“Listen and you listen clearly. This absurd idea of yours to go out at night and talk to homeless people and give them money will stop this instant. Your father was a kind enough man to pick up a piece of rubbish like you off the streets so you will be grateful for what we have pampered you with,” the woman sneered as her tall figure leaned pompously over Claire's petite standing figure.

“Someone like you will never understand how it feels to be a homeless,” she thought.

“Hey! Do you understand me?”, the woman voiced bitterly.

She ignored it, eyes unfocused, a pillage of thoughts filled her mind.

No matter how much jewelry, food, or clothes she was pampered with, it did not fill that emptiness she felt when her parents died suddenly; leaving her with nothing but a note. Never in these dreadful years has she ever told a soul the truth behind how her parents passed. Instead she blatantly stated that they died and people would tend to not bring up the matter again.

“Hey are you even listening? I swear to god, Andrew was knackered when he picked a pi--”

“I understand madam,” she gritted through her teeth as she glared at the floor, knowing clearly that glaring at that woman will not benefit her in the least.

The woman straightened up relaxingly. “Finally! She speaks! Goodness, who raised you before they decided to kick you to the curb,” her English accent distinct with each syllable.

A sudden BAM jolted Claire from her dead sleep. She groaned silently as she pushed her head deeper into the covers to block out the annoying disturbance.

BAM

BAM

“Claire it’s me! Hello? Anyone in there,” a familiar voice shouted.

BAM

Claire grunted loudly into her pillow as she rolled off her bed and swayed carefully in the dark towards her front door. Unlatching the lock, she swung the door open sleepily.

“Jackson it’s like 5 o’clock in the morning. What do you want?” she attempted to sound mad but her hoarse voice lost the entire effect of it.

“You promised that you would help me with my English homework yesterday” he said happily.

Claire felt a sudden prick of annoyance change her sleepy visage into annoyance. “Who on the face of the Earth is awake at a time like this. When I said I would help you, I said in the evening or the afternoon!”

The boy seemed confused as he shook his head, “No…. you stated clearly that you would help me at 5.”

“5 in the freaking evening, “she gritted. Why did she befriend such an idiot?

“Oh, that makes more sense,” Jackson looked at her as realization dawned on him, “Well, can I at least stay since I’m here already and it’s really dark outside right now so it would be dangerous.

“Al--”

“And the last thing you would want is for me to be in danger, right?”

“I sa--”

“I got get mugged or beaten up or worse ra--”

“Okay! Okay, I got it” she yelled as she pulled him into her flat, closing the door in front of her. “I swear to god, talking to you gives me a headache more easily than anyone.” she murmured, leaning her forehead on the doorframe before turning to face her friend.

“Look, since you’re here already why don’t we just go over the work right now.”

Jackson smirked gleefully, “Great.”

“I don’t understand what the big difference is if you add in a couple of words to the sentence.”

Claire sighed, “With the extra words, the phrase will become a parallel structure, which we do not want,” she repeated for the third time.

Jackson looked utterly confused at her answer. “Bu-”

“You know what, how about we continue this lesson some other time,” Claire interrupted as she got up from the couch. “I need to go down to the shelter.”

Jackson pouted, “But you go there every single day. I’m sure the staff would be fine without your help for one day,” he pleaded.

Claire shook her head, “Sorry, but I got to go,” she called out while putting on her shoes. “The door locks automatically so you can leave whenever you want,” and with a quick reply, she left.

“Please! Does anyone have some change? I just need some money to eat!” Claire pleaded to the passing civilians. Many ignored her pleas and walked passed her as if she were not there.

Claire was never fond of begging but at desperate times, when the energy left in her body was at zero, it was the only thing left to do. Being impecunious gave her a clear insight that there were always three types of people in the world.

Ones who would give. The people who felt compassion towards people in needs and actually gave a crap about those other than themselves. However, more often than ever, it was only an action done by the rich to boost their ego.

There were also the ones who ignored. People who walked on by without a second glance towards those suffering.

Lastly, there were the ones who took advantage of weak; Conniving bastards who use one's vulnerability for their own pleasure. Those folks were the worst.

“Oh, look at you, you poor thing”, the man in front of her exclaimed with a patronizing tone.

Claire looked up to see a man in his mid-forties with a leather coat, expensive-looking sunglasses and a brown, leather cap that covered his bald head. Claire could not scratch the creeping itch inside her stomach that gave her the sudden urge to run away. But she did not have enough energy to even walk.

“You look tired, want money don’t cha?” he asked with a smirk. Claire nodded hesitantly when the voice sent shivers up her spine.

“Well isn’t this your lucky day!” He knelt down to her height and casually took off his sunglasses to look keenly in her eyes. Claire immediately broke eye contact and tried to look anywhere but the man. “Since I’m feeling so generous this evening, how about we strike a deal?” The echoes of the man’s tone made her stomach churn uncomfortably.

Claire?

Claire wanted to say no, she wanted to run away, but where would she go? Where can she go?

Claire!

Claire knew it was wrong but desperate times, desperate measures, right? She ignored that nagging itch in her stomach as she lifted her head to meet the man’s eyes. “I’m listening.”

Claire!

Two arms were shaking her out of her dream and the person dragged her off the bus. “Hello? Earth to Claire!” the person said as she waved a hand across Claire’s face to break her trance.

Claire blinked profusely, trying to adjust to the bright sunlight. When her blurred vision faded away, she recognized the familiar face standing in front of her.

“Payton? What are you doing here?”

“Apparently attempting to wake you from your dead sleep. You are a heavy sleeper. I was this close,” she said dramatically as she pinched her fingers very close together, leaving only a pinch of space in between, “from slapping you.”

Claire yawned. “Man, I didn’t think I’d fall asleep on the bus,” she said, rubbing her eyes.

Payton stared at her then leaned unnervingly close to her face, only an inch of space between them, looking at her eyes intently.

“What?” Claire questioned uncomfortably as she tried to lean back to create some space between her friend and herself.

“You okay? You look really tired. Did you procrastinate again? You see, this is why you do not leave your work until the last minute and ask others for the answers when they are in the middle of their beauty sleep.”

Clare stepped back with a frown and wore a what-the fuck expression. “Okay, first of all, you are one who calls me in the middle of the night to give you the answers and secondly the reason I’m so tired is because your idiot of a boyfriend appeared at my front door at five in the freaking morning to help him with his English homework. Why did you even let him leave the place at five in the morning?” she exclaimed

Payton stared at her. Then blinked. Once. Twice. Before she broke into stream of laughter. “Oh… so that’s why he wasn’t there in the morning. I thought he would finally go and make up for all those detentions he had gotten for falling asleep during lectures.” she said while wiping away the tears glistening in her eyes.

“Anyways… I got to get going,” Claire said, as she began to head in the direction of the homeless shelter.

“Oh yeah, you are going to the shelter, right?” Claire nodded.

“You’ve been going there for while huh? Well, I’ll see you later okay?” Payton waved then turned and began walking towards her flat.