He was born in a cold house in Vancouver. This house was all he’d ever known, but what he didn’t know was that there was so much more out there, than that old shabby house where he spent his whole life so far. His father was an alcoholic, and his mother was terminally ill. He had four sisters and two brothers; all of them were younger than he was. He didn’t like being the oldest kid in his family, because there was no one he could look up to. He didn’t know the difference between right and wrong, because no one had ever spent enough time with him to teach him. He was 18 years old. He was kicked out of high school in his freshmen year, due to him never being at school. His father would often get very drunk, and end up either destroying the house, or attacking a family member. He didn’t ever feel his father loved him, he never told him. He didn’t know what love felt like; he had never been in love. He worked at a fry shop making less than minimum wage, and he hardly made any money on most occasions. He had been fighting his addictions for years, and was still barely able to function. He started smoking at age 6, drinking when he was 8, smoking marijuana when he was 9, but then gave it all up and became addicted to heroin at age 14. He never really knew who he was, he didn’t know what he became, and he didn’t see anything he could ever do to change. However, he did enjoy doing two things, painting and writing. When he was a child, his art teachers would all tell him that he was not artistic, and had no creative ability. He didn’t let that stop him for a while, he would buy many cheap canvases and just sit at home and paint for hours. When he began high school, he took art once again and his teacher told him that he shouldn’t even both taking the class. That’s when he dropped out of the class, and completely gave up on his hobby. His English teachers were very similar to his art ones. They all told him that everything he wrote didn’t sound right, that he had terrible grammar, and that his writing needed to meet a certain criteria that he never achieved. He gave up on school very quickly, but he was already used to all the criticism. His principal talked to him in his office and told him that he was destroying his life, one day at a time – and that if he didn’t turn his attendance habits around, he would be expelled. This was around the time that he ever tried shooting up heroin, and had no idea what he was doing with his life. He came to school high whenever he actually came at all, which was very rare. The principal expelled him after two weeks, and he didn’t go to any other school because no other schools wanted him. His family was on welfare, since his father had lost his job due to his alcoholism problems. He hated being alone with his father, because never had a single nice thing to say, he never smiled, and he never did anything for anyone. Four years passed by, and everything was still the same for him. He got a job because his uncle hired him, out of pity – even though he knew that he probably wouldn’t be a very good worker. He knew people, but he didn’t care for anyone. He wouldn’t answer people’s calls, wouldn’t ever hang out with anyone. He just wanted to be alone, even though nothing good ever came out of it. He was severely depressed, and felt that there was probably something else wrong with him that he was yet to find out. He didn’t think there was any point to his life, but he kept living. His mother was diagnosed with lung cancer, and she was too far in to have it removed. All his siblings eventually were put in foster care because social services found out how unfit the house was that they lived in. The house was nearing 100 years old, and had no heating. The windows were paper-thin glass, and several of them were broken already. The siding on the house was rotting and falling off, and the lawn hadn’t been tended to in over 15 years. He spent all his time here, and would spend most of his time in the backyard. The backyard was very large and overgrown. There were willow trees everywhere, and a small run down shed in the very back. He would go there to do everything, to think, to eat, sometimes even to sleep. He would get high in the shed daily, and throw a lot of the syringes over the fence – but there were still a few left lying on the ground in the shed. He got more and more sloppy with his addiction, since his dad somehow didn’t even know about it until the day he turned 18. When his dad found out, he threw an empty whiskey bottle at his face, which did hit him. He went unconscious, and when he woke up, he had extremely deep gashes in his cheeks, glass in his face, and couldn’t see out of his left eye at all, but didn’t go to the hospital. On one particular day, he decided to go for a walk around town. As he passed the glossy store windows, he saw his reflection. His hair was long, tangled, and dirty. He didn’t have a coat, even though it was winter – he wore a green and blue striped shirt that was very worn out. His jeans were