"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 was alone in the city, searching for a future.
"I looked for all sorts of jobs, but nobody hired me. Maybe nobody liked someone who wasn't good with words, didn't like talking to people, and hadn't shown enough ability.
"For three whole days, I ate only two loaves of bread. Hunger kept me awake at night. Luckily, I'd paid a month's rent in advance, so I could keep living in that dark basement instead of enduring the bitterly cold winter wind outside.
"Finally, I found a job keeping watch at a hospital at night-watching over the morgue.
"The hospital at night was even colder than I'd imagined. The wall lamps in the corridors weren't lit, and everything was dim. I could only see where I was stepping by the little light spilling out of the rooms.
"It smelled awful there. Every so often, a dead person would arrive in a body bag, and we would help carry him into the morgue.
"It wasn't a very good job, but at least it let me afford bread. I could also use the spare time at night to study. After all, few people wanted to visit the morgue unless a body needed to be delivered or taken away for cremation. Of course, I didn't have enough money to buy books yet, 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 landed a job like this.
"I dreamed of getting a turn on the day shift. Always sleeping when the sun came up and getting up