Tom K.—“Streetwise.”

Prompt

Tom lived in an orphanage since childhood because his parents didn't want him; initially, they were good to him at the orphanage. But over time, as the children in the orphanage grew older, they stopped receiving food and were also prevented from bathing. The children were also forced to do various forms of hard labor and to steal food and money. Education was nonexistent there. Besides the fact that Tom was constantly bullied by the other boys at the orphanage, nobody respected anyone and most of them treated each other badly. After Tom suffered countless abuses at that orphanage, he had the idea to escape. It was quite difficult, but he managed it. When Tom finally escaped, he ran as far as possible from the orphanage because he was afraid that they would eventually look for him and find him. Because Tom knew that if they found him, they would beat him or maybe…kill him. After running far enough, Tom had to learn to live on the streets, occasionally having to steal food or money to survive. Although Tom almost always cried at night in an alley before sleeping because he wanted to be with his parents, to have a home, clean clothes, and food… He also wanted to go to school and learn all the things he hadn't learned at the orphanage.