Dead Dreams ((Young Adult Paranormal Romance) ( Dead Dreams Trilogy)) (5 page)

The sky was
slowly beginning to darken as early eve
ning approached
and by the time
he
arrived
at
the outskirts of the city
it had
taken him
hours to get there.
Annoyed at
how long it
was
just to get that far he found
a place to sit on a low wall
where he couldn’t wait to take off
his
sneakers
that
had been rubbing and causing discomfort.

Surprisingly there were
no signs of blisters or scraped skin, considering how far he’d walked wanting to get as far away as possible fr
om what he saw as a living hell he was relieved.

Homeless shelter,
I’m
close to
the cit
y there must be hundreds of the,
they’ll take me in.

Adam’s brainwave was
the first part of what he considered t
o be a plan, day had turned into evening so it was
the moment to head into the heart of the city and find
a place to stay
. He figured out that all he had to do was
find a homeless person on the street and ask
where the nearest shelter was-
how hard
could
it be?

His mood had changed
from angry pride to melancho
ly, knowing that going home would
be a difficult o
ption as the concessions he would be forced to make were
beyond his
stubbornness. There were
a few options still available, a shelter, sleep under a bridge with
the other down and outs or
check out for good.

Suicide
meant planning but
not knowing what to
plan Adam
found a
bench
nearby
to sit and work out how to end his life.
Screw the homeless shelter, do it now and save myself the bullshit.

Making a mental list he
came up with what he thought were possibilities;

Break into a closed drug store and steal meds, overdose.

Find a tall building with open access and jump off the roof.

Go into a shop and purchase razor blades.

Jump off a bridge onto oncoming traffic.

He decided
to go with the bridge if he could
f
ind one
. T
he city
wasn’t
a familiar area to so
meone from the suburbs
that
tended
to hang out
in one area most of the time. Trips
downtown
were for specific occasions
like the Dentist, or Christmas s
hopping
,
for the rest it was
a non-existent no-go area.

‘So where’s the nearest bridge?’
He said
out loud.

After walking
for another
forty minutes,
tired
, hungry and dejected
he
spotted
a pedestrian bridge with the sound of heavy traffic
thundering
past underneath. I
t was
the per
fect location.
There didn’t seem to be anyone
around
that would
try to be the good citizen and
talk him out of it.
The
barrier
was low enough to
climb onto and
there were
enough cars down below to make an impact.
He
decided
without a doubt
that
it would
be the perfect location to end his life.
How hard can it be to climb up and jump off?  I’ll keep my eyes closed. I’ll
take a deep breath and…
bingo it’s all over and
I’m
out of this crap world!

Upon reaching the guard rail the no
ise of the traffic down below was
deafening. Precariously looking over he watched as
wave after wave of vehicle
s rushed
past, unsuspecting that someone just above them
was
contemplating to jump
causing chaos, possibly
a serious accident or even more fatalities
.

C
limbing
onto
the rail he turned
his b
ody around so he was
sitting
on the narrow
top
facing traffic.
H
olding on tightly with both hands
he looked
down and
told himself to avoid high roofed t
ru
cks that
could act as a buffer
to his fall. T
he worse scenario
being
that
he
survived
either brain damaged or paralysed.
To be sure he checked the traffic as he slowly
lo
o
sened
his grip slightly on the rail
moving each finger away one by one.

“
I can’t do this’ He
yelled.
“
I don’t want to die!
”

I
mmediately
he turned
himself a
round and
jumped
off the bridge
and
back onto the walkway
. Relieved that
he hadn’t done it he
decided to do away with dark thoughts and
make his way in the world without
family.
He didn’t need them
he told himself.
Curiosity
kicked in as he wondered
if anyone
had
missed him, like his mother or
Katie
.
Reaching into his jeans pocket for
his phone
he was in for a surprise.

“
Shit
,
where is it?
”
He said in a panic,
“
It must have dropped out when
I was walking or sitting on the
wall….
shit
!
”

His confident mood had changed in an instant.
It was
one bad thing after another. He’d been kicked out onto the streets
,
failed
in his
suicide
attempt and
his
phone
had
vanished into thin air. Scrambling franticly in the
other
pocket for
his forty dollars
he was shocked to turn up n
othing
, it
was
also gone
-
along with the
five dollars in change
.

“
No way, no way…
what the f
..!
”

Before he could fin
ish a young man
came walking towards
him
, laughing as he got closer.

“
Y
e
h what’s funny man?
”
Adam said in no mood for conversation.

“
Lost your money
,
what
a shame, are you okay?
”

“
That’s none of y
our business, get lost
!
”

“
Hey chill out.
”
He replied taken aback but such an aggressive response.
“
I was only asking.
”

Adam studied the young stranger standing by him and immediately analyse
d
his situation.

I’m homeless and broke, he looks like a non-homeless person maybe with cash and a place to
stay and better still some food. I
f I
play my cards right I could get
lucky.

With
his
ability to use
people to his advantage he honed into what he saw as easy pickings and turned
on the charm
. P
ast experience had
taught
him that playing the victim
always worked;
th
at’s how he got
Katie
and drugs on credit.
Now
he was
determined to apply
the same tactics to what could turn out to
be a potential meal ticket.

“
Hey man I’ve nowhere to stay, my step-dad kicked me out today, I was gonna t
hrow myself off the bridge but I changed my mind.
I can’t go home, not now, the man’s a monster
and the way he treats my mom, real bad.
”