Chapter 11

'BEEP!! BEEP!! BEEP!!!'

Angelo's alarm clock blared loudly and harshly, almost like it was yelling at him to stand up and do something with his life, Angelo sighed disappointedly, "It's morning already" he thought. Every day felt the same to him now, it had been almost a week since that lovely Easter gathering with Walter, his family and Sophia, he rose his back from the bed and took a sitting position, he had only shorts on, his hair was rough and untidy, his eyes were gloomy, he looked around his tiny apartment, asking himself the same question that he did every morning for the past several days; "Is this my life now?"

'BEEP!!, BEEP!!, BEE...!!!'

Angelo slammed the digital clock and shut it off instantly, he sighed and rubbed his face, he heard a notification from his phone and picked it up, it was a text from Sophia

"Hi, how are you doing?", Angelo read it in his head with her voice, he looked at the mirror across his bed, his reflection helped him to answer Sophia's question

"I'm doing shitty" he muttered under his breath, but he opened the message and replied her "I'm okay, you up already?"

He stood up from the bed and went to clean himself up, brushed his teeth and had a much needed shower, he looked at his mirror again, his eyebags had gone and his face looked bright again, it was probably just 'early morning syndrome' that made him look so wasted.

Angelo opened a box where he had some jewelry and cash, his money had almost ran out, and he had no one to turn to this time, he took the notes and counted them, it was just enough to survive another two weeks, but he couldn't continue living like this anymore, it was high time he got a job, any job at all

Right at that moment, a call came through on his phone which was on the bed, he dropped the money back in the box and locked it then picked up his phone, it was Walter

"Hey man what's up?" Angelo greeted

"All good bro, are you gonna be free today?"

"Yeah I guess...it's not like I've got anything to do at the moment" he replied, Walter laughed briefly over the phone and Angelo scoffed

"Can you come over to my place, I need to pack some stuff outta here cuz I'd be leaving for Sydney tomorrow..."

"Tomorrow?!!..." Angelo exclaimed

"Yeah...is there a problem?"

"Well...no...I just thought you would tell me sooner or something, I mean come on man"

"Oh right I'm sorry about that, I really thought I had told you earlier"

"It's alright, it's fine" Angelo rubbed his head as he thought, "I'd be on my way"

"Alright" Walter replied and ended the call, Angelo sighed and gazed at the wall, thinking of what to do next, he threw a dark blue sweater over himself and wore a pair of jeans then bounced out of his room.

Walter had a truck outside of his apartment block, he and some other guy were packing all his stuff out of the house this time because he was going to be visiting London a lot less frequently from now on and there was no longer a need to be paying rent for this place. Angelo walked in on Walter and the other guy carrying a wardrobe and trying to load it into the truck so he rushed in to assist them.

Walter was breathing and sweating heavily, the other guy didn't seem to be fazed at all, Angelo assumed that he must be the truck driver and was used to this job.

"Thanks a lot man, I almost passed out back there..." Walter gasped harder for air and Angelo handed him a water bottle

"So uhm... you're really leaving tomorrow huh?" he asked with his eyes on the truck, Walter just took huge gulps of the water he drank

"Yup, and I really don't know the next time I'd be here, probably Christmas"

"Christmas, that's a long time"

"I really want to settle down in Sydney completely, just forget about this place and put all of my time and attention on my job in Australia"

"Makes sense" Angelo thought.

"What about you, what are you gonna do now?"

Angelo was quiet for a while, he had been asking himself the same question for a long time now

"I really don't know to be honest, I'd probably just get a job at some retail store or something" he replied with a chuckle, "My dad thinks I can't live on my own so I gotta prove him wrong, working a normal job can't be that bad right?"

Walter put both of his hands in his pockets and turned his gaze to the truck as well;

"Why don't you come with me to Sydney?"

"What?"

"Think about it Angelo, I know a lot of people there, people who can help you make out something for yourself you know, yeah you don't have a college degree but if you've got some skills at anything at all then I could find someone who could help you earn a decent living from it"

Angelo's eyes were widened, he knew that Walter was actually capable of all these things he said, after all he had lived in Sydney for five years now, he must have had a lot of connections, this was really the opportunity of a life time

"So what do you think Angelo?"

"Well uh...I mean you're leaving tomorrow, so how I'm I supposed to follow you?, you should have told me earlier or something"

"That's really not a problem Angelo, jeez" Walter scoffed and rolled his eyes, "I just wanna know that you are actually ready to do something and I'm gonna help you get a flight of your own to Sydney as well, maybe in a month or two though, I know that you must be going through a really tough time, the way your family treated you and all that, it was really messed up"

"I know man, I know" Angelo added

"So are you in?"

Angelo's face was filled with glee, "Sure, why not?..." he paused when he heard a notification from his phone in his pocket, he picked it up to check and it was another text from Sophia;,

"I was wondering if we could meet at the cafe this evening and talk a bit, it's been a really long week for me Angelo"

He read it in her voice again, and that was when he remembered, if he ever left London his hopes of building a relationship with Sophia might be sabotaged, they had been talking online for a week and he could tell that she was getting comfortable with him, he wondered what she would think, how she would feel if she found out that he would be leaving London very soon, his cheerful face quickly turned into a distressed one, and Walter noticed this change immediately

"Is something wrong?" he asked anxiously, Angelo looked at him with heavy eyes

"Eh...no...it's nothing, I'm fine"

The truck in front of them was switched on and it released a loud whirring sound followed by blaring horns, one of Walter's neighbors cursed out from his apartment, pissed off by the loud vehicle

"Alright man I'll be leaving now", Walter shook hands with Angelo and hurried to the truck, "Just text me when you're ready!!" he shouted as Angelo was now far from him

"I will!!" Angelo yelled back, they both laughed and Walter went off with the truck, Angelo watched them until they were out of sight, he took out his phone and read Sophia's message again, a little smile drew across his face, he replied her message then put the phone back in his pocket and happily went on his way