AUGUST

August grew up in the city in a lower middle class family. Stuff at home was pretty peaceful and fun for the first 15 years of his life, his family loved to go out and do things whenever they had the extra cash, especially to celebrate his academic achievements. He was always great at school, excelling in most subjects and frequently being in honors classes, his strongest skills being in math and the sciences. He was determined to do something good for the world, he just couldn't decide in what field!

Things began to change at age 15 though, when he came out as bisexual to his parents. He had known ahead of time that his mother had always been supportive of that sort of thing, and he had assumed that his dad must've shared the same views given how close their family was.

He was unfortunately, very, very wrong. As it turned out, his father was the polar opposite on this subject to his mother, a fact that she hadn't known either. He'd always been silent on the topic, but his own son coming out was percieved as a step too far for him, and he wanted August out of the house immediately. His mother would argue and refuse to do so, the idea of sending their son out onto the street like that was out of the question. This immediately caused a rift in the family, his parents fighting much more often, but refusing to divorce still, his mother determined that with time she could change his father's mind. She would usually keep August safe, while his father typically didn't attempt any physical violence at all, emotional violence was another story, and his mother would always come to his side to fight back against it. Despite his family slowly becoming broken at home, August would still manage to keep up at school and keep a happy face on. He'd always been a target for bullying, but he would typically try not to let it bother him, and he tried to keep the same mindset when it came to his dad. He believed most of the people that bullied him had their own issues they would eventually face one day, and that they couldn't just be cruel at heart, and he believed the same for his dad, sharing his mom's confidence that she would be able to convince him otherwise.

A year and a half later however, a little before his 17th birthday, his mother was killed in a car accident, a drunk driver crashing into her while on her way to work. She was pronounced dead at the scene, the consesus being that she must have died instantly. Her loss took a toll on both August and his father, and was briefly the only time where his father stopped nagging on him. Not out of care, but simply out of being more focused on planning her funeral, he didn't have time to 'waste' on August. After the funeral services were over however, everything started back up again, and very soon after his father finally kicked him out of the house for real.

Despite being officially homeless now, August continued trying to go to school and keep up appearances. He was anxious about ending up in the foster system, especially when he was already so close to becoming an adult anyway. Surely he could just...finish school, find a simple job, and then figure out the rest later. It wouldn't go as well as he hoped though. It didn't take very long for him to realize that he was in a really tough place now, not having any identification or any sort of documents with him anymore, and despite his academic intelligence, his life experience was very limited, and he didn't know what to do about that. He'd realized this when attempting to get a part time job after school, and it kept not working out for various reasons. Without any money, he couldn't keep his clothes clean, he could only ever get food at school since it had free lunch for all students. But with no way to keep himself or his clothes cleans, it weighed further on his mental health. Teachers took notice that he was suddenly so different, but many of them were jaded from other students that would suddenly burn out in similar ways, assuming it was depression from the loss of his mother finally getting to him. Those that did have more concern would attempt calling his dad, but he always had excuses ready in order to avoid legal trouble, and August wasn't very vocal, embarassed of everything that happened and not wanting to admit it, leading those that did want to help him into a dead end. Eventually he would simply stop attending, becoming a drop out.

Now a high school drop-out, homeless, and entirely broke, August felt even more stuck than he was before. He could scrounge up some cash through begging on the street, and at his lowest moments, sometimes taking it from other's pockets (though not without immense guilt afterward). If he was having a lucky week he'd manage to convince some people to let him do simple chores for money, these small gig jobs were his main source of income, it wasn't enough to do hardly anything with, but it was enough to at least keep himself fed.

Eventually while hanging around another small group of people homeless in the city, one of them offered some of their drugs to August. Despite knowing full well how terrible of an idea this would be, August couldn't take feeling like garbage anymore, and accepted. He found out who they got them from, and ended up down the route of addiction fairly quickly, most of the money he earned being spent solely on feeding himself and avoiding sobriety. While it certainly helped him in some aspects, in others he only felt even worse, especially when he thought too long about the past.

Staying on the street doing nothing but drugs all day was going to kill him at this rate, either mentally or literally, and soon he decided he needed to find something free he could do, and remembered the library he used to love as a little kid. He found it was still around, and began visiting frequently to read and use the computer. Mostly the computer, as he would quickly find that talking to others online helped him feel less alone. He was very open about his situation, but without people being able to see him, he could avoid the way others would jump to conclusions a little less. Some still would of course, but it was better than in person. The librarian named Bartholomew who worked there everyday would eventually figure out his situation pretty quickly, and would come over to sit and chat with him by the computers whenever he wasn't busy with his job duties, something that he did often for any homeless people that came to visit the library, feeling bad for them and wanting to keep them company, leaving them isolated was never going to help anybody. Him and August got along extremely well, growing a friendship outside of simply 'feeling bad for him', and after a few months, he would offer to let August stay in the building after closing hours so he wasn't out on the street, just as long as he kept the lights off and didn't make a mess of the place. August was taken aback by the kind offer, and initially refused, but would quickly ask if the offer was still open about a week later, and began staying inside the library at night.

