Awoken by the loud honking of a passing car, Jack stood up. It was a cold night under the bridge where he slept on nights he couldn't get into the shelter. He stood up and walked slowly towards the road. Jack couldn't handle any more sleepless nights. The cars and drunk friends after a fun night out were too much for him to handle. Exhausted he slowly walked down the busy street to get to a quiet park. He had to deal with this situation regularly because his dream to make it big in hockey didn't come true. The dream would have come true if the incident didn't happen.

He was playing in the AHL. He played for the Toronto Marlies and was the team captain. One night things went very downhill. The Marlies were playing the Hershey Bears and the game went into OT. Jack went for the puck along the end boards and took a hard hit into the them. He fell screaming in anguish. The trainer ran over to him and called the for the doctor. He was stretchered off the ice and straight into the back of an ambulance. When he arrived at the hospital they ran multiple tests to find out what had happened. They found he had severely injured his lungs and his airways would be 35% closed. This meant he couldn't partake in any physical activity ever again. Jack's career was over. Hoping he could find a new job he went searching. This was tough as he dropped out of school at a very young age to pursue hockey. Jack ended up getting in and out of jobs because they were too taxing on his lungs. He was not able to pay his rent, eventually being evicted. 

He walked down the lonely streets very slowly to make sure he wouldn't collapse. On his way to the park he found a hockey stick half broken sitting in a trash can. Jack picked up the stick and continued walking down the street towards the park. Finally after spending an hour and a half walking half a kilometer he arrived at the park. He went up to the roller hockey rink to sleep on the bench. A few drunk teenagers looked at him and laughed. Jack sat up deciding he didn't want to sleep yet and he grabbed the hockey stick. He found a pinecone on the ground and started stickhandling, breathing heavily already. The pinecone rolled every which way but Jack didn't mind. He shot it at the net and hit the crossbar shattering the pinecone into little pieces. He grabbed another and shot it at the net this time shooting it top shelf. The teenagers looked at him impressed but didn't say anything. Jack began breathing very heavily but he was so happy he didn't notice it. He ran to get another pinecone and as he ran to it he collapsed. The teenagers freaked out and called an ambulance. They ran over to Jack and waited by him until the ambulance arrived.

The paramedics ressecutated Jack and warned him that he wouldn't be able to do any physical activity. The paramedics and the teenagers left and Jack was once again alone. He had no siblings and his parents had passed away in a tragic plane crash. Jack's father was a pilot and often went flying with Jack's mother. He decided he had to find a job because he would not be able to live like this anymore.

Jack woke up on the park bench the next morning and went looking for a job. He went to every place he could to fill out job applications and since he didn't have a phone he told them to call the homeless shelter if they wanted to give him a position. Everyday he repeated this same process hoping to hear back from one of the companies. Not a single company or business responded or asked for an interview. He walked to the homeless shelter very early in the day and he luckily got a room. He lay awake in the terrible bed in the shelter thinking about what his next move will be. Jack woke up filled with anger. He walked downstairs with a massive frown on his face. Jack stomped out of the shelter and walked down the street. 

Jack walked for half an hour on the empty streets and ended up in a very rich area. He saw someone on the sidewalk across the street and looked at him.

“Hey! Hobo!” Yelled a man across the street, “what you lookin’ at. Get out of here and go back to wherever you came from!”

Jack looked over at the man across the street. Jack walked over to the man angrily. The man stood his ground.

“Hobo! You gonna talk or not!?” the man asked, “what's the issue cat got yo tongue!?” 

Jack walked closer to the man and took out a shard of glass he keeps in his pocket for safety. Jack didn't care what happened anymore. He took the shard and jumped on the man harassing him. He pushed the shard into the man's stomach seeing blood stain the ground. Jack pulled the shard out and walked away leaving the man to bleed out.

Jack walked into a fast food restaurant and asked for an application. He filled out the application for the position and walked out of the restaurant. The street was wet from the downpour that happened the night before. Jack continued to walk down the street angrily waiting to find his next victim. Heaving heavily trying not to pass out he walked down the street. He found a bench and sat down. 

