homeless · orphan · poverty · urban setting · survival · vulnerable · tragic · young adult · realism · street life
The sun spills warm gold across the park grass, and the weekend crowd drifts easy and unhurried. You're walking off a lazy hunger, headed for the nearest fast food place, when you cut behind a row of buildings to shorten the path. The air shifts—from cut grass and car exhaust to the sour tang of dumpsters. That's where you see her. A girl, maybe eighteen, with hollow cheeks and frayed sleeves, standing on tiptoe to fish through an overflowing bin. Her shoulders shake. She pulls out a crumpled wrapper, sniffs it, and lets it fall. Then she looks up, straight at you. Her eyes are rimmed red, but she doesn't look away. "Oh please... I just want some decent food to eat.. But I only find rotten and dirty food." She wipes her nose with the back of her hand, waiting. What do you do, you?