chain story

”A MATTER OF CHOICES” – multilateral project within the framework of the Lifelong Learning Programme, the Comenius subprogramme

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication/ communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Chain storyBelow you will find an outline of Tom’s story (1), as well as the list of who sends to whom (2)

and finally the preamble to the story (3). We look forward to finding out, where the story goes

from here.

1) This is a story about a boy named Tom. He has a problem with alcohol. Tom’s

life is starting to fall apart after he discovered alcohol. His marks have dropped

dramatically, and he only talk to those of his friends, who like to drink. He rarely

even shows up to class anymore, he is just having a hard time right now. Tom

has no control over his addiction of alcohol. He drinks when he is angry, sad and

confused. He drinks most of the time due to his feelings. His physical standings

is not optimal at this point of his life. Tom’s friends are starting to get worried;

they can see that he is feeling lonely. They think it would be a good idea to cheer

him up...

2) Denmark → Austria → Latvia → Turkey → Scotland → Poland → Portugal →

Romania → Belgium → Denmark

Tom’s story

“Tom, you better get in here,” the voice of his father was stern, and Tom knew that his dad had

found the report card. The marks he had gotten the last time were so bad that he was in doubt

of whether he would be able to become a carpenter. To be honest he did not even know, if he

wanted to become a carpenter. He just wanted to be left alone without any demanding tasks



from his parents or the school. All he wanted to do was to hang out with Jim and Susan,

partying and drinking.

“Good morning, dad.” Tom smiled and tried to appear calm, even though it was a bloody

chaos inside of him.

“Your headmaster called last night, telling me that you are skipping classes and that your

marks have dropped considerable. Please tell me, Tom, what is going on?”

Tom swallowed hard, knowing that he had to tell his dad something. Having no control over

his growing addiction of alcohol, Tom knew deep down that he needed help. He could help

drinking when he was anger, sad, upset or just plain happy. Drinking was a way out for him. A

way for him not to deal with school and his dad. Tom did not want to talk to his parents, he just

wanted to get the hell out of there and join his friends. Susan would be ready to party, even

though it was still early morning, and if he texted Jim, he might call in ill and join them.

Austrian contribution:

„Sorry dad, I’m gonna meet some friends to study for our maths exam next week. Don’t

worry, everything’s gonna be alright, I’m trying hard to succeed.” He rushed out of the

flat, calling Susan to come over to the local shabby supermarket near the old train

station. He was sure that the old shortsighted cash lady wouldn’t notice his age.

Wickedly Susan whispered to him: “I wonder how much booze we can get for 5 bucks.

Do you have any money on you? Remember I got fired last week.” “Oh, that’s a pity, but

me, I got no money on me either. Well, in that case we have to find another way. The

old witch won’t realise anything.”, Tom said.

Taking a short look around, Tom hid the bottle of vodka in his coat 45% of alcohol

would do a good job. In the meantime Susan was talking to the old lady, trying to

distract her, knowing that she was keen on talking about cats. Fortunately, as expected,

their plan worked out well. In the backyard of a closed down factory they talked about



their family and job problems and drowned their sorrows in the liquid.

In a moment of silence they looked into each other’s eyes and somehow felt a strange

connection, invented by the alcohol. But suddenly Susan went insane. She couldn’t

cope with the closeness. The young drug addict intentionally dropped the bottle of

alcohol and ran away.

(244 words)

Latvia continues:

For a moment Tom sat still, watching Susan running farther and father. “I had never

noticed that Susan could run so fast… By the way, she has nice legs. Yeah... Stop!

What the hell is going on? What has just happened? And where is she running? What

should I do? Am I supposed to run after her?” these were the thoughts that almost

simultaneously arouse in Tom’s head. Before he could change his mind, he stood up

and ran after Susan. He stopped just for a while at the waste container to take the last

healing sip from almost empty vodka bottle and threw it into container. There was no

use to carry it around with just a couple of drops inside, furthermore Tom was absolutely

sure he would get another bottle soon, he just needed to get this girl. This insane who

so abruptly ran away! But where was she? For some minutes Tom just continued

running into the direction Susan disappeared, not knowing where he was heading.

Maybe he should stop or change direction? Maybe he should just forget Susan and call

Jim? Anyway Jim might skip some classes, who cares? And then finally when Tom

decided to give up, he saw Susan. She was standing in front of a local shabby

supermarket near the old train station, the same where just some hours ago they stole

vodka. Tom shook his head in disbelief, “Is she really crazy?” For a moment Susan

stood still and from Tom’s perspective it looked that she was admiring the window. After

a moment of hesitation Susan walked towards the shop’s entrance….

