"Home"

"Home"

Yes I had one of those.

It overlooked the beach and it had a tiny garden, and I filled every room with candles and Buddhas.

It smelt of oils and incense, and I would sit out on the balcony and drink my glass of wine and I would feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

And then someone pulled the rug from under me, and soon there was no flat or tiny garden, no buddhas, or incense anymore. In fact there wasn’t much of anything by the time I gave the keys back ...I had to sell all my things or give them away as there was nowhere else for them to go...because there are no drawers in homeless world, no shelves to hold your books, or wardrobes for your things...because there will be no books, and there will be no things.

And so you take yourself, some clothes and some shoes, maybe throw in a cat for good measure, and you become a homeless, rootless, petrified version of yourself, that either people pretend not to see, or that they  don’t know what to do with...

And its sink or its swim, but it’s mostly a sink, because carrying all that fear and uncertainty around starts to get heavy...and you might start to drink a lot and you mostly dont eat much and  everyday you sink further down, until you actually find yourself sitting in hell.

And then the devil says “ hi” and welcome to his pad, and to make yourself at home, oh and would you like a shot to take the edge off things? After all, it’s not like you’ve got a home to go back to...

And so he passes you a bottle and you take another swig and soon you give precisely no shits what happens to you as long as that drink is in your hand.

Years go by.

And you cry and you cry and you drink and you drink, and you grieve for what you lost...and then one day you come across some  photographs... ones that the devil didn’t want you to see.. .Pictures that show you what you could have been, should have been,  but never will be now unless you get your shit together.

And then the penny drops.

Right before the bottle does...as you finally realise that  you’re in the  last chance saloon here  and that you really  don’t want to die this way.

And the devil wants to keep you there, with his endless supply of booze and bad thoughts and absolutely no way out of this hell-hole unless you are literally willing to crawl over hot coals while his back is turned...and you are so emaciated and broken by now that he doesn’t think you have it in you and so he gets careless one day and forgets to  lock the door...

You watch him leave...then start to crawl...