Duty of Care

Chapter 1

The boy yanked the zip of his tattered jacket to the top and shivered. He leaned his head against the shop doorway he had chosen for the night. A shopping bag lay beside him, containing everything he owned. The day’s relentless drizzle had soaked through every layer, the cold biting his skin. Tonight was not going to be a good night. Three nights outside on the streets of Glasgow was enough. Tomorrow he would crawl back to the shelter and apologise for a fight he hadn’t started. He would swallow his pride, take the blame and hope they let him back in. None of this was his fault. At just two years old, his parents had chosen drink and drugs over him. It had been downhill from then on. He shook violently, hugging himself for warmth and watched as people hurried up and down the busy street. None of them even looked at him. He was nothing to them. A waste. A drain on society. To them, every homeless man was just a junkie. He had never touched a needle in his life. But people made their own stories. He turned his head to the left and saw the umbrellas and hunched shoulders flowing down the pavement. In between the bustling crowds he saw a tall thin man in a long black overcoat walking directly towards him. Different from the rest. His eyes were locked on him. Not a thug. Too polished