Felipe was a skinny 13 old teenager who lived in the sub-urban city of Sao Paulo in brazil, he was skinny and small in size and was always bullied by his peers because of his physical features. He had dreams of playing professional football like his idols Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi and he also had the talent to back up those dreams but so many factors stopped his dream from turning into reality.
His father Carlos worked at construction sites but he had one problem, he was a notorious drunkard who used majority of his meager income to drink and whenever he comes home after dinking his wife and children where always at the receiving end of slaps and punches. Felipe’s mother Louisa was a full time housewife who spent her days doing house chores, The entire family including Felipe’s two younger sisters had to depend on whatever Carlos gave to them. The children Felipe, Christiana, and Martha were always sent out of school due to the inability of their father to pay their school fees, whenever they were sent out of school, their father always said “Everybody must not be educated, some are meant to be rich and some are meant to be poor and in this case my children you are all meant to be poor” to them and after saying this he sent them out to the streets to beg. Felipe hated his father and he determined to change his family’s situation through football, but how? They barely had enough to eat how was he going to actualize his dreams, he always shed tears whenever he thought about it but his mom was always there to comfort him “Felipe my son, wipe your tears I know that things are not ok right now I know about your dreams to play football I promise you that one day those dreams will turn to reality just have faith and with time everything will be alright” she always said to him but nothing ever happened.
Felipe and his sisters were coming back home early from school one day because their father did not pay their school fees again, their school principal singled them out in front of the entire school during morning assembly and said “children listen, this is the reason we want you all to work very so as to make it in life, these three siblings can’t afford to pay their school fees because their parents are poor, so if you don’t want to be like their parents you have to study very hard so you can be able to pay your own children’s school fees in the future do you understand? YES MA!!!! The children thundered in union. As the children were strolling back home helplessly in silence, Christiana broke the silence and said “what are we going to do now Felipe, are we going to tell father about our school fees or should we go to mom instead to know if she has any money on her” . Christiana was only eight years old but she talked and behaved like a sixty year old grandmother, “Felipe I am hungry what are we going to eat” Martha who was only six years old said with tears in her eyes. Felipe’s heart melted he was only but a little boy what was he to do now? He knew that he had to man up and comfort his sister’s “ My sister’s listen to me, everything is going to be fine ok, I am sure mom knows what to do about our school fees and feeding” he said stroking Martha’s hair lovingly, almost immediately a loud music blasted from the PA system on top of a slow moving large bus filled with boys of Felipe’s age, the music stopped and a man came down from the bus and started addressing the public via the PA system. The man was Alberto Gomez, he was a very popular coach who was known throughout Brazil and beyond brazil he was nicknamed “BIG AL” because of huge physique, So many successful professional footballers both active and retired passed through his football academy, Superstars like Ronaldinho, Neymar, kaka, Ronaldo Nazario, Cafu ,Richarlison, Martha etc all passed through his academy. “Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls FURURE STARS CADEMY is recruiting boys of all ages into the academy, due to the economy the price of registration has been reduced from twenty thousand to ten thousand, so hurry up now and register your child because you may never know if he or she will be a future superstar the spots remaining are only ten so if you don’t register now you may not be lucky next time, registration starts and ends on Monday, once you fill the forms that will be distributed now come to the head office with your parents or ward to register with your money in hand, Thank you and God bless you all” almost immediately the boys from the bus came out and started handing out the forms to people, Felipe got his and beamed a smile “what if this is the chance I have been waiting for? He thought aloud, “let’s hurry up and go home” he said to his sisters, They raced back home. When they got home they heard noises coming from inside the house, when they opened the door they saw their very drunk father beating up their mother, the girls busted into tears and Felipe rushed to save his mother but he was only a little boy and could do nothing, when Carlos was done beating up his family he looked around to see the chaos he caused, he smiled then opened the door and stormed off. Louisa got up and helped Felipe up (he got his own share of the beating), then she went to the girls and hugged passionately “my children please don’t cry I made mistakes in the past and I am currently paying for those mistakes now, so don’t cry for me” “let’s run away mom far away from that monster” “no my son he is still my husband your father we are not going anywhere, we are going to stay here come what may now all of you go and bath and change your clothes let me prepare something for all of you to eat” . Felipe was filled with anger “why did she tolerate all this nonsense from that man” The more he thought about it the more he hated his father and with anger he tore the form and threw it away, for him all hope was lost.
Days turned into weeks and weeks into months which then turned to years but nothing significant had happened in the life of the now thirty year old Felipe, he worked as a store attendant and earned a meager salary which was barely enough to feed himself, his sisters were now married to rich men who lived outside the country, his mother lived with his immediate younger sister Christiana, his father Carlos passed away few years ago, the cause of his death was unknown he was found lying dead in the city’s refuse dump but he could be dead for all he cared, Felipe only cared about his current situation, his family seemed to have forgotten all about him, the last time he spoke with any of them was five years ago, Felipe was neither married nor searching his life was just plain and sad.
