The sheets had been scratchy, the mattress lumpy and the young child on the bed next to him had been crying all night, desperately clinging to her mother for some shelter from the cold. Trying to get to sleep, his mind drifted back to a day almost a life time away and yet only 3 years had passed. He was thinking of his own two daughters, his son and of course Tessa, his wife. They had shared such a beautiful world before the fire, the fire caused by next doors constantly smoking father who had thrown his cigarette out of the back door, only to have it caught in a draft and blown onto their carpet through an open window. Such a random occurrence and yet it had cost him his wife and three beautiful children. The insurance hadn’t been enough to renovate his house or even buy a new one, just enough to cover the funeral expenses and so ever since he had been living on the street. The winters were cold and the summers warm and he very rarely managed to get a decent bite to eat. The pain of the accident, however, was just too much to convince him of returning to a normal life though and so he lived the life of a hobo, shunned by all of society, other than the simple brained youths who asked hopefully if he had any substances that would surely get him a room in a prison if he was found with them.
But last night, he had been talking. The man on the bed opposite him had been in a similar situation. A drunk driver had hit a bus, which had skidded into the front wall of his house which in turn fell onto his wife and parents, crushing them. The insurance hadn’t been enough for him either and he had given up. He had been on the streets for five years when a particularly bad winter had hit. All the shelters were full; no-one was accepting any extra lodgers and he had been stuck on the freezing streets.
“That’s when it hits you lad, the temptation becomes too great. You’ll want release. The only place you’ gonna get release is drugs. I been on ‘em for four years now.” The old man had suddenly changed, looking deflated and sad he said “Don’t make the same mistake I did lad. Go back to the house, live there, get a job and renovate the place. You’re young, you got your whole life ahead of you!”
So that night, he took the old mans advice, and slept in his own house for the first time in over three years.