I am one of the five students that you walk by in the hallway; I stay back after school because that is the only place where I feel warm.
I come from a broken home and I absolutely despise staying at my house. Then I realize sometimes the smell of whiskey and burnt spaghetti is more comforting than the smell of a cool autumn breeze. In fact, that is my cool autumn breeze.
I remember as a child when my parents and I used to take walks in the spring just when the dew settled onto the glassy emerald grass, now I hate spring. You're probably wondering what happened to my parents. Well, my dad died from an overdose on heroin and my mom cares too much about drugs and looking pretty for money loving suitors to pay me any damn attention. Anyways, finding a place to lay my head is hard, sometimes I sleep on the benches in Central Park to fall into a deep slumber under the twinkling stars.
When I was young, I dreamt of being famous, an actor, a singer, or something. My name in lights! But that dream died as the faint smell of alcohol drifted into my room. It was as if Beethoven and someone strung on heroin filled the small cracks of my lonesome room.
Most of the time I sleep in alleys surrounded by blazing bags of trash. The flies don't bother me; in fact they're the most comforting thing to ever grace my life. The trash holds me closer than a mothers love. I get food from restaurant left overs, the lucky people who are fortunate enough to have a decent meal.
After sleeping for six hours, I wake up, change my clothes, and the day has started. Time to go to one of my many warm sweaters. I wonder why none of my friends ask me if I'd like to come over for dinner. I don't blame them. If I was in their shoes I wouldn't want a sewer rat infesting my home. I guess everything gets better over time.
But as time went by and the months turned into years, I was soon approaching graduation with a 4.0 GPA, the third highest in my class. I finally saw a light in the deep dark tunnel of poverty.
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This is for the one year anniversary of tender is the mind.