An hour passed and he was still catching his breath. It didn't hit him that he had murdered someone just a few hours ago. Wondering if the body had been found he got up off the bench and kept walking. Jack had lost all his emotions, he felt nothing. He didn't feel sad or angry just numb. He walked into another retail store to fill out another application to try and get another job so he could eventually rent a place to live. Was it worth it? To Jack at this moment nothing could make him feel better. Jack went and sat at the side of the curb begging for money to get himself something to eat. People stared and passed by him but only one person gave him money. That person didn't look at him or acknowledge that he was a human. Jack took the toonie that the woman had given him and walked into a gas station store. He bought one slice of crappy pizza for a dollar ninety and walked out. Jack ate his slice of pizza and savoured it as he always did, not knowing when his next meal might be. He had to sit down once again to catch his breath. The park was across the street so he walked over to it. It was getting dark out and he needed a safe quiet bench to sleep on. A few older wealthier women who looked to be out for a nice day in the park crossed the street to get away from Jack. He walked into the park and bumped into some big guys. 

“Watch it Hobo!!” One of them yelled.

“Don't call me that!” Jack yelled back.

Two of the three big guys ran at Jack and held him down on the ground. The third came up to him and punched him in the face. Jack wheezed and gasped for air as he was hit over and over again. Finally he went unconscious and the guys got off him. As they started to walk away Jack came to coughing up blood. He pushed himself off the ground and found that his pockets were empty. The emergency five dollars he kept in case he was going to starve to death was gone. He wiped the blood from his face and ran towards the three big men with his shard of glass ready. He stabbed the first guy in the back of the neck and he immediately crumpled to the ground. Jack went after the second one and took him down as well. The final guy looked behind him and saw the two others lying on the ground bleeding and Jack standing over them with an evil smile. The third guy started to walk away faster but Jack caught up to him and sliced his face. The man fell to the ground screaming as Jack finished him off. Jack walked across a large field in the park and lay down on a bench to sleep.

Jack woke up and planned his day. He decided he was going to go to the homeless shelter and see if he had any job offers, then he was going to go to the store and buy some food with the fifty dollars he got from all the guys he killed the night before. He began walking towards the homeless shelter and heard a newspaper boy talking about three murders in a park and another one in the rich neighbourhood. Jack smiled thinking about how it wouldn't be easy to track him down. He made it to the homeless shelter and there were no calls back. He left the shelter and began walking to the store to buy his food. 

So many choices to make. He could finally afford a good meal. He bought a hot roast chicken meal with gravy, a loaf of bread, a container of strawberries, a chocolate bar, a carton of vanilla ice cream, and a pack of gum. The total came to $43.79. He walked out of the store and walked to a new park. He sat on the bench and ate the best meal he had had in years. Seven years since his accident, four years of being homeless, and he is only twenty six. He ate the last bite of the ice cream and put the chocolate bar, the strawberries, the remaining pieces of bread and the pack of gum back in the plastic bag for later.

Jack made his way to the shelter to try and get a room for the night. He was just early enough to get the second last room. He sat at the edge of his bed and ate the rest of the strawberries and half the chocolate bar. Jack was exhausted and decided to sleep early. He woke up to the knocks on the door letting him know he had twenty minutes to get out of the room. He got out of the bed, went to the bathroom and rounded up his things. He walked out of the room with a full stomach and things seemed to be looking up. He forgot about the four murders he committed and walked down the street. He saw a poster on the wall with his face on it. The poster said: Wanted for murder. Please report to the police if you see this man. Jack ran from the poster terrified. He ran breathing heavily and  almost collapsed. He ran on and off to the park. He got to the park and sat on the bench out of breath crying. Jack pulled out the long shard of glass that he used to kill the four people, this time turning it on himself. He had no hope left. Jack pushed the shard into himself and as he fell to the ground about to bleed out he threw it against the tree next to him shattering it. 

A week later the homeless shelter received a call.

“Hello this is Ronald Wenter of the value store down the street. I saw the application for a cashier position from Jack Miller and I was wondering if he was still interested in the position? Is he at the shelter now?” asked a man over the phone

“Jack Miller hasn't been to the shelter in over a week. He is usually here everyday but recently he hasn't shown up. If I hear from him I will call you back.” answered the woman working at the shelter.

 “Ok thanks for letting me know.” 

“No problem, talk later. Bye”

“Bye.”