worn and tattered, and his shoes were almost non-existent. He almost felt ashamed; he would watch people pass him in their new stylish clothes, but knew that he didn’t want to be like them. He had been around long enough to witness how badly people treat people who aren’t just like them. People who had problems or addictions were treated worse than the sidewalk that they walked on. He kept walking and receiving many dirty looks from people passing by. He saw a couple of his old friends, whom he had neglected for a long time. He didn’t ever know that they actually did care for him, because he would never listen to them. They all started to talk to him, and he casually talked for a couple minutes and continued walking. As he continued on his walk, a girl and a slightly older guy were walking towards him. He noticed how pretty she was, and gave a shy smile. The other guy got angry at him for doing so, and started yelling at him. He didn’t hesitate in fighting him, and within two minutes, the other guy was lying on the ground bleeding. He just continued walking and didn’t even stop for a minute and look back. As he kept walking, he saw children playing outside with each other in their front lawns and he remembered how he never had that as a child. A parent pulled their child away from the road when he walked by, and he felt so intimidating around people. He continued walking and saw two elderly women standing beside an old wooden house. They both stared and pointed him as he walked by. He couldn’t even feel alone anymore, he just felt empty. His inner pain had been numbed away over the years, and he could hardly feel anything at all. He stopped at a park and sat on an old wooden bench. Everything was so bleak, and fake. It all could have been some really well drawn out picture that he was looking at – or was this real life? The sky was faded to a misty light blue laced with an ashy grey. The grass was a bland green color, and it faded into shimmering sketches of houses. His world was so much different now; nothing really had any meaning to him, except the meaning of nothing. He remembered all the days he spent in his life, doing absolutely nothing. Or when he was arrested 7 times for break-and-enter and assault while trying to get money. He remembered all the times he got away with it, and how much money he’d stolen from people over the years. He remembered how much his father didn’t care about him, and how he had no one there for him because he let them all go. He couldn’t feel emotions anymore. The only feelings he could get were blank, or cravings. He was programmed to know where things were; he didn’t actually have a mind to remember. He never had thought about the future, ever. He only lived for the present, what ever happened, happened – and what didn’t, didn’t. He didn’t care about any mistakes of the past; he didn’t even want to remember his past. His mother was still in the hospital, the doctors said she had a week to live now. He couldn’t even feel scared for her, because he felt like he had lost her so long ago. He couldn’t remember a time when she wasn’t sick, when she could actually spend time with him, and teach him what to do in life. The last words he ever heard her say to him were “Why did I raise such a f*** up,” when he was 15. He hardly even knew his siblings, they were hardly ever home, and two of them ended up running away before they even turned 10. Yet he was the one who stayed. He didn’t realize what he could have done different, because he never thought into the future to think about the consequences. He decided to walk home to look and see if there was any food in the house. The sky was darkening slowly, and the streetlights turned on. As he continued walking, he saw the group of teenagers walking towards him. He realized he knew them all; they were more of his friends that he used to hang out with, before he dropped them. “Whoa, man I never see you around anymore! What’ve you been doing?” Said one of them. “Nothing. Literally.” He said. “You still get high?” They asked. “Well, that’s implied.” He said, as he looked down, ashamed. He wanted to hate the fact that he had to get high to not feel a hallowing depression, but he couldn’t hate anything. He wished he knew how to breathe in clean air, and to not exhale intoxicated breath. He didn’t know how to change his life - he couldn’t even imagine change. He didn’t know where to turn, because he didn’t want to know anyone anymore. “Well, we’re partying… want to come?” They said. He hated partying, he didn’t like being around anyone who hadn’t done what he’d done. He felt like everyone was judging him for what he did, and how he would be so much more different than everyone, that people would point it out. As he approached the house, he saw that it was gone. All that remained was ashes, and smoldered timbers that were once his house. The entire house had burnt to the ground; nothing had survived at all. He wondered if his father was in the house when it happened, or if he