🔴 Recording: Day 1 "I hated being at the center of attention. I really did. And I think I still do. At school.. I don't think I ever made a friend. Fortunately, I wasn't bullied.. much. I used to be shorter when I was in junior high, much shorter than everyone else.. but then a growth spurt kicked in when I was older, probably in my second year of high school, and suddenly, I was taller than all of the bullies.. "I suppose I was a pretty good student. I didn't fail miserably, but I never wanted to or did perform exceptionally well academically. All I wanted was to get by school quickly and return home.. "At home, there was Sena.. My older sister. She was four years older than me, but it seemed like she was my mother. Our parents.. My mother committed suicide when I was six. Sena was ten. And then Dad resorted to criminal behavior to bring back food for our family. He was arrested and sent to jail when I was ten, and I've never seen him afterward. We were sent to a foster family, but one night.. it was a year later.. I remember, she - Sena - she took my hand and helped me crawl out of the house through a window in just our sleepwear and a piggy bank. God, if only I had been old enough to properly comprehend what she was doing. I had no idea she was trying to run away, you know? "Well, my sister, being the genius that she is, managed to actually return back to our old home, which was now - fortunately - abandoned. I had no idea what was happening, really, and it was only a couple years ago when I realized she had taught herself about bills and part times at the foster home.. "Without parents, it was hard. Probably more for her than it was for me.. but she never showed it. I was enrolled at the school I had always gone to, and the kind bookstore owner next door helped us out whenever a parent guardian was asked for. "I went to school... Sena went to school.. and worked.. I don't know how many part times she had. She never told me. I saw her working in the cafe one day when I was walking home from study hall. She was .. sixteen at the time? "She'd return home late. Later than I ever did. Always. I always prepared dinner for her and cleaned before she returned.. Sometimes she'd cry. Sometimes she'd be angry and rip up pieces of paper. I wasn't supposed to know because I was supposed to be asleep... "I suppose that she could have ditched me and left to be more successful at any point in time.. but she didn't. She did have dreams though. And if anyone could have accomplished them all, it wo