The morning had come too soon, but the good thing about it was the sun offered a little heat. I got up and grabbed my things before walking to a nearby McDonald’s. When I got there, I quickly disappeared into the restroom and used it as a wash area. I used paper towels to wash my delicate parts with water and I used the hand soap to wash under my armpits. I took a swig out of the travel sized mouthwash that I had stolen from the store a few weeks back and used it to gargle before fixing my shaggy clothes and walking out. McDonald’s was a little busy as the lunch crowd had just piled in.

“Order thirty-four,” I heard the man behind the counter say, and a man walked up and grabbed his order. Right after that he yelled, “Order 42!” He shouted it out two times and no one had come forward to claim the meal, so the worker sat the food on the counter. Once he walked back to the back, I slowly headed to the exit, but not before quickly snatching the bag and making a dash for it.

“Hey! Come back here burger thief,” I heard someone say, but I was running like I was a track star.

I finally stopped running when I made it back to my new living space. It was on the side alley near a host of clothing and food shops. I sat on my cardboard and took out the food in the bag. It was a quarter pounder, large fry and two baked apple pies. I hated quarter pounders, but I was about to tear it up. A hot meal beat digging in the trash for people’s leftovers. Once I finished, I was stuffed, but I knew that the fullness in my tummy would dissipate any minute now. That’s how it was after I ate after not eating for a while; something would fill me for a few minutes and then I would be starving again.

I pulled out a piece of paper from my knapsack. It was a Friday’s application that I had gotten two weeks ago. It was halfway filled out, so I decided to finish it. I sat it down while I searched for a pen and it flew away.

“Shit!” I cursed before running after it. The wind was blowing hard as hell, as every time I got a hold on it, it flew in another direction. I was so determined to get it that I smashed dead into someone.

“Damn yo,” I heard a voice say. “You’re scuffing up my Timbs bitch.” I had fallen slam dead into him and fell on my bottom. I looked up to see a pretty decent looking man, but the scowl that he wore on his face scared the life out of me. It reminded me of my third foster dad.

“Yo, are you slow? Get up!” he demanded.

“I’m so sorrryyy,” I stuttered while trying to get up from the wet snow.

“Yo, chill man. Can’t you see she just fell? You could’ve helped her up or something,” another man said from behind him. He pushed him away and then helped me up.

“You good?” he asked. I only shook my head up and down, afraid of opening my mouth so I wouldn’t piss him off like I had just done his friend.

“You sure? You need to sit down or something? This is my sister’s spot,” he said, pointing to the Juice Bar that was right next to my temporary home.

“You can go and sit down if you need to.”

“I’m okay,” I lowly replied, knowing that I wasn’t. It felt like I had busted my damn knee and I didn’t even get the application back.

“Alright, I’ma take your word for it, but don’t ever let nobody disrespect you. Demand that shit! And I apologize on behalf of my friend. Take care,” he said and then walked into the Juice Bar. His friend only smirked and walked behind him.

I went back to my space and thought about what the kind man had just said to me. He was totally different from his friend, so I didn’t get why they were even together. But I couldn’t focus on that. I pulled out a newspaper and looked in the wanted ads for jobs, when I heard laughter from the mean man and his friend. His friend walked ahead of him and he glanced back to where I was, and for a brief moment, it looked like he could see right through me. I turned my head quickly out of embarrassment. When I looked back, he was gone and I got on with the rest of my day.