would ever see his father again. He didn’t care either way, but now he had nowhere to stay. He kept walking down the street as if he hadn’t just witnessed seeing his house burnt down. There was a convenience store up ahead and he decided to go in and look for phone numbers in the phone book. He couldn’t remember many last names so he wasn’t sure who to call. He remembered his old friend Jimmy’s last name so he looked him up and called him. Jimmy said he could stay with him for a couple weeks while he was still living at his house. He was being evicted from his house and had to be out by the end of the month. When he got to Jimmy’s he realized how run down and shabby everything looked. He felt like he fit in, like he was meant to be in that area. He knocked on the door and was greeted by a girl. She had ratty black hair with light blonde roots, and looked like she was high on crack. “Where’s Jimmy?” He said. “Inside.” She said as she let him in. The house was covered in old, rotten food, garbage, and other random things. “Hey buddy. You look a lot different than I remember you… last I seen you, you had short hair – all brushed back kinda, and you always wore tee-shirts. I see you’ve upgraded to long sleeve.” Jimmy said, as he laughed while lighting a cigarette. “Yeah, that’s right I guess.” He said as he stared at his feet. “Well, you can stay here for a bit I guess. Till we get kicked out.” So he decided to stay, since he had nowhere else to go. “Here’s your room. Yeah, it’s a little shabby but it’ll do.” Jimmy said as he led him into a small, messy room. There was a dirty mattress lying on the floor, covered in tattered blankets. “Um, there might be cockroaches in here but just sweep them away with that broom over there or something. As for the rats, they don’t really come out of the walls unless you leave food around.” Jimmy said as he chuckled a bit. The room looked worse than a prison cell. He figured, he’d rather be in a cell than in that room, but the circumstances would be much worse. “OH. We’re leaving for a bit, if the cops come… leave. They don’t know where we are, and I’d like it if it stayed that way.” Jimmy said as he walked out the door with his girlfriend. He was now in this house, all alone. This house was the definition of trash. Trash was everywhere. There were empty cans in the kitchen cupboards, banana peels lying on the floor, broken glass sitting on the counter. He hated being there, but it reminded him a lot of one cold house that he knew so well – home. He walked into what was supposed to be the living room, and sat down on a broken sofa. He put his face in his palms and just sat there. About half an hour later, he heard a loud knock at the door. He got up and quickly looked out the window, only to see three cop cars parked outside the door. He immediately ran out the backdoor and ran as fast as he could down the back alley. He stopped running when he saw yet another cop car pull in, and quickly ducked under a fence and walked through the back yard of an abandoned duplex. He didn’t even stop to look back… he just kept walking. Cops were everywhere, he counted five as he walked on the main road, and they were all driving the same way. He didn’t know what Jimmy could have done to have so many cops after him, but he assumed it must have been really bad. Jimmy was always in trouble, whether it was with his parents, teachers, police, or any form of authority. Jimmy truly didn’t care about authority. He would do things that he knew he would go to jail for, just to get a rise from it. They used to go to elementary school together, and Jimmy was expelled for beating up his principal and stealing over $1000 of the school’s money. It was dark now, and the streetlights were all that he could see. Sometimes he wondered how it felt to see through the eyes of an angel. To never be tempted to do anything wrong, to never make any mistakes. To only say the right thing, and to never be wrong. To never get addicted to anything, and to never feel anything but happiness. He couldn’t even imagine his own life past where he was at that very moment. Every step he took was an unexpected one. A woman was walking towards him; he could see her so clearly, walking with a murky, shadowed background behind her. “Excuse me, do you have any extra change? I need to catch the bus,” She asked, with a polite smile on her face. “No. I don’t. Sorry, ma’am.” He said as he came to a stop, and just stood before her. “Oh… that’s alright I guess. I don’t even need to be home for a while anyways. I haven’t been in this area before. Do you live around here?” She asked. “Yeah, kind of. Well I’m not really staying anywhere anymore.” He said, with a straight face. He hated to open up to strangers. He would keep things as big as his house being burnt down, a secret. “Oh? Do you need somewhere to stay? If you don’t mind me asking.” She said with a smile. “I’ll find something probably. It’s not really too cold out.” “You mean you’re going to stay outside? Why would you want