One day as Felipe was returning tired after another fruitless day he heard a voice calling him “ Felipe, Felipe” !! he turned to the direction of the caller, he saw an unfamiliar car approaching him when the car stopped the driver unwind the car’s window Felipe looked into the car and saw four people in the car two men were in the front seat while two ladies were at the back loud music was blasting from the stereo in the car the driver of the car was the one calling him. “ Felipe my homie how are you doing man, it’s been long “ Felipe immediately recognized the driver, he was Luis Gustavo an old school mate and Felipe’s best friend back then, “ I am good bro its nice to see you again” “ hop in to the car bro lets link up”. Felipe obliged and got into the backseat where the two ladies were seated, Luis drove them into a huge mansion filled with men and women some were smoking some were counting money, they all stood up and saluted Luis who was now nicknamed Lord Pablo as one of the men hailed.
They all alighted from the vehicle and the other man whose nickname “ROCKY” led the way as they went into the mansion, the inside of the mansion was huge and well decorated it was also filled with men and women of different ages were carrying various tasks just like the people outside. They all stopped what they were doing and hailed Lord Pablo as they walked in, the two women from the car disappeared into one of the many rooms in the mansions .Rocky led them to a furnished office that was bigger than Felipe’s one room in a wretched looking apartment. Felipe noticed how neat and richly dressed Luis was for the first time. “sit down fam” Luis said taking off his expensive Italian overcoat. Felipe sat on one of the two huge chairs that faced a table and another huge seat where Luis sat. ”how are you doing man you don’t look very good” Luis said starting the conversation “to be honest bro life has not been fair to me, I have gone through pains and hardships in this life” “I am all ears man tell me everything”. Felipe took his time and told him everything without forgetting anything, “damn you have gone through sad shit man I remember back then when they always sent you and your siblings from school due to the lack of payment of school fees I always wanted to help but I could not but now that I found you again I am going to help you”. Felipe was lit up with joy, he knelt and thanked him profusely “c’mon man get up, it’s no big deal, now I am going to tell you everything about me I know you must be wondering how all this came to be”.
Luis narrated every event that led to his wealth, after his secondary school, Luis parents died in a car accident he had no one to sponsor him to college and he was the only child his relatives all abandoned him to the streets where he committed all sorts of crimes like pickpocketing to survive, one day luck ran out on him when he stole an old man’s wallet, he was caught but before people started beating him up the old man came to his rescue and took him to his house, the old man turned out to be Don Pablo, a notorious drug lord who had cartels throughout brazil he disguised himself that day as an ordinary old man who was just on a normal stroll. “I see potential in you kid I am going to take you as my sin from today and train you” Don said to Luis and from that day Luis became his son so it did not come as a shock to people when the old man he willed everything to Luis because he had no family. That was how he became wealthy and powerful, he also inherited the name PABLO.
When he was done narrating he said “bro how would like to join the business. This business needs people that are trustworthy and I can’t think of nobody more trustworthy than you homie” “I am in bro, I have tried my luck in almost every area of life but nothing seems to be working, so I can’t pass on this opportunity”.
Luis was delighted, he finally had someone he could trust in the game, Felipe now nicknamed ‘maestro’ was inducted into the cartel few days later, Luis made him his partner he taught him everything he needed to know about the game and as weeks turned to months Felipe became a full member of the business, he started living a flashy lifestyle which he always craved he went to clubs and picked any girl of his choice, he became a household name he became a wanted man throughout the country, he appeared in news channels for his crimes, he became so popular, feared and respected even more than Pablo himself.
Felipe became greedy, he wanted to take over the entire business, he had been brainwashed by all the fame, wealth and popularity, so he wanted to take it all, he hatched a plan to eliminate Luis and as the second in command he was next in line to take over, he needed rocky who was the muscle of cartel so as to carry out his plan. “Rocky bro, I want us to eliminate Pablo I know he trusts you and me so he won’t see it coming I promise to make you my equal partner so you won’t have to run errands for him no more” “ alright I am in” Rocky agreed to Felipe’s shock but he was happy that he was on board. They planned to kill him when they were alone, the three of them normally went to a safe house to plan missions, the safe house was located far away from the mansion and it was normally lonely, so they planned to carry out their plan the next day.
The day finally came Felipe prepare himself but as he was about to leave his cellphone rang he picked it “Hello who is this”? “It’s me my son, mom how are you doing my son? . He hadn’t heard from her or his sisters for years. “ what do you want, why are you calling me after abandoning me? “ my son we did not abandon you, please listen to me I saw your name in the news you are wanted all over the country, I don’t know what you got yourself into but be careful my son me and your sisters still love you and………., he hung up the phone, he did not need that kind of nonsense in his life he was about to carry out a deadly mission, he needed to concentrate.
The three of them drove to the safe house as usual, when they got into the house rocky shut the door and pointed a gun to Felipe’s head, he had been betrayed rocky told Luis about Felipe’s plan to kill him “I knew this day would come but he would die first” Luis simply said .“ After everything I have done for you homie, you still planned to kill me, power corrupts indeed”. Felipe begged for his life but it was too late, rocky shot him thrice and he fell immediately. “POLICE, COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEADS” Pablo and rocky looked through the window and saw police cars and vans parked everywhere, it was over for them, they came out slowly and they were handcuffed and taken away to meet their fate, Felipe had called the police before he left incase anything happened.
His mother and sister’s came back and buried him, everybody was moody and sad his family shed uncontrollable tears, a young skinny boy who had dreams of playing football and lifting his family out of poverty lay six feet under the ground, GONE AND WASTED.
