Chapter 1
The flat was freezing. Peter found himself buried beneath a pile of blankets, a thick hoodie covering his ears and half his face and, yet, he was still shivering. He tossed and turned on the uncomfortable, lumpy mattress pressed into the corner of the studio flat, hoping to generate some heat with the movement but the action was hopeless.
He sighed and could swear that he saw his breath crystallise before his eyes, but, then again, it could just be the lack of sleep getting to him. Tears of frustration balled in his eyes but he refused to let them fall. Too many days as of late had started and finished with him curled under his covers, a sobbing mess until exhaustion struck him and he fell back asleep.
It was endless. Each day bled into the next and he just wanted it to end. All of it.
It was a treacherous path to walk, these thoughts, but he strolled along it daily. Dangerous thoughts lingered for far too long and he clung onto them until he happened upon an even deathlier one. It was the third time already that day that he found himself slipping deeper into them. The slam of a door from the flat above him was perhaps his saving grace. He blinked and the buzzing voices swirling in his head paused...
Then the screaming started.
“You bastard!”
The screeching of his upstairs neighbour was barely muffled by the ceiling separating them. Peter huffed something close to a laugh. He was well aware his living situation wasnt great and for the first time in weeks he had the urge to actually leave the flat.
So he did.