to do that?” She asked, in shock. “It’s not as bad as everyone thinks. Plus, I don’t really sleep much so it’s not a problem for me.” He said as he began to stare at his feet, realizing what he had just said. “No, no. That won’t do. I hope this doesn’t sound strange to you, but I wouldn’t mind it if you stayed at my house. I live up north, about 20 minutes from here. I have a guest room you could stay in.” She said. He didn’t know what it was about her, but there was something different about her. She had wavy, dark brown hair that went to her shoulders. Her skin was perfectly clear, and her bright blue eyes just seemed to radiate hope. He didn’t even know why - he’d never even seen her before. He couldn’t understand how she could wear such a bright smile. She seemed almost perfect. He didn’t feel that he should even be standing in front of her – he felt like such a sick person. “You probably wouldn’t want me to…” He said, as he looked down again. “I do, well only if you’d like to. I don’t want to force you to, if you don’t want to.” She said as she laughed a little. “I guess that would be okay.” He said. “Okay, well since neither of us have any money – I’m going to call my sister and ask her if she can pick us up.” She said as she whipped out a flashy new-looking cell phone. As she called her, he thought about how much money she probably had – and then instantly felt guilty about thinking that. Any time he had the opportunity to steal money, he would. The woman’s sister pulled up a couple minutes later. “Hi.” She said, in a very short voice. He was used to people talking to him in tones like that. He assumed that she would probably talk the woman out of letting him stay there. He didn’t care, part of him just wanted to get as much stuff from her house and then leave – but part of him wanted to forget his past, and just take this as an opportunity to finally change, even though he didn’t know how to. After about 20 minutes, they pulled up to her house. It was quite big – a lot bigger and fancier than any house he had ever seen. “Well, we’re here.” Said the woman as she got out of the car. They all walked up to the front door. As they walked in, he stopped and was amazed by how huge the house was. It looked like a castle, or something out of a magazine. “Follow me, I’ll show you around.” She said, as her sister walked off somewhere in the house. She showed him almost every room on the first floor. “There’s also a basement, and a floor upstairs – but we use the main floor the most.” The house amazed him, how big it was – and how luxurious it was. He couldn’t understand why a person who had so much would ask someone like him to stay with them. He walked silently around the living room, just looking at how large it was, and how everything seemed to look so perfect. “I’m going to go set up the guest room for you, so feel free to make yourself comfortable. If you want to watch TV, the remote is on the coffee table – and help yourself to anything in the fridge.” Said the woman as she walked down the hall. He sat down on one of the soft leather couches, and stared at the remote. He hadn’t sat down to watch TV – ever. Or at least not that he could remember. He realized that he didn’t even know the woman’s name – and she didn’t know his. He picked up the remote and turned on the TV. He had no idea how to change the channel, so he just watched the show that was already on. It was about people who survived heavy drug addictions, and how they were able to change their lives around to become extremely successful. He found it so hard to believe at first, how someone like him could ever change and become successful, until he saw a man who had a similar past that he did. The man’s name was Tim, he was addicted to heroin in his teen years, but managed to break that addiction, and eventually went back to high school in his adult years and ended up attending university. He ended up becoming the top manager of a large chain of hotels, and traveled across North America talking to people about drugs and addiction. “I’m glad you’ve found something to watch – your room is set up now, incase you don’t remember – it’s the last door on the right.” The woman chimed in as she walked by. “Thanks, by the way – what’s your name? I mean, like what would you like me to call you?” He asked. “Oh dear! I’m so sorry for not introducing myself properly early. My name is Sue Ricci. You can call me Sue.” She smiled as she reached her hand out to shake his. He smiled a little, as he shook her hand firmly. “But if you will excuse me, I have some very important papers to fill out – I’ll be in my office if you need me. There’s an intercom in here too, over by the fireplace. Just page the office.” She said in a hurry as she walked off again before he could even say his name. He sat back on the couch. The same show was still on, and that’s when he watched the story about a woman named Becky. Both of her parents died when she was a baby, so another family adopted her. They ended up abandoning