"A GIFT OF HAPPINESS" CHAPTER 6: A BOY NAMED FINN

"A GIFT OF HAPPINESS" 
CHAPTER 6: HIS NAME IS FINN

By Franklin Campusano

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    It was about a month after Luis was found dead and Joan had told me about her experience with him and the homeless men. I remember that it was very rainy, homeless street looked very desolated. 

    Corpses of homeless people would pop up almost every morning, which lead to an intense police presence in the area. These detectives would approach the locals and ask them questions. Despite this, no leads were found at that point yet. The detectives and the locals were baffled, how can the homeless people be dying like this and so suddenly? 

    The homeless people started hiding in the abandoned buildings of the old business district to avoid contact with the police and would only come out at night. But the fear among them and the locals could also not be ignored. 

    Due to the heavy police presence in the area, the Maple projects were completely cleared of homeless presence, the whole courtyard was desolated of them and at that point the complex was going through an intense cleaning process. The whole complex was filled with city workers and volunteers from both the city and the nearby area. 

    During that time, I was very busy with a lot of schoolwork, so my hours were reduced in the restaurant. Whenever I did show up in the area, I could not help but feel awe when looking at the buildings and how different the complex looked compared to when the place was being invaded by homeless people. 

    I could not fail to also notice the heavy police presence as well, and the lack of homeless people around. It seemed that the homeless people were completely gone since you would no longer see them in the streets, not even in what we know as "homeless street." 

    When I went into my workplace (Joe's Pizza), I also notice that great part of the clientele were police officers. Because of this, the stereotype of policemen that like doughnuts was changed in a way for me, I guess police really like Pizza as well. 

    Certainly, having the police as our frequent guest provided a well needed boost of morale to the store and to the locals as well. During those days clientele was very good, the restaurant was doing fairly well. 

    I remember that Joe was even considering giving us a raise, but of course, that never came to be. Sometimes we would chit-chat with the police, and they would tell us very interesting stuff. 

    For a short time, the sudden deaths among the homeless people stopped. They were still around, but you would not see them as often as you did before the sudden deaths and the cleaning project. 

One of the homeless people that would show up often in the "outside" world was the man known as 'Boxerman.'

    Boxerman would walk the streets surrounding the Maple projects yelling on the top of his lungs, sometimes during the early hours of the morning and sometimes during the afternoon and yet, sometimes during the night. 

    The presence of the police did us and by us, I mean both of us the workers of Joe's Pizza and specially the locals good. As good as their presence was though, it did not last forever, not even for long. Despite that, police presence in the maple projects gave us all a sense of hope and change. The prominent feeling during that time is that things would finally change for the better. 

    Once the police stopped showing up though, things started getting back to "normal." Obviously, the homeless people kept their protocol of staying within the abandoned sites. But they would come out more often, the once cleaner streets would start seeing litter being thrown about, both by the locals and by the homeless people who searched through the trashcans. 

    But going back to Boxerman, he was acting a bit, interesting. As far as I knew back then, the dude was always a little interesting, I heard that back in the days of his sanity, he was a devout Christian. The man would never miss Church. Which is why, it was not very surprising to the locals when Boxerman started acting like a "prophet" among the people. 

    At one point, almost every morning, Boxerman would come out, walk through the streets surrounding the Maple projects yelling at the top of his lungs and spreading his arms while holding a bottle of tequila. 

"There's a fallen angel among us! There's a fallen angel among us! An angel of darkness that is taking us away one by one." 

    This certainly raised an eyebrow to most listeners, but once again we all brushed it aside. We all dismissed it as one of Boxerman's many shenanigans. 

    The belief among the locals at the time was more leaning towards there being some kind of disease outbreak among the homeless, which in turn caused the sudden deaths. That thought made sense in a way, but further events would prove that theory wrong. You see, in just four days later, eight new bodies were found, among those bodies, Boxerman's body was found as well. 

    The morning after the bodies were found, I was walking around the neighborhood on my way to work of course. This morning was particularly rainier than the others. The season was already changing from Summer to Fall and therefore there would be a lot of rain because of it. 

    While I was approaching the Maple projects I saw the strange boy, the one that I saw when I was starting out working in Joe's Pizza. He was just seating in a bench while the rain fell upon him. He seemed very relaxed. My intentions were to pass him by and keep going but unlike before, that day, I kind of felt bad for him. 

    I already was wearing my raincoat, so I didn't necessarily need my umbrella. So, I decided to go ahead and give that boy my umbrella so that he didn't continue to get wet. 

"Hey, are you... okay?" 

    The boy looks at me quietly and nods. 

"I saw you seating in the bench here in the rain and well, would you like my umbrella?" 

"Uh, no, is okay, I like the rain anyways, but thanks though." 

"You sure? I already have my raincoat, you can keep my umbrella, it's totally fine, I could always buy another one." 

"You sure?" 

"Yeah, totally, here, take it." 

    The boy grabbed the umbrella and started protecting himself with it. My curiosity kicked in and I took advantage of the situation to ask him some questions. 

"How old are you by the way?" 

"I'm 14 years." 

"14 years?" I uttered in response to the boy as I gently sat on the bench besides of him. The boy didn't seem disturbed by me doing that. So, I continued asking: 

"My name is Zoe, what's your name?" 

"Finn, I'm Finn, that's my name." 

"Finn?" 

    Hearing Finn's name for the first time made me feel at ease with him. Now he wasn't that odd, weird boy that sometimes pop up and sometimes no. 

"Finn... Why are you homeless? Where are your parents?" 

"I don't talk to my parents, I, I left my house to live in the streets." 

"You ran away? Why?" 

"I'm scared of my father and stepmother; they were really mean to me." 

    Hearing this from the boy made me feel so sad for him to the point that I started feeling deep compassion for him, at the same time, I started feeling bad for judging him the way I did. 

"Are you hungry right now?" 

    Finn turned his head towards me.

"No, not right now." 

"If you want you can come by our Pizza spot and I can give you a free slice and a soda." 

    I really wanted to help him in any way I could. Finn started smiling while closing his eyes for a bit. 

"I appreciate it, I will come by sometime when I want to eat." 

    After Finn said this, he stood up from the bench with the umbrella I gave him and started walking away. 

"Where are you going Finn?" 

"I'm going to go for a walk, see you later." 

"Later." I said to Finn in response as he walked away in the rain protecting himself with the umbrella, I gave him.

    After my conversation with Finn ended, I also got up and continued to be on my way to the restaurant, if I didn't hurry up I would of wind up late that day. That was the last time I saw Finn, after that morning I would never see him again. 

    At around that time, the news of Boxerman's death started spreading around the area and the locals. 

To Be Continued...