Preston stared blankly at the typical spackled white ceiling of his new room that was illuminated only by the single flickering street light outside of his window. He thought that the new apartment that he has just moved into was okay, not too small, within their means. But this was not home. Definitely not. Not by a long shot. He felt like he was in a hotel or a stranger’s house. Two words he felt described it best were cold and empty. Everything was in a box somewhere. He was already wearing the clothes he would wear the next day so he wouldn’t have to waste time digging through all of his boxes and suitcases to find a pair of matching socks.

He lay there sleepless, wishing he could sleep. He just wanted to escape, to go back home. But he would never go back. Not after his house was foreclosed. His three bed, two and a half bath, had been a normal-sized house for everyone that had lived there. They lived in a neighborhood that seemed ideal for raising children: a block from the park, a block from school, a block from the mall. It was perfect. Before it all started, or perhaps before they realized it started, he lived with his mom, dad, sister, four cats, and two dogs. They were happy.

Before it all started, his dad worked a steady full-time job for a computer software company. His parents had invested in stocks and real-estate and his mom worked a part-time job at a day-care. They did fairly well for themselves, living with in their means. At least until his dad lot his job. His company moved to Utah, leaving Preston and his family behind.

His family was under a lot of stress for many years and tension grew between his parents. It affected his mom especially hard. The stress began to warp her personality. She began to be angry more and more of the time. Preston and his sister began to almost fear their mom, doing their best to do exactly what she asked to minimize the intensity of the inevitable lecture. On multiple occasions, Preston’s mom yelled at her children until they were all crying and then took her car and left. Preston would not know when or if she was coming home. But his mother still cared. She was always back by morning and Preston liked to think that it was because she wanted to help her family get ready or their day rather than to grab her things for work.

When he was thirteen, his parents separated. His dad moved a block down the street into a duplex that he owned and rented out and everyone else stayed at the house. His mom had two mortgages on the house and had tried to refinance many times. But it was no use, inevitably the debt caught up to her and there was just not enough money to satisfy the bank. But Preston was a smart kid. He saw it coming a mile away. He and his mother had to leave his house that he had lived in his whole life and find some small apartments that were more affordable.

By the time that they had to move, his sister was in college. His dad had taken the dogs (at least until he dropped them off at the pound) and only three of the cats were still around. So Preston, his mom, and the three cats occupied a two-bedroom apartment. At least until his mom started dating. Her most recent boyfriend had an additional two cats, so there were a total of five cats. Meow!! Preston heard at his door. He could almost completely tune out the sound of the restless little animals in the apartment.

“Hey you come here!” his mom’s boyfriend, Fabio said in his thick, Italian accent. Fabio was a tall, handsome man, easily twenty years younger than Preston’s mom. He was nice. Preston didn’t have anything against him. But Fabio wasn’t his dad. Definitely not.

Fabio definitely wasn’t rich but he could help pay the rent. Preston could tell his mom didn’t love him. At least not yet. But she was happier and that’s what really mattered. They needed a place to stay and he was willing to help with the finances. But Fabio had his own personal financial troubles. He had recently sold his old truck to buy a sports car. However, he did not know how to drive a car with a manual transmission. Within a few days of buying it, he blew out his clutch, ruining his new car. Later, he bought a cheap silver sedan for transportation, leaving himself in a considerable amount of debt.

Preston looked out the window at the big ugly car under the streetlight. The silver paint was chipping off and there were rust spots in a few places. Apparently Fabio had gotten a good deal on it. The sellers must have felt bad for him, having just destroyed his new car. Preston took his cellphone out of his pocket to check the time. 3:02am He then checked the time his alarm was set to go off. 6:15am it said. He then shut his eyes, hoping he could at least get three hours of sleep before having to get ready for school.