Loud Visions 2

Chapter 11

Lynn's dream

Lynn shivered inside the shed as the rain was coming down with the howling wind blowing. Lynn already had her sweater and coat on, but that wasn't enough as she was still freezing. She wrapped herself with bags and tarps to try to keep herself warm. The shed creaked, making Lynn worried that it would fall on her.

By some miracle, she managed to get some sleep. However, when she woke up, she noticed a mobile trailer with a construction company logo on the edge of the woods. There were two guys in hard hats setting up a sign. When Lynn looked closely at it, she saw it was a sign for an upcoming apartment complex. Her heart sank.

It didn't take long for the landscapers to clear out the woods. Lynn gathered what she could carry and had to leave everything else. The worst thing about losing a place is trying to find a new one; sometimes, there's no guarantee that you will.

Even after twelve years of being homeless, there were things that Lynn never got used to, like walking on the sidewalk and people would stare at you. They could tell right away that you're homeless, a stray, a down-and-out bum . . . a loser. Another thing that Lynn never got used to was food. When you're out in the real world surviving, it always comes down to finding food, especially if you have little to no money. People don't realize the luxury of money and jobs because you can do a lot with them. Getting food is easy for them, but it's much more difficult for people like Lynn. Often, Lynn would go searching through the garbage to find something decent enough to eat and pray that she wouldn't get sick, either throw it up or have diarrhea. Sometimes, whenever Lynn passed by a restaurant or a bakery, she'd just stare at the food for a few minutes before forcing herself to move on. Hygiene is another problem with homelessness: no running water, shower, or soap. Most days, Lynn's body and hair would get greasy and dirty. If she were lucky, she'd find a public restroom that wasn't busy, wash what she could from the sink, and use hand soap. Thankfully, she still had most of her teeth despite them being yellow.

Luck, how she hated that word.

'Who the fuck invented luck anyway? The Irish? Thanks a lot,' Lynn thought.

A guy passing by blew a huff of smoke before tossing his cigarette down on the sidewalk. Lynn looked down and noticed it was only half finished. She picked it up and smoked the remaining. Lynn found a bridge to sleep under. As she got comfortable, she felt an aching pain in her chest. It caused her to cough. After coughing for almost a full minute, she spat what she thought was saliva out of her mouth. Due to the darkness of the night, she couldn't see that it was actually blood.

However, there was one lingering thing that Lynn thought was the worst of it all – the depression. Lynn couldn't recall a single day in the twelve years of being homeless ever being happy. Not once. As she wandered through town, she walked down a road that cut through a neighborhood. The wind blew a cold gust that sent chills throughout Lynn's weak and thin body. She shivered like the last leaf on an empty tree, looking lifeless like the many deciduous trees you see in late autumn before the freezing winter arrives. Music broke the silence, and Lynn looked over to see a house party. Most of the people were college kids, and many of them passed out drunk with trash everywhere. As Lynn was about to walk away, she noticed that there was a table with some liquor bottles. Lynn scanned the whole place before sneaking around behind the bushes. The remaining people that were awake were inside the house. Lynn carefully approached the table and snatched three glass bottles before running off. She managed to grab a half-empty whiskey, vodka that was a little more full, and a bottle of rum that only had a quarter left. Lynn put the whiskey and the vodka in her bag and finished the rum. The hard alcohol didn't give her bliss but at least numbed the pain.