"I was a failure. I hardly ever noticed whether the sun was shining, because I had no time.
"My parents couldn't support me, and I didn't have much education. I searched for a future alone in the city.
"I applied for many jobs, but no one hired me. Perhaps nobody liked someone who wasn't good with words, disliked communicating, and hadn't demonstrated enough ability.
"For three whole days, I ate only two loaves of bread. Hunger kept me awake at night. Luckily, I had paid a month's rent in advance, so I could keep living in that dark basement instead of braving the unusually bitter winter winds outside.
"At last, I found a job keeping watch at a hospital at night-watching over its morgue.
"The hospital was even colder at night than I had imagined. The wall lamps in the corridors weren't lit, and everything was dim. I could only rely on the little light spilling out of the rooms to see where I was stepping.
"It smelled terrible there. From time to time, dead people arrived stuffed into body bags, and we helped carry them into the morgue.
"It wasn't a very good job, but at least it let me afford bread. I could also use my spare time at night to study. After all, hardly anyone wanted to visit the morgue unless a body needed to be delivered or taken away for cremation. Of course, I still didn't have enough money to buy books, and for now, I saw no hope of saving any.
"I had my former colleague to thank. If he hadn't suddenly quit, I might not even have gotten a job like this.
"I dreamed of being rotated onto the day shift. Always sleeping when the sun rose and getting up after nightfall had left