Emily Johnson There were three things he wanted more than anything in the world; food, warmth, and love. But when you’re born on the streets, those things are hard to come by. He wasn’t entirely sure if he had a father, but if he did he was long gone, and would never be back. He and his brother were left in the care of his mother who was weary, having lived her whole life on the streets, her beginning practically identical to his. Their inevitable future was clearly visible in his mother; quivering limbs, malnutrition, and loneliness. She tried to care for him and his brother the best that she could; she gathered whatever scraps she could find, taking none for herself. She made sure they had as much warmth and shelter as was possible in the narrow alley they called home. The one thing his mother taught him and his brother was to stay hidden, because those who wander off seldom come back. She had watched countless others disappear in their sleep because of the one they knew as "the man in the boots." Nobody knows exactly where he takes them, or why, only that it can't be good. However, that threat didn't bear heavily on him. He had never seen the man in boots, nor had he ever known someone to be taken by him, so as far as he was concerned, it was just a tale to keep them from trouble. Nothing really bothered him when he was with his mother and his brother. He didn't mind the cold, or his empty stomach, because he had never known anything else, and because he was surrounded by family, who loved and supported him. However, this bliss was only possible because of all his mother did for his brother and he. Her mind was not at ease, and her body was not numb to the conditions they were forced to endure. She knew that she could not carry on in this way much longer, she knew she didn't have much time, but he knew nothing yet of death, so he didn't notice her deteriorating before him, didn't notice her steps slowing, and didn't know why she would not wake up. He and his brother decided to start their day without their mother, they decided they would just let her sleep, because she must be tired. They quickly realized that they had no idea what to do, their mother had always led the way. They went to all the normal places they went to be fed by their mother. They went to each place and sat, they didn't even know how long, for the food to drop out of the dumpster, but it never did. Over and over they sat waiting, the growling in their stomachs growing more and more prominent, but the food never came. Confused and frustrated, the brothers went back to their alley they called home, to where their mother had been sleeping, but she was nowhere to be found. He looked into his brothers eyes, he didn't understand, he didn't know where she went. His heart sped up its broken thumping as he slowly realized that because he and his brother had left her sleeping, the man in the boots had come and found her. She was gone, and she would never be back. This is when the desire for love budded in him. His mother is gone now, wherever it is that she went, and he no longer felt the warmth in his heart that he hadn't realized was there till it was absent. And now, he wanted that love more than anything in the world. He and his brother had no idea how his mother had gotten the food she did. They always just waited for her to bring it back. So, they had no idea how they were to get any for themselves. For the first time, the growling in his stomach was growing more noticeable, like needles scratching at him from the inside. There was what he believes was three days that he and his brother went completely without food. Never before had the harsh realities of his life been so ruthless and unforgiving. Now he was not only without his mother, his source of affection, his safe house, now he was weak with starvation, and desperate for food. Now there were two things he wanted more than anything in the world; love, and food. Since his mother