her when she was 9, when they all got on a plane to move half way across the country. She was homeless for about a year, and ended up joining a gang that did petty crimes around the city. The next year, she was taken in by a man, who ended up being a pimp. She wasn’t even enrolled in elementary school, and as far as the system was concerned – she didn’t even exist. Her only way to make money was to be a prostitute, and she began using her money to support her addiction to cocaine and crystal meth. She was only 11 years old when she was kidnapped. She was brutally beaten and raped repeatedly, and was held hostage for a month. She ended up smashing through the wood that covered her window and escaped. She continued her prostituting career for several years afterwards, and by the time she reached age 17 she was almost deathly ill. She was found lying unconscious in an alleyway and rushed to the hospital. She hardly ever ate, since she never felt hungry due to all the drugs she would take. Her body was so skinny and misshapen, and covered in scars, cuts, and bruises. She was in the hospital for a month, and then was sent to a rehab center. She ended up enrolling in an online school when she was living at a women’s home, and finished up both her elementary and high school grades, and ended up going to University to become a doctor. He was amazed that someone who was once like that, could end up being as successful as those who had their life simply handed to them. “Would you like anything to eat? I’m making lasagna right now,” said Sue. “I guess so.” He replied as he stood up, with his head hung low and his hair in his face. “What would you like? Pizza? Salad? Soup? Anything?” She asked as he walked into the kitchen. “Sure. Whatever you want, I’ll eat most things.” He said. “Okay, well I can get you some lasagna later on when it’s finished cooking.” She said. He was the only person who could sit and do absolutely nothing, without being bored. He could sit somewhere for hours, and not even care. He just sat back on the couch and stared at the TV. All he could think about was what he was doing, where he was, and why he was there. He couldn’t figure out why he was in that house, owned by a woman who seemed to have nothing wrong in her life. He wondered if anything bad had ever happened to her, or was her life just perfect? He looked behind him to see her calmly walk by a couple times, holding different things each time. She didn’t seem to have any worries, or any problems at all. He could hardly bare his own mind – how he knew that someone took him in, but he so badly wanted to remain the same. He wanted to just numb all of his pain away, but at the same time he wanted to feel all the pain of everything he once felt. He had made his mind up, that if someone were to come to him with any kind of drug, he would take it. He wanted to change himself so badly, but thought that he was already too far-gone and it wouldn’t matter if he did now or not. Sue came back into the room a while later and took the lasagna out of the oven. “It’s done, do you want some?” She asked while cutting it. “Sure.” He said as he slowly walked over to her. She led him over to the large oak table where he sat. “No one’s home tonight. My sister lives here, my daughter lives here, and so do my parents. They can be quite opinionated, so when you meet them – don’t take what they say to heart.” Sue said. “Alright.” He said, as he sulked in his chair and stared at his food. “So, tell me about yourself.” She said as she sat down across from him at the table. “Like, things I like?” He asked in a hesitating voice. “Yeah, or like anything.” She said. He didn’t know what to tell her, because he didn’t know what she already thought of him. “Well, I don’t really do much. I don’t go to school or anything. I used to work at a fry place but I haven’t gone in a while, so I’m pretty sure I was fired or something.” He mumbled as he began to eat. “Oh, did you graduate already?” She asked. “No,” he awkwardly looked down again. “I was expelled when I was 14, but never went back after. I didn’t like school.” The room filled with silence. He could tell she didn’t know what to say to that. “Do you plan on finishing up your credits?” “Maybe. I never really felt the need to learn any of that, so I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to if I want a real job or something one day.” “Well, while you’re here – I wouldn’t mind showing you some online credit courses or anything if you’re interested.” She said. “I guess that’d be ok.” He said. He didn’t want to do any sort of schoolwork, but he knew that he really should if he wanted to get anywhere. He finished up his food and put away his plate. “I know it’s early – but I’m going to bed now. I have to get up at 4am tomorrow.” Sue said as she put all the dishes into the dishwasher. “Could you start the dishwasher?” “I don’t know how to, I’ve never used one before.” He said. “Oh, never mind, I’ll have Amy do it when she gets home. You know where