540 Bronx
New York in midsummer is always restless, noisy, and bustling. The rolling setting sun and lively lights cast on the night that is reluctant to fall, rendering large tracts of purple, magnificent and mysterious, like Atlantis. Like the dome of Sri Lanka, there is an unknown country hidden, interpreting a desirable but frightening story..
However, no one will raise their heads and look up at the sky, no one will calm down and look at the sky, no one will stop to appreciate the beautiful scenery. The busy rhythm urges the hurried footsteps, hurry up, hurry up ; The heavy pressure was pressing on the fragile shoulders with all its strength, and it was almost impossible to lift the head... The expressions on the faces were numb and blank, and occasionally caught a glance, empty and indifferent.
This is the Bronx. It’s not Manhattan, it’s not Brooklyn, it’s not even Queens. It’s also part of New York, but it’s more like an abandoned corner of the world. It’s become the world’s first city, the big city that everyone wants to take a bite of. There is an indelible stain on Apple that, like a moth, deeply connects New York to the United States..
This is one of the areas with the highest crime rate in the United States. It is one of the areas with the highest concentrations of African Americans, Latinos and illegal immigrants. It is one of the areas with the most frequent drug dealing and prostitution. This is one of the worst areas for policing...and one of the forgotten, God-forsaken areas of New York..
Dilapidated streets, old buildings, dirty pavements, decaying vegetation, flickering street lights, abandoned storefronts, the whole area is deserted. It is under the same sky as Manhattan, but they are clearly two worlds. , it seems that as long as you cross that bridge, you will go from heaven to hell..
At this time, a black girl about thirteen or fourteen years old was standing on the street. She was carrying a pink schoolbag and wearing a cheap white graffiti short-sleeved T-shirt. She tied the hem high and paired it with a Water pink sequined shorts, with a circle of bright pink fluff at the bottom of the pants. On her feet, she wears a pair of thick-heeled sneakers with a pair of pink ankle boots. Her long black hair is tied into two big strands. braids.
She was yelling at a middle-aged black man. The reason was that the man seemed to have peeked at her just now. She strongly suspected that the man was following her and had plans for her, so she exposed the other man's trick in public..
I saw her confidently supporting her waist, cursing at a louder pitch, and changing the pattern of her unpleasant swear words. She continued to curse for five minutes, but nothing happened the same. The middle-aged man tried to leave, but she still persisted. He grabbed the other party's briefcase and seemed to have made up his mind that he would never give up on this matter easily..
It was not yet nine o'clock. Some people had just finished dinner, some were preparing to enjoy dinner, and some had just returned home from get off work. People were coming and going on the street. It couldn't be called turbulent, but it was really lively. But the people coming and going were not surprised. Weird, I didn’t even have the intention to watch the excitement, let alone stop to see the uneven road. I bypassed these two entangled people and left straight away. A unique scene formed on the street..
The black girl had the upper hand, and the middle-aged man was losing ground. Things seemed to be going on like this, and it would end with the man losing money. But then something unexpected happened, and the girl suddenly stopped the man who was passing by. A passerby then yelled. The other person glanced at him and then quickly moved away. Is this racial discrimination?？
The passerby was a white man about forty years old.
This white man was really innocent. After he was stopped, he looked helplessly at the girl in front of him and defended her for a few words. Unexpectedly, this move completely angered her. She ignored the middle-aged man just now and was so aggressive. They were clamoring to call the police, go to court, and sue the other party for racial discrimination. The white people who were losing ground suddenly fell into an embarrassing situation with no way out..
Pedestrians across the street stopped, looked at the scene in front of them, and then began to cheer, "Teach this bitch a lesson, ho ho ho ho!" One curse after another, and street slang was used without interruption. , even the local aborigines who have lived here in New York for many years may not be able to understand it..
With the encouragement, the girl became more energetic. It was not until the white man took out his police badge and pistol to prove his identity that the situation at the scene was reversed..
The girl kept swearing, saying that the police were bullying ordinary people, and she was still a minor, and she would never compromise. But, after all, the girl finally stepped back and gave up. A white man turned around and grabbed the middle-aged man who had not left just now. After extorting a sum of money, the excitement was over..
The white police officer didn't stop at all, turned around and left, leaving the mess behind him..
Twenty dollars. The middle-aged man gave the girl twenty dollars, and then the matter was written off. No one investigated whether the middle-aged man really committed a crime or was wrongly accused; and no one investigated whether the girl was really in danger. , or malicious extortion; to be precise, no one cares about this excitement.