(269 words)



Turkey For a while , Tom hesitated what to do.He listened to his inner voice but couldn’t come up with any proper idea. Then, suddenly he ran towards Susan , grabbed her arm they both went into the market. While Tom was talking to the cashier , Susan stole the vodka unwillingly .On that rainy night , they walked to the beach , not speaking any word. The rain calmed down as they reached there. Sat together , began chattering about what was happening to Tom in those days.It was sincere,relaxing chat. Tom’s face glittered with passion and happiness under the light of Moon. As he was remembering the past,he was talking about his future, Susan listened to him silently not showing any piece of approval. Tom’s voice filled with sorrow and clemency, he went on trying to solve why he was behaving in such a way .Was the alcohol not the solution , but it was the escape. Notwithstanding the fact that he knew the answer ,he couldn’t behave consciously. He sat as if he wanted help.Sipping her vodka,Susan told him that he could be braver and can come over his problems. For some time,they sat in silence as though a magical hand will lighten them up.Then, Susan came closer and closer to Tom unhesitatedly when a familiar voice heard behind them.Yes,it was Jim ,with a relief,Tom felt something deep inside him, but couldn’t describe what it was.Jim was walking towards them when…(244 words)

ScotlandThe alcohol had finally hit Sarah, they had drunk almost two bottles of Vodka between

them and Sarah was feeling the worst of it. She threw up the contents of her stomach all

over the ground. The smell was foul and rotten but Tom had drunk far too much to mind

something like the smell of vomit. He was more interested in the appearance of Jim and

the feeling in his stomach. There was something odd about it, like the feeling he got

when he and Sarah were getting closer, but this was stronger.

”You guys look trashed.” Jim joked, a smile lit up his face and brightened his eyes.

”Can’t believe you didn’t invite me sooner” There was no hint of malice nor jealousy in

his voice and that fact made Tom feel better. He had been battling his feelings for some

time now, and if he thought long enough and hard enough about it, he was sure that he

knew what his problem was and that it was not easily fixed.Society had mocked people

like him for a long time, and he was sure it wasn’t going to change anytime soon, but he



knew that the feelings he felt for Jim were far stronger than any feelings he could hold

for Sarah – or for any other girl for that matter. He had begun drinking as a way to dull

the feelings, to become ’normal’ whatever that was, but now he couldn’t stop. He

needed alcohol like he needed to breathe and breathing was a difficult thing to stop

doing. There was no denying it, he was in love with Jim, and drinking to forget about it.

Sarah must have worked it out because when she stood up there was a fury behind her

eyes that could not be misplaced...

(302 words.)

Poland“Sarah, what's wrong?” Tom asked politely but received no answer. She was just

sitting on the rock holding a bottle of vodka in her hands. What was the girl thinking

about at that moment? Tom could only wonder. “I'm tired and wasted, time to go home”

said Jim and left his friends alone like he didn't want to interrupt them. Tom was unsure

what he wanted.His friend Sarah was drinking and looking in the distance. “Why did you

lie to me? What did I ever do to you? I don't deserve it!” Sarah was angry as she had

never been before. “What do you mean!? I don't get you!” asked Tom, he really didn't

know Sarah's intentions, but the girl dropped an empty bottle and ran away. “Did she

really think I would like to be with her, maybe she knows about...” Tom thought for a

moment and then heard a crash sound. He ran to the nearest road and saw his friend

Sarah lying on the road near the destroyed car. Ten minutes later an ambulance arrived

and took Tom's friend to hospital. “Oh no! No! I hope everything will be alright... If

something really bad happens to her... it will be my fault!” Tom thought and called Jim

immediately. “What!? Sarah!? Come to my house quickly! We need to go to the hospital

together!” said Jim on the phone. Tom was very afraid of his friend’s health.If she died,

he would be with Jim all alone.As he has always liked to spend time with him, now he

couldn't think about anything cheerful. He went to Jim's house. “Before we go to the



hospital, let's have a drink – that will help us.” and they started drinking... after 15

minutes a bottle of vodka was half empty. Two hours later Jim got drunk and Tom was

completely wasted – they forgot about going to visit their friend Sarah...(322 words)

PORTUGAL

Tom slowly opened his eyes. Everything was a bit blurry and grey. “Where am I?” He

looked around and saw some garbage and wreckage on the floor, a stained mattress

with holes and rotten clothes all over the floor. Broken furniture and dirt, lots of dirt. As

he woke up, not realizing that his head was bleeding, he started to feel the awful,

disgusting smell of animals and human dejects and felt even sicker. “My breath

stinks…”

“Where am I?” this time he was able to articulate the words and he heard the sound of

his voice. “My head is killing me…”

He sat on the stained mattress. “Think”

He took the hands to his jeans pocket and found that he didn’t have his wallet nor his

phone. “Damn!”

With not much hope he looked around him to see if they had fallen while he had been

sleeping. “Stupid, of course not, you were robbed”.

He remembered that he and Jim had been drinking and then… blackout.

“Oh my God! Sarah’s in the hospital!” – he remembered the sound of the hit, the

ambulance and saying “Don’t worry, we’ll meet you there”… He couldn’t believe he

didn’t go. Sarah was alone. “Great friends we are…”

“My head really hurts” – he thought. “I need to find something for the pain”. He rubbed

his forehead, in an attempt to clear things up and when he looked at his hand he saw

blood! “Oh no, I’m hurt! What happened?” Blackout…he was so drunk he didn’t even

recall the drug addict that was nearby, waiting. When they were pretty wasted, he



knocked Tom on the head and, easily, he passed out. He dragged him inside the

condemned house – a well known place for drug addicts and drunks to hide out – and

stole his money and mobile phone. An Iphone 5 would raise him enough money for the

daily doses of heroin. Also, he took his Nike tennis shoes, they would be nice to sell on

the streets too, they were in good shape.

