generations of big families that used it to create memories such as small conversations about what happened through the course of the day to big fights between brothers and sisters about small misunderstandings.

He sits at one of the end of the table as he is the oldest of seven and at the other end sits his mother. On the left side of the table his younger sisters sit arranged from oldest to youngest. The right side of the table is dedicated to his younger brothers who sit in no specific order as they don't really care about a sense of structure. All they think about before sitting down is how much they are going to enjoy the amazing food their mother makes.

"Samuel, have you started studying for your matric exams"?

His mother asks. A beautiful woman yet slightly greyed by the stress of raising seven children on her own while working as a manager in a big company that sells supplies to big clothing brands.

"mom, the year has only just started".

"Sam, if you don't start studying you are going to fail the year again".

His oldest sister says after swallowing her food.

"shut up sally".

"Yeah, shut up sally"!

His youngest brother Michael adds just to start another fight. He often does this because he enjoys creating conflict at home or even at school, which gets him into a lot of trouble.

"Eat your food you dork"!

Sally says while throwing a pea at Michael.

Samuel's mother looks at him and laughs yet deep down she feels a deep sense of despair as he could have been helping her financially by getting a part time job while studying at a collage. It gets very tough to handle all the stress of creating all the family's income for the month on her own. The topic of conversation gets completely interrupted by the laughs and giggles coming from the boys' side of the table.

One of them must have made another of their silly jokes which they often make at the dinner table when the conversation looks like it might turn into another big fight.

These fights always end up being an excuse for everyone to get rid of all the frustration that one develops when living with a gang of other growing human beings.

"May god have mercy on us".

His mother adds.

This was the last thing that was said as it made everyone at the table silent in thought of what had been said.

As the morning sunlight starts creeping slowly onto Samuel"s floor the alarm clock on his bedside table starts producing a terrible sound. Two simple identical notes bouncing around his room along with the other sounds a beautiful morning like this produces. Birds singing, neighbors mowing their lawns so that it looks good on the weekend and off in the distance a dog barks at an innocent mail man who is simply trying to do his job.

Beep beep! Beep beep!

Samuel finds himself lying on the floor next to his bed. He must have had another one of those dreams that leaves him breathless. A dream that makes him wonder what day it is. Although he is certain that whatever happens to him in his dreams makes him feel a pain so deep, he never completely remembers what happened.

He pulls himself up from the floor and stands still for a moment to regain control of his thoughts. He then walks over to his desk to pick up the bible his dad gave him. Looking down at it for a moment he remembers that his dad told him to be strong for his mother.

"The man of the house has no time to waste on foolish things like weaknesses".

This was one of the last sentences his dad said to him before he passed away.

Samuel looks up to face himself in the mirror above his desk. He combs his sweaty hair back and wipes his face with both hands.

"Time for that shower I guess".

He says quietly to himself in the mirror after lifting up his arms to sniff his armpits. He feels that a good shower in the morning makes him feel "fresh". It also makes him forget about the dreams he has almost every night. These dreams can ruin his entire day if he doesn't get over them in time.

No time is wasted in the bathroom. In the shower he quickly washes his hair and all the dark areas. In front of the mirror he quickly washes his face and brushes his teeth. By the door he quickly dries off and gets dressed into his uniform. After one last good look at himself in the mirror he is out the door headed downstairs to make his breakfast.

A solid routine is very important for a person in his situation.

He looks at the kettle while he waits for it to boil. As the kettle is made of some sort of metal, he can see a warped reflection of himself. A figure with a tanned face, a face that almost looks like it is being held upright by its solid jawline, a face that is topped off with wavy brown hair that is combed backwards to the delicate neck that connects his head to his body.

"Good morning handsome".

His mother says to him with a toothbrush in her mouth. She must have overslept again. She finds it very hard to fall asleep without her muscular, fair haired husband so her night consists of ninety percent tossing and turning, crying every now and then and re positioning the pillows so that she can cuddle them comfortably again, just like she did with her husband. The small ten percent consists of unintended sleep.

She has even gone so far as trying to sleep on a single bed but this made her feel like the edges of the bed was closing in on her. It made her feel like the dark shadows of loneliness and despair were just close enough to pull her off of the bed and rip her into chunks of emotional desolation and hopelessness.

"Good morning mother".

The young man says to his mother almost just because he has to and then looks away and loses interest again quickly. Samuel's mind is often filled with small stupid things like what he's going to make for lunch or what he's going to say to his girlfriend when he sees her. His mind is too full of small things that he stuffs in there to block out the things that would break him down completely.

