Lachlan's P.O.V.
I shuddered in the cold, the tips of my fingers turning pink as the rain bucketed down on top of me, dripping down my face. I bowed my head and wrapped my arms around my shoulders, my tears mixing with the rain as they fell down my face.
All I had were the clothes on my back and a backpack, which only had a spare change of clothes, my phone, a charger and $20 which I knew wouldn't last long.
I knew things were getting bad when my teeth started chattering and I couldn't feel my feet, and I knew I had to find somewhere to stay the night. I was considering calling my friend and asking if I could camp on his couch for the night but I didn't want to be a burden, especially because I knew he would tell me to stay longer of he found out that I had nowhere to go.
I slunk down an alleyway between a group of shops and positioned the lid of a dustbin so it created a tent. I slid underneath it and curled up against the wall, stripping myself of my wet clothing and slipping into the clean ones, creating a line with a broken part of the lid and hanging up my wet clothes.
Sighing and still in tears I curled up on myself and rested my head on my backpack, readying myself for a long, cold night ahead.
I shuddered one last time and closed my eyes, like a child awaiting the storm.
----------------------------------------------
I woke up several times during the night because of the cold and when the sun finally rose the next morning I was stiff, cold and barely had enough energy to lift my head. I lay on the cold concrete for a few hours, waiting for the sun to heat up the black lid and warm my bones.
Eventually I opened my backpack up and pulled out my phone, flinched when I saw the missed calls and texts from Vikk. Just as I was reading through the texts another call came through and I answered it to his high and worried voice.
"Lachlan! Where are you!? I've been calling your parents and all of your friends and no one knows where you are?" I didn't speak, my mouth partly hanging open. It was my parents fault that I had had to sleep the night on the streets.
"Lachlan?" He sounded genuinely concerned. "Are you there?"
Bringing the phone down from my ear I hung up the call and buried my head in my hands, the tears falling down my face anew.
I didn't want to do this anymore. I was on my own, no job, no money, no family at 21 and I didn't know if I could physically keep going. I had been suicidal for a long time, the pressure of school and then University and then getting a job tied in with coming out to my parents, on top of depression and social anxiety. My life was a mess.
When my phone came up with another call from Vikk I hung it up without even picking up. I didn't want to talk to him.
Gently I gathered up everything into my backpack and stretched as I left the alley, trying to make it look as if I hadn't slept on the ground overnight.
I wandered aimlessly for a few hours until I found myself on the edge of a river. There were no people in sight or in hearing range and I just sat on the edge and watched the rushing water as I thought everything over.
I knew Vikk was still calling me but I didn't pick up again, he didn't need to deal with the mess that was me. I leaned my back up against a tree trunk and closed my eyes, trying to sort out my situation in my head.
I didn't know what I could do, I was homeless with nowhere to go and with my current state of mind, I wanted to end it. I wanted to go. I didn't want to exist any longer. With one leg pulled up to my chest I looked up to the sky and prayed that somehow I could find away around it, even though I didn't know if I wanted to, if I even could, find the courage to pull through.