to find me if you need me, I’ll see you tomorrow.” She said as she walked off. He had no idea what rich people did when they were at home. He decided that he was going to go for a walk. As he began walking towards the front door, he noticed a small table. There was a drawer underneath, and he decided to look inside it to see if there was anything interesting. As he opened the drawer, he saw keys, letters, and random things. Hidden underneath all of that, lay a wad of $20 bills. He didn’t even hesitate to grab it, and walked quickly to the door. Once he made it outside, he realized that he had no idea where he was. He started walking the way he thought was right, until he stopped at a convenience store to figure out where to go. He wasn’t used to being in the rich end of town, and didn’t realize how much he didn’t fit in. When he walked into the convenience store, all of the eyes of the people inside were staring right at him. He was oblivious to it at first, but after a minute or two he noticed. He approached the cashier. The cashier was staring at him the entire time, and gave him a dirty look when he came to the register. “Where is Hampton Street from here?” He asked her. “Uh…Hampton? I don’t know. Is it around here?” She asked in a rude voice. “No, it’s like 20 minutes away.” He said. He held his head low, and kept his hair in his face and only brushed it aside when talking to people. “Uh, I’ll check.” She said as she grabbed one of the maps on the rack beside the register. “Hah, it’s in the ghetto.” She responded while chuckling a little. “No shit. I just want to know how to get there.” He said. He didn’t like people who talked like that cashier; fake, dumb, and rich. “Go down 173rd street till you get to 99th Avenue. Then just walk till you see it. I guess.” She said in a careless voice. He turned, walked away, and left the store. 173rd street was an extremely long street. He hadn’t even walked down all of it before, but he knew that it never seemed to end. It was about 40 minutes later when he reached Hampton Street and it was very dark. He liked walking in the dark. He walked further down the street and stopped in front of an overly run down house. The siding, once painted dark blue – had either faded to pale white, or chipped to the rotten wood beneath. He knew this house well. Almost as well as he knew the house he once lived in. He had many memories, all of the same thing. He could remember his repeated sense of deja vu he felt every time he walked up those rotting wooden front steps. He remembered all the nights where his father would throw fits, and he would run to this house to sleep. He walked to the front door, and opened the broken front door. Everything had been as it was when he was last there. There were three dirty couches placed in a triangle in the front room. In the middle of the couches sat a small table. On that table sat an old bong, lots of bottles, cigarette butts, and needles. The floor was covered in dirty clothes, towels, blankets, and garbage. The house had a very strange aroma throughout it. It wasn’t just one distinct smell, more like a whole bunch all combined. A shaggy, scrawny man walked through the hall towards him. “Whoa, now here’s someone I haven’t heard from in forever!” The man said while laughing. “Yeah, man. Thought I would come pay a visit.” He said. The man’s name was Vinnie DeMarco. He was once a millionaire, but gave everything up when he got addicted to heavy drugs. “Well, what’s going on?” Vinnie asked. “Nothing. I’m staying with a rich chick though. Like, as of today. She randomly started talking to me, and asked if I had a place to stay and stuff. I knew she’d have money though, I got this.” He said as he pulled all the money out of his pocket. “How much?” Vinnie asked. “$120.” He replied. “Nice, nice. You can buy a lot with that.” “I know.” “You want anything?” Vinnie asked. He looked down at his feet, and pondered. He had a feeling that he never felt before, the feeling of guilt. He remembered all of the things that had happened that day, and how unusually nice it made him feel. He was content with being sober, but yet he still wanted to get high. He could almost feel half of his body telling him to just put the money back into the drawer where he found it, and the other half telling him to just get high again. “Maybe in a bit.” He said. He never felt an urge telling him not to get high before, he couldn’t understand why. He sat and talked to Vinnie for about an hour and then decided to just go back home. His conscience had never spoken to him before, and now it was almost screaming at him. He could almost feel some sort of remorse; he could almost feel some sort of emotion. When he reached the house again, he decided to not put the money back incase he changed his mind later. He went straight to his new room. The bed was made, perfectly. He hadn’t actually slept in a real bed since he was a young child. He took off his shoes and lay in his bed, thinking about all the things he could have