He was originated from a distant place, and the path to his destiny, the treasure of socks, was long, he was not afraid though, he have seen a lot for a young lad, he experienced fire and rain, and managed to survive some struggles, like the death of his grandparents and the disappearance of his older cousin.
He was very close to grandpa and grandma D’Onofrio, the parents of his dear father. It’s not that he didn’t like his other grandparents, parents of his dear mother, but those grandparents were special. They raised young D’onofrio and it was because of them that he loves socks so much; he got his first ones and his yellow suitcase from his grandpa, who told him:
“This suitcase is a very special one! Inside of it, you’ll find your first true socks, not those boring socks many use, but truly special ones! When you are with them think about your old fellow here.”
One day his grandparents went on a trip across the sea to visit the city of Sonía. Unfortunately, Grandpa D’onofrio fell ill and the only place he could properly seek assistance was in Sonía. Grandma D’onofrio and his cousin, which was taking care of grandpa, followed him in the trip. Young D’onofrio could not go with them, and stayed home with his father and mother.
Then, something happened, couple of weeks later, the family received a letter from an admiral, it said the ship faced a huge storm, quite unusual for this time of year, and got lost in the ocean. At some point, it sank. Recovered it were the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. D’onofrio, some days later, at the nearest beach, but his cousin was missing, no one could tell if he was alive or not.
Those news destroyed Zach. He cried, and shouted of anger and sadness, the feeling of loss burnt inside of him; he got depressed, in a scary way for a teenager. Disgusted he was by everything, including himself. He locked himself in his bedroom, and he let the pain consume him. Days passed, and even weeks, and there he, completely crushed, was. His parents did everything in their power to exorcise the misery out of him, with no success. They broke in his room two days after he locked himself there, and they did everything they could, with no success.
Some months later, Zach was not in this state anymore, but he was depressed, he was sad, he didn’t say a word to anyone, he was not disgusted at anything anymore, but he didn’t find joy in anything either, he just wanted his grandparents back. He was aware of the fact that this was impossible, and that was terrible for him to know. He wore his grandfather clothes for a while, they were huge in him, and it was never going to work, so he got similar ones, on his right size. He wore his grandpa’s tophat, and only had something similar to happiness when using it.
A year later, he started to recover; he now had a wardrobe filled with fancy colorful clothes, just like the ones of his grandfather. He idolized him; he slept hugging his yellow suitcase. His parents were relieved that he was at his feet again, they did not mind his weird behavior at all, in the end we are all weirdos.
Later on, he dedicated himself to keep making the sock collection bigger and bigger, he went everywhere in his town looking for socks, trading money and his services for socks. Zach was a superb singer, he would sing beautifully in exchange of some money, so he could buy more socks, and some socks too, from the people in the crowd, but only the nice ones. He started to bring joy to people around him, and everyone started to like him. Zach was not happy but he had a purpose now, he was a sock collector and he carried the legacy of his grandfather with him. All the previous dramas of his life, all of them, deep buried it were, finished, when his grandparents died in that storm. At a point, Zach could not remember how he was before his grandparents died, and his cousin went missing, and he didn’t want to remember, he was managed now, he was fine, not happy, but fine, he was singing, he was getting socks, and he started to travel. He was scared of vehicles, his grandparents died in one of them, so he was always walking to his destinies. He never complained of any pain, he was never tired, he was never sweating, even on the hottest days, it’s like he got superpowers after that tragic event. All his feeling, shut down it were. He was not getting sad ever again. He was not going to cry, he was not going to shout in pain, he felt no pain. He was in joy, he didn’t want to be happy, he just wanted to get away from the pain, he wanted socks and he wanted to sing, and that was precisely what he dedicated his life to, this was him when he was 19. Not happy, but with a purpose: singing and getting socks.
He’d travel further and further away, in the beginning he’d return to his hometown, but as he got more and more famous, and started to collect more money, he started to not coming back, and he went further and further away. His parents missed him deeply, but he’d always write to them and give them news. D’onofrio didn’t want to come back though, at a certain point, he was convinced of the fact that his town was the place of his depression, he wanted to honor his grandparent, he wanted to follow his idol and one day, who knows, be happy, and therefore he didn’t want to return to the past. He’d have to come home though, eventually, but not now, just another town, just another place, next year “I’ll come back, I promise. Let me just amplify my sock collection more and more, and then I’ll return to my mom and dad, but first just another town, just another place. I don’t want to return just yet.”
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