The Hall
(This entire story is 100% true. It is up to you if you want to believe it or not)

My Uncle lives in Harlem, New York, He is the most badass dude I've ever met. He is like a big brother, role model and friend to me. I used to go to my grandma’s in New York every spring break. My uncle Jose (not really blood related) would pick me up every day he had off work and we would bond and have fun. We stand outside the apartment and talk and hang out. One day we saw three guys walking down the street with fake gold chains and baggy pants and sideways hats. They were “wanna-be gangsters”. My uncle grew up in Harlem. He struggled a lot and he had friends who joined gangs and died so these kind of people made him mad because he knew they didn't know what it was really like to be “gangster.”

We hopped in his car, and we drove a few blocks down into what they call crack alley. It was where all the tweakers and gang members were.This is the complete opposite of anything I’d ever witnessed. Remember I was a 13-year-old white boy, I stuck out like a sore thumb. We drove up to two apartment buildings facing each other. We walked over to a concrete shed with reinforced windows. Jose’s, my uncle, knocks on the door. Someone unlocks three locks. Jose’s friend Emilio saw us and he was really  surprised. He explained to me the right building is where the Blood gang lives and the left building is where the Crip gang lives. He said sometimes one gang member of each gang would walked out and gun battles would go off. Emilio took us around back and opened a huge steel door.

Emilio told me to walk in first. I smelled this odor so awful that I thought I was going to throw up. It stunk so bad the odor hit me like a freight train. I started to walk in and then I  stopped dead in  my tracks. The hall is a dimly lit hall with white concrete doors. It was freezing in here.

Emilio showed me these three huge holes in the wall he said were from a gun fight last week. My stomach dropped. He showed me the way these guys get drugs.
A drug dealer comes to the door and knocks. One guy opens the door really fast the other graps the dude and everyone starts to beat him up. They take the drugs and throw out the dealer. He says 90% of the dealers don't live.

My uncle and his friend start to walk down the hall and turn I had to move, I saw blood stains everywhere.
This hall was full of broken beer bottles and other trash. He opened the door to the apartment and the stench hit me again, I almost passed out.

We walked up to the second story and I peeked around the corner and I saw a body on the floor and Emilio pushed me back. We got out of the building and he called maintenance. He told me it was a bloating dead body.

He didn't even call the police? This was some kind of world that I never even knew about. This was so surreal.
This is the worst hall ever.