He steps out after wiping most of the water off, as to not piss off his mum any more than she already is; she hates the puddles that are left after getting out. Jay steps from rug to rug, trying his best to avoid dripping onto the open floor, to open the small mirrored cupboard.

After a brief moment scanning the shelves he reaches in and takes out his mums’ favourite cocoa body butter and a pack of disinfectant wipes. As Jay is putting them back into the cupboard after finishing up, a knock at the door grabs his attention,

“Yeah?” he asks,

“How long will you be?” asked his little sister softly, “I’m done now, gimme a minute.” Jay replies, closing the cupboard before skipping back across the rugs. He opens the door in a towel, carrying a ball of his clothes and bag, his sister gasps,

“What happened to your face?”, Jay rubbed her hair and told her not to worry about it. He goes into his room and gets into a new change of clothes,

sitting on the edge of his bed, bag of cocaine in hand, “He didn’t even tell me when and where…” he thinks, sliding the bag under his bed. “If the uni accepts me I’ll be free. I can convince mum to move with me and we can all be away from this shithole.”

He lies back on the bed, propping up the pillows in a way that it won’t aggravate the cuts on his face, he closes his eyes and lets out once last sigh before drifting away.

His sleep is abruptly interrupted by visions of the killings he witnessed earlier that day, covered in a cold sweat, Jay rolls over to sharp pain, briefly forgetting about his injuries. Now very much awake, he stares at the ceiling, wondering how his life ended up like this.

The bustling crowds of a Geordie departed train drowned out by the rattling of the shanty carriage, “Fuckin’ state of this train, you best be there to pick me up Jay. I’m sick of these Geordie cunts naw.” Shouted Cedrique over the phone, “I’m there now, just sat in Greggs chilling.” Replied Jay,

a brief silence ensues before Cedrique asks Jay to get him something; hanging up soon after. Jay walks to the counter and asks for two sausage rolls, a nationwide favourite. He pays, grabs the bag and walks to find the time board;

“10:15… 10 minutes.” mumbled to himself, he turns and heads towards the gates. Turning the corner a hooded yellow tracksuit wearing youth bumps into Jay, “Watch yourself bruv…” he mutters as he brushes Jay to the side, Jay kisses his teeth and tells him to fuck off,

“fuckin’ banana…” he says under his breath. The remaining time is spent tucking into his sausage roll, a rare treat for Jay nowadays; after his father passed the family has been struggling financially for over a year. But today is a special occasion, the ‘successful’ cousin returns from the land of the Tyne.