AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hope you all enjoy this chapter about Kyle, I wanted to show how his feelings of being unloved and not having a family impacted how he was. Sorry if it's not great. I promise better chapters with Kyle further on.

Chapter 75: Kyle's helping hand

Fifteen year old Kyle sat on his bed at the group home. He pulled out a bottle of Vodka that he had bribed a mate off the street to get for him. He opened the bottle and took sip after sip, he didn't know what was left of his life, he was unloved, and heavily depressed his life at the group home had taken its toll on him. The only thing that seemed to help him was to drink. Kyle had polished off three quarters of the bottle and began to feel irritated and so angry at life.

"What's the point?" He groaned and smashed the bottle against the wall and glass shattered everywhere. Kyle glanced down at a sharp pointed piece of broken glass and a thought ran through his mind, he had to do something about his life.

Kyle picked up the piece of glass and looked at his left arm and dug the glass hard into his skin. A pain pierced his arm and small droplets of blood began to ooze. Kyle felt relieved from the blood and tried it again, but this time he pressed harder. More blood flowed freely from the wounds as Kyle cut two more times, producing two more deep cuts.

Kyle watched as the blood slowly ran down his arm, small drips dropping to the ground. Kyle lay down on the floor and watched the blood from his arm, until he closed his eyes and blacked out.

When Kyle woke up he was lying in a hospital bed and had a massive hangover headache, his throat hurt and he felt a stinging pain over his left arm which was covered in a bandage. It seemed that one of the workers went to get Kyle for dinner and found him on the floor, blacked out from the excessive alcohol and a bleeding arm.

Luckily for Kyle the wounds were not deep enough to require stitches, but the incident found him being questioned by the psychiatric evaluation team who kept Kyle in the hospital for counseling.

Kyle spent his days depressed and in his room on constant watch from the staff. He felt trapped. Flipping through a magazine he came across an advertisement for a guitar for sale. Kyle never knew what he wanted in life but something about this instrument interested him.

Kyle shut the magazine and sat up on his bed and pulled out a pen and paper and started to write and soon emotion poured out about everything. Before long Kyle realized he had written a song. Kyle perked up realizing what he was meant to do in life. Opening the magazine back to the advertisement Kyle read it would cost $400 to buy. How was he ever going to afford that money?

Not long after returning back to the group home after his hospital encounter, Kyle packed up his belongings and took off in search for a better life. Kyle spent days sleeping in the streets and picking leftover food from café tables. Kyle occasionally sung outside parks and stores, trying to get some money.

One day when Kyle was busking outside a café for money, the owner approached him.

"Hey kid! Who said you could do that outside my shop? You're scaring away my customers. Look at you, you're filth! You scumbag teenagers coming around here ruining my business. Get off with ya before I call the cops!"

"Back off! Who would want to come into your crappy shop anyway? I bet your food is rotten!" Kyle yelled back.

"Don't you give me cheek ya no good rat bag!"

A policeman passed by after a complaint about a confrontation and was investigating the area when he approached the café. "What seems to be the problem here?"

"This scumbag kid won't get off my property! He's ruining my business."

The policeman looked at Kyle and recognized his face from a lost advert that the group home had put out since he ran away. "Hey kid, I know you. You're that lost kid that ran away from the group home."

Kyle was worried he would be taken back and it would ruin all his plans. Leaving his money bag behind Kyle quickly ran off with the policeman taking chase. "Hey kid! Stop!"

Kyle ran until he was out of sight from the policeman and collapsed on a park bench. "I've lost all the money I had, what am I going to do now?" He sighed.

Kyle looked up upon hearing a voice. "Here I thought you might need this." A man handed Kyle his money bag.

"Thanks." The man didn't walk away.

"You in some kind of trouble kid?"

"What's it to you?" Kyle snapped.

"You can forget the attitude, tell me and let me help you or I can get the cops over here to take you home. What'll it be?"

Kyle sighed. "I'm just trying to make a living for myself."

"Where is your family?"

"My Mum put me in a group home that I ran away from and I haven't seen my Dad in years."

"So where do you live now?"

Kyle didn't answer. "By the looks of ya, you haven't had a decent wash or feed in days."

"I've been living on the streets. I can't afford a place to stay. I'm trying to save up money to buy a guitar so I get something out of my useless life. But really what is the point I'm never going to get anywhere. I should just end everything now!"

Kyle stood up and started to walk away. "Don't move!" The man said sternly.

"What's it to you? Why do you even care?" Kyle replied solemly.

"I see potential in you mate and I hate to see a young kid waste their life. What's your name?"

Kyle turned back to the man. "Kyle." He replied quietly.

"Well Kyle, the name's Alf Stewart and I run a caravan park not far from here. I'm gonna cut you a deal. You come back with me, live in one of my caravans, go to school and get an education and I won't tell the cops where you are, in fact I will contact this group home and tell them you are living with me now and will not have anything to do with them and on your weekends off from school you can work in my bait shop and earn this money you need to get that guitar. Or you go back to the group home, either way I ain't leaving you out on the street."

Kyle looked at Alf unsure on whether to trust him, but what did he have to lose. Kyle nodded. "Right it's all set. Get your things and follow me."

Kyle followed Alf to the caravan park and set down all his belongs in a caravan. "Thanks Mister Stewart."

"Just call me Alf. But remember the rules I told ya, I'll help you get sorted at school and expect you to start work in a few weeks when you get settled in. Any disrespect or inappropriate behavior from you and you'll be out on your rear understand?"

Kyle nodded, he was just glad to have someone give him a chance.

Alf did as he promised and got Kyle working hard at school and earning his keep and soon enough was able to afford the guitar and focus on his song writing and music playing.