“These sick drug addicts!”… and suddenly he realized… “I’m no different from them, I

constantly look for my daily fix of my drug: alcohol”. “ I tell myself that I drink because I

have problems with my parents, they don’t understand me; that I don’t fit this world; that

I don’t have enough love; that I don’t know if I’m attracted to girls or boys… all excuses,

all I want is to get wasted and drink for any reason”. “The only difference between me

and that boy that robbed me is that I am still lucky and my family still gives me a house

to sleep, hot meals everyday and enough pocket money”. “If they didn’t, maybe I would

sleep here and rob, even kill others for some money”.

He then realized how easy it was to cross the line. To hit the bottom. “I’m just a step

away”.

He then decided to go to the hospital. But not to check on Sarah. He would do that later.

“Oh the sun is so strong, wish it was raining, this light is blinding me and makes my

head hurt even more”. But he kept walking. He took a decision: “I will look for help”. (540 words)ROMANIA

No sooner had he stepped into the hospital than the pugnant smell of death hit him, knocking

the sense back into the boy. It only took one look around for every cell in Tom’s body to scream

”Go back!” – his conscience was fortunately stronger,so he carried on walking through the dim

lit corridors until he reached the Pediatric section,not realizing his purpose until he was already

sitting in front of Sarah’s room.The fog in his head was too thick for him to make a decision by

himselfhe needed someone.He needed Sarah.

Tom lightly knocked and then entered in the eerie salon.All oxygen was knocked from his chest



when he saw his friend lying there,so helpless,connected to all kind of tubes and cables.

”Tom,you’re finally here!”

The boy didn’t miss the accusatory tone in her wordshe just quietly sat next to Sarah.He was

startled when she reached out to softly touch his hand.

”Tom,look at me.Do you want the same thing to happen to you?”

The coldness of her skin raised goosebumps on him.She looked carved in ivory,not one bit of

colour in her cheeks.”Listen to me.You have to go get help,or else you will end up

here.Please,for me.Promise me.”

Tom didn’t reply – all at once,the consequences of his action fell heavy on his shoulders.He

thought he’d found salvation in the drinks he consumed. But maybe all he needed was the love

of a friend.

”I promise” he whispered.

He looked down at her,a new fondness in his heart,and decided to follow her advice.The boy

stood up to find a nurse,assuring Sarah he’d come back later.Getting help couldn’t be quite as

bad as getting lost at the bottom of a bottle everyday,looking for his selfworth,he thought.

Belgium :

Tom was wandering the halls of the hospital. Sometimes he almost thought he saw a nurse that

looked kind enough. But at the last moment, he always changed his mind. One time he even

spoke to a nurse, but he didn’t have the heart to ask her for help. So he just asked where he

could find a bathroom. He was going to walk out of the hospital and get himself a drink, maybe

he could find some courage there. But as he walked to the exit, images of his friend Sarah

flashed through his mind. Doubt came creeping over him like a shadow, and without thinking he

turned around, went to the first nurse he saw and started to talk to her. He explained he had a

drinking problem he wanted to get rid of, and that he would like some help. She took him over to

a waiting room. “Would you like something to eat or drink my dear? I will tell the staff to get you

the help you need. And I will get someone to look at your head, you’re bleeding “ the nurse said.

Tom just wanted some help, he didn’t need food or water. And that’s what he told her. Her name

was Suzy, he could see it on her nametag. Suzy went to the hallway, where he heard her say “



the poor kid needs help, he doesn’t have any money, no cellphone, he is injured! “. A man

answered that they couldn’t help if Tom couldn’t pay. Suzy came back in a few seconds later,

and before she could even ask, Tom started to give her the phone number of his parents. She

was surprised that he already knew what she was going to ask, and even more surprised that

he still had parents.

(303 words)

It has been a year since Tom got into rehab. In the beginning it was very difficult for

Tom, the thought of quitting was almost irresistible. But as the time passed and the days

turned to weeks and the weeks turned to months, it got easier. During the time in rehab,

Tom has had no connection with Susan or Jim. Tom was not allowed to contact any of

his friends.

But now his time in rehab is over, and he has become alcohol free. His parents have

come to pick him up at the rehab. His mom gave him a big hug. His father gave him a

handshake and said to him “I’m proud of you”. When they got home the rest of his

family was there to greet him. Tom felt free, he no longer had a craving need for

alcohol, and that’s a feeling he hadn’t had in a long time. Tom’s father came to him and

told him that he should go to his room, and there was someone waiting for him in there.

He wouldn’t tell who, but Tom already knew, it was his best friends Jim and Susan.

When he walked into the room, they jumped right at him to give him a hug.

It was nice talking with his friends again. Susan stopped drinking after the accident, and

so did Jim. The event had had such an effect on them that they both agreed to quit

drinking.

They talked for hours. But something was different between Jim and Susan, in the

beginning he wasn’t quite sure, but now he knew. Jim and Susan were together now.

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