When I got out, the sight was appalling. There were rows of houses tightly packed with hardly any gaps between them. It was so cramped. I slowly walked around looking for Chloe’s house. I didn’t know which house it was because they all looked the same.
In Devon the houses were like palaces compared to London. Houses in Devon were so spacious and you could tell the distinctive appearance of each house individually.
The streets in Devon were very clean and hygienic. Here in London it was filthy. There were dead rats everywhere. Most of the sewage from the houses seemed like they ended up here. There were also people everywhere. I soon learnt that they were just coming back from “work”.
After inquiring about the address I finally located Chloe’s house. It was a mid terraced house. It wasn’t very big. I wondered how Chloe and her family (which consisted of her parents, three boys and two girls) could fit into this house.
When I knocked the door, an elderly woman answered the door. I didn’t recognise her at all and was confirming that I had come to the right house when she questioned, “Who are you looking my dear”. “Ohhh mmmm I’m looking for my friend Chloe Brown, but I think I’ve come to the wrong house. Sorry for disturbing you” I stammered. “Oh no dear. You’ve come to the right house all right. The Brown family live in the third portion of the basement” she replied. ‘Third section? Basement?’ I wondered very confused. Anyway I decided to go in anyway.
The house was so tiny compared to the houses in Devon. I just managed to peep and see that the living room was divided into four sections and there was a family in each section. I was shocked to see this sort of condition. In Devon each family had their own luxurious house, and most cases each child had their own room. I could imagine my mum seeing this and fainting!
I took the steps leading to the basement. It was worse than the top. The basement was also divided into four sections. I glanced around and noticed the Brown’s sitting on one corner of the basement. I assumed this was the third section of the basement.
As I walked over to section three, I saw a family crying in one section. I moved in to have a closer look and saw a young boy lying there…dead. I couldn’t take it anymore; I swiftly walked over to the Brown’s. Chloe spotted me and ran to greet me. I she ran I saw that she was dressed in a dress made out of an old rag. I felt so sad for her. She came and hugged me. I started to cry. I hadn’t seen her for two years and I couldn’t believe that our meeting was going to take place in a place like this. Chloe took me over to her section where her family were sitting on cardboard boxes sharing a slice of bread, which back in Devon wouldn’t even be enough for a cat let a lone a whole family. As I looked around I noticed that including Chloe there were only two boys and two girls. I was so sure that Chloe had three brothers so I decided to ask her about her other brother. “So where’s you’re brother. Gone out with friends or something” I inquired. Chloe burst in to tears. I didn’t know what I said would make her cry. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise that you would react like this” I apologised. “It’s OK dear” Mrs Brown answered. “Little Jack died a month ago from choler” she said. “He used to be the one that used to make this family happy with his jokes and positive attitude, but now he’s gone, it’s not the same anymore” she said. I felt really bad.
After Chloe had settled down we started to refer back to childhood days etc. After a while I was really desperate for the loo, so I asked Chloe if she could show me where it was. She took me outside the house and down road. I was really confused. A loo can’t be so far away I thought. In Devon there was at least one or even two loos in every house. Chloe led me to a shack, which contained a little hole and told me that was the loo. I couldn’t believe it. No wonder the roads were so smelly. When I saw what the loo really looked like I decided not to go right at this moment. I badly wanted a glass of water. I saw a water pump nearby and was going to go towards it when I saw that all the waste from the so called toilet was going underground passed the water pump under. No one knows what’s in that water so I decided to go back to Chloe’s house. After staying at Chloe’s house for about one hour I decided to head back home. I slowly and dejectedly walked over to Piccadilly station. It looked the same as it did before but this time even worse. I boarded the train heading back to Devon. In the journey home I thought about all the disturbing scenes I had scene that day, especially the living conditions of one of my good friends Chloe Brown and her family. I was determined to do something about it when I got home. And I did…