done that day but chose not to. His own thoughts eventually lulled him into a deep sleep. He slept all night and woke up feeling so much better than he had in a long time. The next few days of his life followed just like that one. He would eat, watch TV, go for a walk without a real purpose, and then go to sleep. A week later, Sue woke him up in a rush. He opened his eyes, only to see her with tears in her eyes. “What? What’s wrong?” He asked. “I have to go to the hospital right now…Amy! She was hit by a car,” She said as she continued to cry. “They said she’s in fatal condition.” All the sudden, his heart sank immensely. He didn’t ever want to see Sue like this, but he didn’t know what to do because he thought that no one was ever there for him. He was speechless, and he couldn’t think of anything else to say except “I’m so sorry, Sue.” “Would you like to come with me? No one else is in town right now, and I would really appreciate it.” She said as she sunk her face into a tissue. “Yeah, of course I’ll go.” He said as he got out of bed. They both rushed to the car and went to the hospital. When they got to the room, the already-teary Sue completely broke down again. “Please God, don’t let her die.” She repeated over and over. He could see Amy, lying in a hospital bed, covered in bandages, and on life support. He had seen people like this before, but never felt as sympathetic as he did right then. They stood there for a couple minutes. The room was filled with nothing but the sound of crying. “Mrs. Ricci? I’m afraid I have terrible news.” Said the doctor, in an extremely grim and chilling voice. He looked at Sue, who couldn’t have looked any sadder. He walked over to her and put his arm around her in hopes that he could help her feel better a little. “She’s not expected to live any longer than an hour or two. Her chances of surviving that time space are extremely slim, and even if she does – she isn’t stable enough to live much longer.” The doctor said. “No… no, not now. No…” Sue managed to slip out while sobbing. “If you would like to go and see her you can.” The doctor said. They both followed him into the room. “I’m sorry but we ask that you don’t touch her please, she has very deep wounds and any sort of germ could make her condition worse.” The doctor said. Sue sat in a chair beside Amy’s bed and talked to her while still crying. After about 20 minutes, the doctor asked them to leave the room so they went and sat in the waiting room. Sue couldn’t hold herself together, so he tried to comfort her as much as he knew how to. An hour passed, still no word from the doctor. Sue began praying quietly. An hour and a half passed by, and the doctor still hadn’t come and talked to them. Half an hour later, the doctor returned. “She didn’t make it. I’m sorry.” The doctor said with a sad look on his face. Sue was still crying. He stared at the roof, in pure horror. He had only known Amy and Sue for a week – but he couldn’t help but feel horrible about what had happened to someone with such a kind heart towards him. Sue’s entire family all gathered together within a couple of hours, and he returned to the house. Things in that house were very grim for the next couple of weeks. He began realizing that his craving to get high wasn’t always the main focus of his thinking. He hardly even thought about himself at all. Although he never really had much of a family, he could see how close Sue’s family was. Since Sue and her family weren’t around a lot, he decided to occupy his time by doing online classes and looking for a job. To his surprise, he ended up getting a job at a mechanic shop. Time began to go by quickly. He was still living with Sue, and they had become good friends. He ended up staying at her house for a year afterwards, until he moved out on his own. He started going to a learning center to continue on school. He talked to Sue quite often still, and liked to think of her as the mom he wished he had. He managed to stay completely drug free for that whole time, and he decided to start writing again like he did when he was younger. He wrote a book called ‘Hope for the helpless.’ He wanted to inspire people to keep hope, even when things couldn’t be any worse. He wrote about Sue, and how much she helped him change his life around – without her even knowing how much of an impact she was making on him. One day, he sat down in his living room – and remembered that first time that he sat down on Sue’s couch, feeling so mixed up – so confused. He felt so much different now. He was very close to finishing up his last year of high school, had a job that had exceptional pay, and met many new people. He published his book, and several more years later. Although he liked most of the writing he did, he somehow was able to remember a small part of something he wrote when he was a child,
Good morning sunny skies
Your face is hidden by a cloud of lies
But don’t give in
Don’t give up hope
Don’t give up a thing.
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