His mind is too confined by these small things to notice that his mother is desperately looking for any affection that she can scrape off the floor after it was spilled by her children who disposed of theirs when their dad passed away.

As Samuel exits the front door of his house he is motivated by the crisp smell of cool fresh air that acts as almost a kind of medicine too this family's heartache. He feels the depression being replaced from the inside out by a sense of happiness and hope.

"Good morning Mr. Handsome"!

The lady from next door calls as she peacefully waters her rose bushes. A very kind lady indeed. Samuel hesitates to hate her because of her sheer optimism and happiness. Why do other people get to be happy? What did he do to displease God in such a way to curse him with this horrible situation? These are some of the thoughts that constantly haunt his mind.

"Good morning auntie Fiona".

He replies after finding a smile that hid in the deep, dark vastness of his mind. However, the simple kindness of this short conversation gives him another boost of motivation. Just enough to keep himself upright for the morning.

The ride to school is different to what one would expect. A car full of children would sound like a nightmare to any parent. This car, however, is filled with a gang of quiet victims of a recent tragedy. A depressing image of a family that is too sad to even socialise with one another takes the atmosphere inside the car and folds it into a neat pile of anger, hopelessness and a general sense of unhappiness.

Samuel finds himself looking at the beautiful view of a beach they pass by every morning on the way to school. The sun which is too bright to even try to look at directly, shines a light on the deep dark waters creating almost a painting of orange, yellow and blue colours. A lone seagull dives out of the air into the water, disappears for a moment and then comes back out with a small fish in its beak.

Suddenly a voice shatters the silence like glass.

"Did you remember your lunch Sally"?

The rest of the children look up at their mother as they are almost happy that a movement towards a conversation is being swept up from the many cracks and tight spots that the car possesses.

"Yes Mother, Maths and Geography".

The other children including Samuel hesitate to say something to keep the conversation going but before they know it, it's too late. Here they arrive at school. The place where children learn the greatest life lessons that guide them through their entire life. They also learn some things the teachers try to teach of course. Sometimes.

As Samuel enters the gate of the school he immediately feels the thick mixture of love and hate. Good and evil. He walks past couples reciting the words of affection they rehearsed the night before. He walks past arguments between recently broken up couples who express their hate for one another by confusing each other with false senses of love and empty embraces. He walks past the younger generations who are on the border of hatching out of childhood and taking their first steps of adulthood almost as if they are on the edge of a cliff that life is about to push them down from. They are on the verge of falling down this cliff into the deep waters of adulthood. He walks past his friends who are so happy to see him. A verity of hands reaches out to shake his. Black, white, these things don't matter. Race is not a variable when it comes to friendship. Everybody's blood is red in Samuel's eyes.

Finally, at the end of this path he walks to get to class, stands a figure of such beauty that the human eye almost can't understand it. Slim, neatly composed and topped off with soft, long, light brown hair. This girl is the only person Samuel actually gets excited to see.

Her eyes, a piercing green that would make all the plants in the world jealous. Big and round. They have the ability to look right into one's soul and start a nice warm fire too heat up all the coldness that depression and unhappiness produces.

He walks up to her and it almost feels like they are melting together as he embraces her. What a wonderful thing. For two human beings to cross paths and create such happiness. They feel as if they are flying above a vast ocean as the sun sets when they embrace.

"Hey Summer".

He says to her while he hides behind no mask. He is completely exposed and vulnerable. Nothing is held back from his lady.

"Hello Sammy Snake".

She replies playfully while using the nickname she created for him in their second year of dating. Yes, indeed, they have both been lucky enough to find their soulmates at such a young age.

Summer has also met the monster called tragedy as she is an orphan. Although her history would indicate that she should be an emotional mess, she has an overwhelming happiness radiating from her body. Samuel feeds off of this happiness while others who are simply exposed to it develop a source of happiness within them that can last up to a whole day.

"I missed you yesterday".

Summer had been absent the day before as she had to attend to some things concerning what "home" she is going to move to next. The girls at her current home are green with jealousy because of the beauty she possesses from the inside out.

"Oh I know my Sweets. Need help with your maths homework"?

She says while pouting and lowering her eyebrows. It is the small things she does like this for example that melts Samuel's heart time and time again. He feels that above all the tragedy in his world, God has blessed him with an angel. An angel sent from the deepest parts of heaven. The place where happiness is produced and then left to drip slowly onto a world of hate and evil.

"I love you"!

He says completely out of the blue.