She hugged him tight. It stopped any more debris crashing to the floor. It stopped the waves from eroding more of the coastline. It stopped the hail from hammering down. She held him together, a small being in the direct path of a lightning strike, but that was okay. She was like those poppies outside in the flower bed; free, yet tainted.

Sparrows and robins hopped atop a barbed wire fence that ran around the circumference of a tiny woodland – so tiny in fact that Felan didn’t think he could even class it as one. A cluster of trees, maybe? Dirt footpaths criss-crossed the park like a cardiovascular system, leading in every direction and no direction at all, though no matter which way he looked, the city buildings loomed overhead.

He could walk away if he wanted to, but this man had saved Felan from being taken away, beaten up, or worse. Maybe accepting his offer could be Felan’s way of repaying him. Repayment. It was how things worked. At least, that’s what his father had always told him.

As Felan sat there, the rain fell that little bit heavier. The cold grew that little bit colder. He shivered more violently than he’d ever shivered before. The streets were dangerous. Even if it was only for one night, it was another night he’d be safe from those awful people on the streets that kept following him.