Now with some shelter, and a new friend, August started to improve a little mentally, still trapped in addiction, but he was seeing some light towards the end of the tunnel. He'd continue to talk to people online, mostly engaging in conversations about shows and books he liked. While things were getting more positive, it didn't mean it wasn't rough still. At one point getting robbed and stabbed while out on the street. He was lucky enough that nothing vital was damaged, but he was still in a lot of pain for awhile, and unable to afford a visit to the doctor. Being too afraid of "making a mess" and losing what he had, he stopped going to the library while he tried to treat the wound himself with what he knew. When it started to show early signs of infection though, he finally gave in and returned to the library, his friend immediately frantic and concerned. Neither of them could afford sending him to a hospital, but Bartholomew had more first aid knowledge, and since August caught it early, he managed to ward off the infection and helped August heal up. It left behind a nasty scar, but otherwise managed to heal okay. August would spend the next month constantly apologizing to Bartholomew for scaring him and worrying him with how long he'd been away. When things eventually went back to their usual routine, August managed to make another close friend online. He never knew their real name, but they bonded over mutual interest in a relatively unknown anime/manga, as well as both being in poor financial situations. Unlike his friend, who was rather private about more identifiable information, August had no qualms sharing his real name and sending pictures of himself being silly in the library all the time, especially since Bartholomew had decided to buy a new phone, allowing August to have his old one, even if it was slow and needed charged frequently, it was still something that let August use its features as long as he had an internet connection, which thankfully, most places in the city had free wifi available.

At some point, Bartholomew started doing a food delivery job akin to doordash or ubereats alongside his librarian job for some extra money, and started offering for August to come along with him. His librarian job covered most of his expenses just fine, he simply wanted extra spending money, and he was more than okay sharing this extra income with August. Any days that he allowed August to come with him were days where all the earnings would go to August, letting August do the pick up and drop off while Bartholomew drived, so that August would still feel like he earned it (something that his friend had quickly noticed about him, his guilt for taking 'free money'). During one of these trips, August brought a delivery to an apartment, when the person inside opened the door, they stared at him wide-eyed for awhile for a good while, before snatching the food and slamming the door on his hand by accident. While August pulled his hand away they briefly apologized, but then closed it properly and did not respond any further. Afterwards, suddenly August's newest online friend had quit talking to him for about a week. August saw no connections between these incidents at first, why would he? He had no idea his friend could have possibly lived in the same city, and they'd never said anything about his photos if they had recognized it. But after awhile when he finally recieved a message back, saying that they were sorry for suddenly going silent on him, that they were the one who accidentally slammed the door on his hand, and that they were just freaked out that he showed up for the delivery, having not expected him to be there and jumping to a paranoid conclusion. August gladly accepted the apology, and was instead delighted to find out they also lived so close by. His online friend, who he now knew was named Zacharie, was hesitant to want to hang out in person at all at first, but eventually would come stop by the library at times to hang out, even if they were rather quiet in person and rarely spoke out loud, especially around Bartholomew.

A few months after they started hanging out in person, Zacharie would finally offer August to be his roommate if he wanted. August, like he'd always been with Bartholomew, was hesitant at first, but did accept within the same day he'd been asked, and so he moved in with Zacharie. He still goes to the library often, both to visit his other friend, as well as to use the computers since Zacharie didn't have one. Bartholomew still lets him join on his delivery trips every now and then, letting it be August's job until he could get a proper one in the future. While Zacharie's apartment is small and run-down, it's still finally a space to himself, with a friend to have company around as well. Quitting drugs cold-turkey isn't an option for him, but with a much more stable place to live now, he's been making more progress, trying to keep off anything more dangerous and instead opting to try and only smoke weed when he can manage it. It'd be hard to resist weed anyway, given Zacharie is also a frequent smoker. Zacharie handles paying the apartment's rent, and August uses the delivery money to buy things for the both of them. The situation works well for the both of them, more stability helping August try to get better and figure out how to put his life back on track, and August's kind and patient nature being a benefit to helping Zacharie get through his own mental health episodes when they happen. Things aren't perfect, but August has real hope now for the future.