Chapter 1

Rebecca's POV

“Sir, please do you have any change to spare?” I managed to ask a passer-by in a shaky voice.

The man didn't even spare me a glance, I could tell from his countenance that he was disgusted by my presence as he spits out disgustingly a few foot's from where I stood.

It was late in the night and the streets has been deserted as it was very cold in the height of winter. The street was glittering from the beautiful Christmas decorations that adore every house and shop.

It must feel nice to belong to one of those happy families behind closed doors, sharing laughter and the holiday spirit with people who love and genuinely care for you. But here I was roaming the street with the hope of getting something to eat, even a dry bread at this moment would taste like chicken fries.

I was alone, hungry, and homeless.

My name is Rebecca Sally and I am sixteen years old. I have been homeless for the past nine months.

My story is quite a depressing one, it's not your regular story of beautiful girls and boys falling in love or peeps that were born with magical powers.

I am just a girl that nobody wanted, well actually, the only person that ever wanted and loved me was my mum, she died when I was only six years old.

She discovered late that she had a tumor in her brain and that eventually led to her death.

She left me with my father and stepmother who both treated me like trash. I was abused physically and emotionally, I was stopped from going to school to help out with the house chores.

No matter what I did, it was never good enough.

My dad would call me all sorts of derogatory names and swear at me, throw things at me, and beat me up whenever he felt like it.

A good neighbor noticed my bad condition of living and called the child support to come to my rescue.

My condition went from bad to worse, I was being shuffled between homes, till the day I turned sixteen.

I had decided to run away from my new home after hearing of how my foster parents were talking about divorce, which meant only one that and that is been taken back to the orphanage.

I didn't want to go back to the child care center, so I ran away to start living in the streets.

As a minor, I have to constantly be on the lookout for police and as a girl, well there is little or nothing I can do to protect myself but I very been very lucky.

I can't go to the homeless shelter because I am still a minor, they would not accept me.

Despite all I have been through and still going through, I am grateful and try so hard to find comfort in the saying that when there is life, there is hope.

I don't know what the future holds for me, but I'm sure I might not live to be able to find out if I don't get someone to give me some food tonight. I can't work because most peeps would never hire a homeless person, and the chances get even thinner once they know you are minor, so all I do is beg to survive.

I have not eaten in three days, I have been surviving on just water. I am hoping that I can find someone with a generous heart to give me something to get food no matter how little.

Here in the streets, nobody cares about you. To some, you are just a nuisance, a misfit for society, people would spit at you, they would throw all sorts of profanities at you without getting to know your story. Some even use you as bad examples when trying to teach their kids a life lesson.

Although there are days that we get lots of goodies from kind-hearted people, there are also bad days that might send you to prison should someone report you to the police for harassment.

I pulled down the length of my jacket to shield myself more from the bitter storm, my skin exposed from my shredded jeans is as white as the snow with lots of frostbites marks.

I rub my both palms together to create warmness on my hand, after which I put them across my face, I do not have a mirror but I am sure I will be looking as white as the snow.

A homeless snow-white in the streets of Washington DC.

I saw a car headlight coming in from a distance, I panicked a bit but not so much to make me cower in fear as a new wave of hope rose in me. I needed someone to give me something to eat, just anything to keep this hunger away.

I guess the fear of starving to death is more dreadful.

As soon as the car gets closer to where I was standing, it zooms past me in a twinkle of an eye while my heart broke a little. I looked on both sides of the streets to see that it was completely quiet, just a handful of homeless people like me sleeping in different locations across the street. I decided to call it a night if I don't die of hunger tonight, then maybe tomorrow will come with a little bit of sunshine.

I moved towards my temporal corner, it's located on the side of a restaurant where they normally keep their chairs after closing for their daily business. The shop closes by 9:00 pm and resumes the next day by 8:00 am. The front of the shop becomes mine during the closed hours.

I dropped my bag pack and began to arrange the chairs to create a shield, I normally just make the chairs fall on each other after spreading a few of my old clothes, well basically all my clothes are old, so I use the rag like ones. I was about to lie down when I heard footsteps from across the street heading my way.

“Hey, do you mind?” A voice said behind me, I turned to see a boy probably in the same age as me or maybe a little older giving me a pack of cooked noodles.

I must have gulped down my invincible Adam's apple, as soon as the aroma of noodles hit my nostril, it made my stomach grumble.

As much as I wanted to grab the pack of food from him, I also wanted to make sure he was referring to me,

“Sorry my name is Jake, I saw you earlier when I was going to work so I decided to get you something on my way back,” he said still stretching his hand which had the pack of noodles.

That was all the confirmation I needed.

“Thank you,” I said collecting the pack from him, and quickly, I sat down on the floor and started eating, gulping down as much food as I could in a hurry, I choked at some point but luckily, I still had a bit of water, so I drank and I became filled with a bit of energy.

All this while, I had completely forgotten about the stranger who I suppose would be staring at me most weirdly by now. My body released a loud burp, after which I turned to look at the stranger who had a boyish grin on his face.

He was tall and a bit skinny, he wore an old white shirt on black faded jeans, from one glance one could tell he was not rich. But at least, he is far from being homeless like me.

I could see through the street light that he has a cute dimple when he smiles, I felt safe around him and was glad he thought of me. No one has ever bought me anything without wanting anything in return.

I mean I had to do the house chores to be able to live under my own father's roof.

“Thank you,” I said smiling sheepishly and a little bit embarrassed about how I ate the food. Whether he knows it or not, he just saved me from starving to death. And to that, I will forever be grateful.

Is he going to go back home or is he going to continually stare at me? I wondered as I looked at him.

“What's your name,” he asked after a few moments of awkwardness had passed.

“Rebecca,” I said suddenly feeling shy as my eyes found it's way to the floor.

“You sleep here?” he asked as I felt his eyes roaming my indecent space.

I tried to check and see through his expression if he was in any way disappointed with the way I lived, but his expression gave nothing away that would suggest that.

“Yeah, for now,” I said, a little embarrassed.

“So I will see you tomorrow then?” he asked as his eyes sparkled with a gleam of hope.

“Sure,” I said letting the smile that I have deliberately kept on the side of my lips, spread across my entire face.

“I will check on you in the morning before heading out,” he said.

“Cool,” I replied, pulling a few strands of my hair to the back of my ears.

“Good night Rebecca,” he said, his voice making realise how beautiful my name sounded to the ears.

When properly pronounced by a cute-looking prince charming of course.

“Good night Jake,” I said as I watched him walk into the night.

It was an early Christmas miracle as I had never thought that, I could ever have anyone wanting to be friends with me or even caring for me to the extent of sparing me some of their thoughts for the day.

I arranged my corner and coiled myself to fit in so as not to be noticed by anyone else as I allow myself to drift into a blissful sleep with a happy smile plastered on my face.