1 The Garbage site

Tom woke up to the sound of his younger sister crying. He rubbed his bleary eyes and tried to shake off the drowsiness that clung to him like a wet blanket. He had barely slept the night before, but he knew that he had to get up and get to work if his family was going to survive another day.

He got up from the floor, where he had slept, and walked over to his sister's crib. She had woken up hungry, and he could see that she had already wet herself. He picked her up gently and cradled her in his arms, murmuring soothing words as he changed her diaper and warmed up a bottle of milk.

Once his sister was fed and back asleep, Tom set out for the garbage site where he worked. It was a long walk from their small shack on the outskirts of town, but he knew that he had to get there early if he wanted to find anything worth selling.

As he walked, he thought about his life and how little he had to show for it. He was only twelve years old, but he had already been working at the garbage site for two years, ever since his father had died in a construction accident. His mother was sick and couldn't work, so it was up to him to provide for his family.

Tom had always dreamed of a better life, of living in a big house with plenty of food and toys and books. He had watched the rich kids in town from afar, envy gnawing at his insides like a hungry rat. He wanted to be like them, to have everything they had and more.

As he approached the garbage site, he saw that the usual group of scavengers was already there, picking through the trash for anything they could sell or use. Tom joined them, his eyes scanning the piles of garbage for anything valuable.

As he dug through the refuse, his thoughts turned to the future. He knew that this was no way to live, that he deserved more than scraps from other people's garbage. He vowed to himself that one day he would rise above his circumstances, that he would become someone powerful and wealthy, someone who could never be looked down upon again.

Little did he know, this determination would be the first step on a long and dangerous path that would take him places he never imagined, and change him in ways he could never have foreseen.