Except Renly.
Quietly, Renly sat cross-legged at the door of the abandoned warehouse across the street. His overalls concealed the camera in his right hand, recording the entire process. It was not to seek justice, but just to record, to record the most authentic Bronk. Si, rough and primitive, violent and dull, depressive and cold.
Under those fresh faces, there is no outline of the soul, just like a walking corpse. Life seems to have ended long ago, but it is still walking, but the brilliance and charm are no longer in those eyes. That name The white police officer is like this, the black middle-aged man is like this, and the underage girl is like this..
Renly looked at the underage girl carefully. After receiving twenty dollars, she took it for granted. She was not elated or had any mood swings. She just stuffed the green banknotes into her pocket and leaned against the lamppost of the traffic light. , standing there chewing gum hard in his mouth, swinging his schoolbag strap nonchalantly.
There was a stubborn and unruly look on that childish face. Facing the light of the setting sun, you could see the cheap eyeshadow smeared on the eyelids, large swaths of purple unevenly spread out, and the bright colors on the lips. The lipstick has escaped the tenderness of age and is stained by the vicissitudes of life. The eyes hidden in the shadows cannot be seen clearly, and only the indifference and decadence between the eyebrows can be captured..
The girl's eyes boldly and wantonly looked at the pedestrians around her, as if looking for the next scapegoat. Her petite and thin figure, reflected against the mottled and dilapidated gray buildings behind her, looked like she was standing in front of the mouth of a giant beast. The lamb, but still didn't notice the danger coming; or maybe, he knew the danger was coming, but still didn't care..
This is the Bronx, and right in front of us is the young generation living in the Bronx. The young generation who should carry the hope for the future have lost their vitality and determination to make progress. Their eyes and faces are numb and unyielding, just like a mixed bag. It's like grass, growing unyieldingly, but it's just growing, connecting wantonly and messily along the roots of the wall..
Renly sighed softly, but there was no fuss before. This was his tenth day living in the Bronx. This was not the first time he had seen such a teenager, and similarly, this would not be the last..
When he saw it for the first time, he felt a slight tightness in his chest. He thought of Heather, himself, and the children at Mount Sinai Hospital. They lived so tenaciously and resisted the entanglement of the disease. I hope that I can persevere a little longer on the road of life, get closer to my dreams, and get closer; but these teenagers in front of me choose to give up so easily, as if everything has lost its meaning, he is angry, he hates, he Sighing, he is desperate, he hates that iron cannot become steel……
But gradually, that feeling of heartache turned into helplessness and sadness..
Behind this girl's indifference, there is a quagmire that she cannot get out of. Maybe her father is an addict, burdened with countless debts, squandering everything in the family, and even forcing his children to go out/***, if that's all , this is still good, but what is worse is that her father may still rape his own child. She tried to resist, but was beaten to a bloody head. She tried to call the police, but nothing happened. She tried to escape, but there was nowhere to escape.
Maybe, her story is even worse. Or maybe, there are stories worse than hers everywhere..
The day before yesterday, there was an accidental car accident on the street. A motorcycle crashed into a large truck due to emergency braking. The owner of the motorcycle flew out directly, with bloody flesh and brains bursting. Renly happened to pass by the scene and saw the ambulance arriving. At the scene, several teenagers standing on the roadside, who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old, were laughing and pointing at the lifeless body and discussing trivial matters such as how to clean the road and how to dispose of the body..
Renly didn't want to go deep into his imagination. He didn't know what they had gone through to make them face death so indifferently. Maybe death was already a part of life for them; or maybe their hands were stained with blood..
After only living in the Bronx for ten days - less than ten days, Renly witnessed the vicissitudes and despair of this area, as if falling into a bottomless abyss, falling continuously, slowly and quietly, But I don’t know when it will land. Maybe, it will never happen..
The green light turned into a red light, and the vehicles began to move again. But the girl seemed to have seen her own signal, and took steps, just like a model passing a catwalk, crossing the zebra crossing. The drivers were honking their horns anxiously and frantically, and the girl Instead, I enjoyed this moment more and more. I walked across the road and then passed Renly..
He glanced down, then walked over casually, muttering, "What are you looking at? Have you never seen such a beautiful woman? Wipe the saliva from your mouth!" He rolled his eyes and continued. Swaying, walking away.
welcome to the bronx.
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