Elise opened her eyes slowly as the rain fell lightly onto her cheek and then trickled down her neck onto the expensive evening dress that she was wearing. Rather dazed and thick-headed she realized she was lying on a park bench engulfed in complete darkness. Feeling cold, wet and helplessly alone Elise began to shiver and cry uncontrollably. She could not remember what had happened to her and why she was in this unwelcome predicament. She had never feared for her life or been so scared until this very moment.

All last nights events came rushing back to her. Elise had been visiting one of the city nightclubs and Michael had been her date for the night but had decided that he needed an early night and had opted to go home after only being there for about two hours. Elise had her doubts about him needing an early night because he had been seen leaving soon afterwards with another girl. Being disappointed by his early departure and blatant behaviour Elise decided to go to the bar and have a "few drinks" to teach Michael "a lesson." She had then been silly enough to leave by herself around twelve p.m. and that was the last thing she remembered. She had definitely had too many drinks and was now paying for it, her head was aching.

The best thing to do at the moment Elise thought was to stay where she was until morning. She might be able to recognise some of her surroundings in the daylight. Hopefully there would be a phone somewhere so she could ring her parents. All of a sudden she remembered her mobile phone and wondered where her silver handbag was. Her parents would be worrying about her and her whereabouts and consequently ringing some of her friends trying to see if they knew where their daughter was.

Elise felt about for her handbag but it was nowhere to be found. Hoping it had fallen onto the ground Elise quickly groped around in the darkness for her handbag and her hand came to rest on something big, warm and wet. Screaming loudly she jumped up from the seat ready to take on the human like figure that slowly immerged groaning from under the park bench.

The wet, dirty, bedraggled figure of a middle-aged woman stood silently before her. Both women were speechless for a few minutes and seemed to be content to just look at each other in utter dismay. Elise finally made the first move to speak. They both sat down on the bench seat and started telling each other a little about themselves and their lives. Elise sat there dumb-founded listening to Janet's life story and how she had ended up living in the park and sometimes dark alleys where some of her friends mostly lived now. At least that way they could all huddle together Janet explained if it rained and there were usually boxes they could crawl into if they needed to.

Elise couldn't even imagine having to live like this as she had grown up in a very luxurious house and with heaps of money to splash around. She had been thoroughly spoiled and pampered and even handed a prestigious position as Assistant in her Father's Car Manufacturing Company. When Elise was bored with a new car she would trade it in for a new one and it was almost the same with all her boyfriends.

Janet had been married for ten years and had two children by her husband Ron. After seven years of marriage Ron had left her and taken the two children with him. They had to sell the family house and share the money. A lot of Janet's money was used in court costs when she had tried to get custody of the children. Eventually custody was given to Ron as he had a good job and could afford to keep the children.

Under supervision Janet was able to see the children once a fortnight. Her husband had eventually moved overseas taking the children with him. Janet had written numerous letters to the children but had not received any back. She wondered if they had ever been passed on to them, probably not. Which absolutely destroyed Janet and she had never been the same since.

Ron's parents would have nothing to do with her at all. Janet's parents had both died so she had no-one to turn to for help. Even her so called friend didn't really want to know her anymore and if she rang them they would always make some excuse about not having the time to talk to her. The truth was they just couldn't be bothered helping her. They said that they had their own problems to sort out without worrying about hers as well.

Since that time Janet didn't care whether she lived or died and finally ended up homeless. She had looked for a job but nobody wanted to employ her as she usually didn't have enough qualifications for the jobs she applied for. Everywhere she turned there seemed to be no help.

While Janet was in the city one day she had come across a Soup Kitchen that had been set up there for poor and homeless people and had she had nervously gone in. By the end of lunch she had made some friends and had been invited to spend the night with them in one of the alleys. At least this would be better than sleeping down under the bridge and being alone she had thought and besides no-one cared whether she lived or died.

Quickly and without warning the rain came down in torrents, Elise and Janet were both drenched through. Before Elise knew it she was being pulled by the hand by Janet along the park walkway, across the road and down a dark eerie alleyway. Janet had mumbled something about following her. Under these circumstances Elise had no option other than to follow Janet.

The thought of being out there alone now seemed rather scary to Elise and she did not want to be alone. She had no idea what suburb she was in either which was rather daunting. For some strange reason Elise completely trusted this total strangers judgement at this point in time. Janet was obviously taking her somewhere out of the rain.

Elise wished that she had called a taxi at the club and gone straight home. If she had done that she would be safe at home and asleep in her big warm bed. How foolish and irresponsible she felt. Elise's mother used to tell her to be careful and smart when she was out and to ring if she ever needed help. She used to think that she was just nagging and telling her what to do. She realized now that this was said only for her own protection. "So many bad things can happen to you if you are not careful." her mother and father had warned her and now she knew what they meant.

Although her parents seemed to be strict it was only because they loved her. "If you make bad mistakes you can end up paying for them for the rest of your life and also hurt the people that really love you and care for about you." Her mother used to tell her. Although Elise used to hate it when her mother said these sought of things.

That night Elise made a promise to herself that if she survived this ordeal she would tell her parents and her beloved grandparents that she loved them. As she couldn't remember that last time that she told them. Also that she appreciated all the things that they had done for her as she had taken them all for granted. Elise was going to be more thoughtful towards her family as well as the employees at work she told herself firmly.

The alleyway was smelly and dirty and Elise put her hand over her nose as she wasn't used to such unpleasant odours. She could just make out the crumpled figures crouching or lying covered by blankets or sheets of newspaper on the ground, it was a pitiful sight. Elise now had a first hand view of how these poor unfortunate people lived and she could hardly believe her eyes. While she was at home snugly asleep in her warm comfortable bed at night there were people here in the streets sleeping like this.

