Scene writing. Literature and Language Assignment. Scene Writing-Dealing with Grief

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Scene Writing-Dealing with Grief
I am greatly thankful to the almighty, my mother, family members and close friends for believing and in guiding me through a difficult period in my life. A few years back, not so many people would have imagined that I would get the opportunity to join college and have the chance to build a better life. Let me elaborate by starting my life story from the beginning to allow for a clear understanding of where the rain started beating me and how I eventually managed to find some shade.
I was born and brought up in a poverty-stricken neighborhood where crime, drugs and substance abuse was the order of the day. My father worked at a local timber factory and was the sole breadwinner of our family. My mother did odd jobs here and there such as house chores for the affluent homesteads on the other side of town but her income was too meagre and inconsistent to depend on. As such, my father was forced to pull long hours particularly to ensure that we at least had a meal a day and to pay for school tuition expenses for my young brother and I. I could see how it took a great toll on him but he never complained and only urged us to always take care of each other, put in extra efforts in our studies and stay away from trouble. He was my role model and although I wanted to become a lawyer later on in life, I prayed and hoped that I would take up his work ethic and his principles on life and family. We were getting by with the little that we had, but as fate would have it, when it rains it pours. My father was caught in a crossfire involving opposing gangs one evening on his way back home and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. I was completely devastated when police officers broke the news to us. I couldn’t understand how God would take away the only person and hope we had in life. My father had lived a righteous life. He avoided all temptations that characterized our neighborhood and made an honest living. The biblical and religious phrase that all things happen for a reason made zero sense to me at that moment.
I became depressed and despite efforts by my mother to convince me that life moves on and that everything will be ok with time, I remained adamant on seeking a reason for the challenges that were continuously being thrown at us. Eventually, these thoughts got the better of me and I resorted to using drugs to suppress them. Our neighborhood was heavily ravaged by the drug menace and many people were addicted to heavy narcotics including cocaine and heroin. These types of drugs were therefore easily and cheaply available. Since I was still a student and had no income, I was forced to join a local gang to quench my daily dosage of cocaine. I needed just enough drugs into my system to reset the clock to the point my father was still around and there was so much hope about the future. Through the gang, we perpetrated petty criminal activities such as breaking into people’s homesteads while they were away and mugging individuals and strip...