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harsh as he came across that night.
     

Chapter Four
     
     
    Lying on the cardboard box, Amara tried blocking out the noisy sound of the sanitation truck empting out the trash at the side of Mr. Lee’s cleaners but it wasn’t working. The racket only seemed to be getting louder and louder making her finally realize that her day had officially started. It didn’t matter if she wanted it to or not.
    Opening her eyes, she tried not to think about how horrendous her life was at the moment. Her entire body was stiff and cold from the rainstorm that returned late last night. The trash bags she had grabbed off the cart behind the grocery store weren’t thick enough to keep her as warm and dry as she wanted to be.
    At least one of her problems was gone; she wasn’t starving this morning thanks to Mr. Lee’s generosity. He was her guardian angel. Anytime she was down and out thinking she wouldn’t be able to make it another day, he showed up with food, clothing or a kind word of advice that always got her over the hump.
    But she was positive Mr. Lee wouldn’t be proud of her stealing the food off Dante’s motorcycle last night. Just thinking about him sent another shiver down her spine and it wasn’t from fear or the cold invading her limbs.
    He was so handsome. Men who looked like him didn’t live in her hometown. Everything about him was different including his hot temper. Amara hated to think what he would have done if he’d caught up with her that night after she had escaped from him a second time.
    One thing was for sure . There was no way in hell she would have made it one night behind bars. Amara knew she would have tried to make a break for it before the cops showed up. She had heard countless horror stories from Liam about how it felt to spend one night in a cold, damp jail cell.
    It wasn’t something she ever wanted to experience. Being out here on a daily basis was bad enough, but the situation only got worse once a homeless person got labeled as a street child. She would never forget when a vendor hollered at her after she touched a colorful bottle on his cart.
    At first, she thought she was too old to be considered a ‘street child’ since she was twenty-four years old. However, Liam told her any young person living in a box, inside a park or on the streets was considered street children by certain biased people around town.
    None of them had been unfortunate enough to have lost everything and been forced to a life on these hard and cruel streets. Without anyone to depend on you needed your own sheer will just to try to get enough energy to survive another grueling day.
    Unlike her, who had no family to go back home to at all, Liam still had family ties, but it was tenuous and he only maintained it casually or occasionally.
    Yet, he had no interest in going back home no matter how many times she tried to encourage him to do it. At least that is what he told her, but Amara believed if his family came looking for him Liam would go back home in a heartbeat and leave this life behind him.
    She would give everything she owned, which wasn’t much, but she would trade it all to have someone back at home worrying about her. Yet, it was a dream that never was going to happen. She was all alone and it would remain that away for a very long time.
    Yes, Mr. Lee was a good friend to her; but she couldn’t get too attached to having him in her life because he might be up and gone one day. Nothing lasted forever and she learned that very quickly after she lost everything she held close to her heart.
    She had seen it happen to other homeless people before. A person got fond of them and gave them food along with a place to sleep and then one day all of it would stop. He would get tired of her and move on to another ‘ special project’ leaving her all alone in the cold without as much as a final goodbye.
    Everyone had in some way, shape or form found a way to disappoint or let her down over the years. So, she learned