Old Guy Revenger - Short Story About Life Lessons

I work as a porter in a traditional market and I still live alone because I spend all of my money on alcohol, gambling, and prostitution. Im a cocky person who lived alone in a simple house made of plywood, the leftovers of my parents, who I don't know where they are now.

Almost every day, I would ask the owner of the grocery store near my house for free cigarettes. Sometimes I paid, and sometimes I just left if he refused. But most of the time, I just threatened to force him to give me free cigarettes with an excuse to put me in debt, though I never paid it.

One night, I drank too much and in the morning I realized that my vision had become blurry. I still can go to the doctor because I can see the shape of light and shadow, but the doctor told me that my vision is 10% left and I am probably on the edge of blindness. I can recover but it's had a small chance and at max, only 50% of my vision will recover.

Right the next day, my vision is getting worse, I can see light and shadow but it's shapeless now. I ask for help from my neighbors to guide me into the traditional market for work, but none of them help me --except that old guy the store owner. 

Make me feel ashamed after all of the bad things that I've done to him, he still wants to help me. Even he asked to fetch me back home when I've done with my job. I refused because later I would ask for help from someone in the market whose house is in the same direction.

To work as a porter in the market, I just have to put my hand on one of my coworkers' shoulders and follow him wherever he goes and whatever he tells me to do. After those years I feel so grateful again, despite my cockyness and my bad behavior, I still have kind people around me.

I refused to buy a white cane and just used wood sticks because I believed that I would get better soon. Then COVID cases increased all around the world. I'm one of the cocky people that believe Indonesia will not be affected at all. We think this because we live in the equatorial region where sunlight shines best so the virus won't survive the heat.

But it turns out COVID-19 can still infect Indonesia and I was the one who got infected a couple weeks later after the first case. For a whole week, I just laid in bed didn't do anything and hardly breathed each night.

That old guy who owns the store is the one who helps me again. Despite the government restriction about self-isolation for people who are infected, three times a day, that old guy came to my bed and helped me eat, drink, and gave me paracetamol as medicine. 

I dont know is this his form of revenge, when I was sick, the old guys will ask me to play a random game. The game that we played is a simple game such rock paper scissor, open close hand bluff or fact, guessing a poker card is higher/lower, simple hand clap, and look that way game.

When he loses, there is no punishment on him, but when I lose, I will get some random punishment like, getting slapped in my head, stomach, or genitals, drinking more water, blowing my eyeball, tickling, and pinching my nose, ears, even my face skin. It makes me pissed because of the unfairness and he can do this in hours to me without saying anything. 

When my weak body tried to do something to punish him, he just easily stopped my movement. Right after I recovered, somehow I felt so scared of that Old guy. I thanked him for taking care of me even though inside I still feel kind of pissed. 

But since that day I have my respect for that old guys. Even I started to prefer avoid interaction with him. I thought he was such a psychopath or something. I'm getting less going to his store and paid all the things that I bought from him. 

My vision recovered only 40% and I decided to buy a white cane for myself. I've learned to be strong u don't have to be much talking and doing bad dominance shit, u can be silent in patience and people still think ur deadly.

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