It seems like so many years have passed, even in Cortnie’s face time and stress have taken its toll on her body. Once strong and fit, her bony, fragile body seems as if it’s wasting away. Touching her skin is like touching leather, hardened from sleeping outside so many nights in the harsh weather. She remembers days where she sat outside on her front porch basking in the sun just letting time pass without a care, no worries. Now every day is a worry. Where to find food, how much money she has left, if she is even going to eat today. Sometimes her stomach aches so bad she just wants to lie there and die. Not to mention the emotional pain she goes through every day. Why h

She decided that she would buy something small from a convenient store she had seen at the end of the west wing of the mall. As she entered the store, she went straight for the food aisle. She wasn’t in the mood for chips. She had lived off a ninety-nine cent bag of chips for about two weeks and was pretty sick of them. Instead, she reached for a package of powdered donuts. She hadn’t had these since she was back home. Sometimes she would get them as a snack for school. She decided to treat herself to the donuts. She walked up to the cashier and paid for them. She sat outside and ate a single donut, wrapping the rest up and gingerly putting them into her bag. As she nibbled on the donut, she was wondering what day it even was.

She looked up at the street signs and noticed a map at a bus stop. She walked over to it and noticed a mall about two blocks away. A mother and child were seated on a bench at the bus stop waiting for the bus. The mother grasped the child’s hand and slid down the bench, her eyes fixed on Cortnie. This was what made her heart ache. The lady’s stare went right through her and pierced her heart, pain tingled through her body. Right there and then she wanted to knock her lights out but that would just make her what that lady thought she was, scum. She turned and walked away biting her tongue and clenching her fist till her knuckles were ghost white. The next time she looked up, she was at the mall. It was rather small, but anything was better than nothing. She desperately had to use the bathroom so she looked around for a sign pointing towards them. They were at the end of a rather long corridor. She went in and did her business. Yet, when she went to wash her hands, she looked up, something she tried not to do. She saw herself staring back at her.

She manages to fall asleep spreading a newspaper over her body. She lies on the park bench in a ball. She awoke to a cold splash of something rolling across her face and dripping onto the ground. She sat up as three kids around twelve dashed away, throwing an empty cup on the ground and laughing. She wiped her face with her hand and saw that it was just water. She grabbed the corner of her grubby jacket and wiped her face. Her clothes had managed to get somewhat wet and with the cold breexe, it was absolutely numbin

Some topics in this essay:
, bus stop, sat bus stop, sat bus, park bench, sat outside,