[Never Seen The Sky]

Prologue

The floorboards creaked beneath his feet as he edged slowly towards the stairs that led to temporary salvation. Waking his father now, he knew, would not be a very bright idea.

In all honesty, he doubted his father would stir from his alcohol-induced coma for at least another hour - it had been three chimes of the clock already, if he remembered correctly. But still, better safe than sorry.

Trying hard not to make a sound, he placed his foot lightly on the top stair, carefully resting his fingers on the banister. It was five long, painful minutes before he reached the safety of the worn ageing carpet of the living room. Moving quickly, but still remaining silent, he went into the normally-bright kitchen, now grey and dull with the darkness, and pulled open the cupboard.

Bread, breakfast cereals, biscuits, chocolate. What to take?

He settled on a slice of bread and a cookie, nothing noticeable - his father couldn't accuse him of stealing if he didn't know what he'd taken. Excited at the promise of food passing his lips, he found himself back upstairs and in his bedroom in less than two minutes. Creeping back into his make-shift bed (really just a tattered mattress resting on the splintered floorboards), he pulled the thin blankets over his head, and examined his treasure.

It had been more than a day since he had last eaten, and he was positively ravenous. He wolfed down the bread, not caring for the dry tickle in his throat. He took a moment to savour the cookie before savouring it, as his stomach growled for more. He knew it would be to risky to attempt the journey to the kitchen again tonight - he could no longer hear the loud snores that he had grown accustomed to hearing his father make.

Still hungry, but momentarily satisfied, Braiden Esperance close his eyes and waited for sleep to carry him away to an altogether kinder world.