"I was a failure. I hardly ever noticed whether the sun was shining or not, because I had no time.
"My parents couldn't support me, and I wasn't well educated. Alone in the city, I searched for a future.
"I looked for many jobs, but none would hire me. Maybe nobody liked someone who wasn't good at talking, didn't enjoy socializing, and hadn't shown enough ability.
"For three whole days, I ate only two loaves of bread. Hunger kept me awake at night. Fortunately, I had paid a month's rent in advance, so I could keep living in that dark basement instead of going outside to endure the unusually frigid winter wind.
"Finally, I found a job. I worked nights at a hospital, guarding the morgue.
"The hospital was even colder at night than I had imagined. The corridor wall lamps weren't lit, and everything was dim. I could only rely on the faint light spilling out from the rooms to see where I was stepping.
"It smelled terrible there. From time to time, workers brought in the dead, stuffed inside body bags, and we helped carry them into the morgue.
"It wasn't a very good job, but at least I could afford bread. I could also use my free time at night to study. After all, no one wanted to come to the morgue unless a corpse needed to be delivered or taken away for cremation. Of course, I still didn't have enough money to buy books, and I couldn't see any hope of saving any up.
"I had to thank my former colleague. If he hadn't suddenly quit, I might not even have gotten a job like this.
"I dreamed of rotating onto the day shift. Sleeping when the sun came up and getting up after night fell