Elise was overcome with guilt and tears welled up in her eyes and she fought back the tears. She felt her grimy hair and it was dripping wet and stringy and her dress was in an even worse condition. Elise had paid nearly four hundred dollars for it in one of her favourite Dress Boutiques just a week ago. It didn't seem to matter to her any more after witnessing all this. The most important thing at the moment was to get out of the rain and to try to get some sleep. Elise could hardly wait till morning to be able to ring her parents to let them know that she was safe thanks to Janet.

Janet all of a sudden stopped near a box with a large piece of plastic thrown over it and there were a couple of old crumpled blanket inside it. Indicating to the box she told Elise to get in out of the cold and wet before she caught pneumonia. Janet told her that she would sleep outside and keep guard for her to make sure she was safe for the night. Although she did re-assure Elise that she would be quite safe as these were Janet's true friends and that she trusted them with her life. Elise didn't doubt that for a moment.

Thanking Janet profusely Elise crawled inside the box and handed Janet one of blankets and pulled the other one up over herself. Thankfully it didn't smell too bad and it wasn't long before Elise was asleep as she was quite exhausted.

Elise woke up to the chattering of people around her. It seemed to be a beautiful sunny day outside. Elise peered out of the box to find a group of people sitting around eating some cereal from disposable bowls. Apparently a local Restaurant supplied them with food and hot drinks each morning. Some of them were sipping hot coffee from take-away mugs and it smelt rather nice Elise was thinking. All the blankets and clothes had been packed away for the day in each of their bags and they were using them as seats.

Some of the homeless people would spend some time just sitting around talking and others would walk around the city all day. When night came they would all congregate back in the alleyways for the company and protection. If there were any disputes amongst them the offender would usually move on and find another group of homeless people that they could join. Thankfully this little group seemed to be a very close and they got along quite well. It was certainly a different way of life, a real eye-opener! Elise thought to herself.

After a delicious cup of hot coffee and endless conversations Elise found out a little about each person in the group of five. They all seemed to have a different story to tell. Elise listened attentively to each one with amazement and also with a great deal of sadness. This experience was certainly going to change Elise's life around she would never be the same again, she knew that.

Thomas was a bit of a loner he would have been about fifty. He was rather a shy person and had found it hard to even ask girls out so consequently had not married. Thomas had lived at home taking care of his sick mother for thirty years until she had eventually died about five years earlier. His older brother John had sold the house as he was the sole executor and told Thomas that he had to get out of the house and look for other accommodation. Not having much money and no-where to go he found himself just wandering around the city most of the time. Then he found these friends and had been with them ever since.

The saddest story was that of Peter who was only thirty three. He was married to Trish for about twelve years and had a little daughter named Katie who was six. They had planned to go on a holiday at long last as they had not been on one for at least ten years. They were all very excited at the prospect of going away together a family holiday. It had been almost impossible to leave somebody else in charge of their Photographic Company that could run the Company properly while they were away for a week. Then a friend had made them an offer that they could not refuse. Jack had offered to do some of the developing and printing for Peter for that period of time in his own Photographic Lab.

Peter, Trish and little Katie left quite early in the morning so that they could avoid the traffic as it was school holidays as well. Trish had told Peter that she would rather he had a good nights sleep and then leave a little later than initially planned. Peter had insisted that he wanted to leave early anyway! Once on the trip Peter had nearly nodded off to sleep twice but said nothing to Trish about it as he just wanted to get to their destination before lunch. The third time it happened ended up in tragedy. Peter unknowingly had nodded off to sleep for a couple of seconds. Their car had veered off the road and down the side of an embankment hitting a tree killing Trish and little Katie instantly.

Devasted Peter had sold everything and lived in a Caravan Park out in the country. He couldn't live in the house anymore; just the thought of it would make him weep.
Peter had never forgiven himself and wished that he had died in the crash instead of his two beautiful girls.

The Caravan Park owners had then sold the park and bought a house that they could call their own. Consequently Peter had nowhere to go and had tried to find somewhere in the city to live. He thought that he might even find some work. Peter had found a cheap Hotel for about two months but could not find any work. Consequently he ended up without any money at all and found himself down at the Soup Kitchen and there had met up with Janet.

Looking around Elise realized that Janet was missing and she began to get a little nervous. Peter noticed this and told her that Janet had gone off to look for something in the park. She hadn't mentioned what is was she was looking for but would be back soon.

Elise then asked Peter where the nearest station was as she didn't quite know in which part of the city she was. To Elise's surprise she was only ten minutes away from the Night Club she had been visiting last night and only five minutes from the city station.

All of a sudden Janet came running around the corner with what looked like a silver evening bag! Janet had thought that she had seen something silver shining in the moonlight and had just gone back to see if it was Elise's purse. Elise could not believe her luck hopefully her wallet and mobile phone would still be in there.

Elise thanked Janet and immediately opened her bag to find everything still in there. She glanced at the mobile phone and it had numerous messages on it. Obviously her parents had been trying to reach her. Her parents were greatly relieved when she rang them and couldn't wait to see her and would be picking her up very shortly. They thought that she must have gone home to Michael's for the night but unfortunately didn't have his phone number to ring him and check. They had just hoped and prayed that their lovely daughter was somewhere safe for the night.

Elise told her mother that she loved her and that she was a changed person. From now on she would try to help the needy more and also donate money to the City Soup Kitchen. Also that she was going to help out in the City Soup Kitchen at least once a month. That way she would get to see Janet and the other friends that she had made.

Elise's mother asked her if she was alright to which Elise replied "I have never felt better about myself." She also realised that she had led a very protected and fortunate life and she was very grateful for that. Also that you have to always strive to do your best and to let those around you know that you love them. Maybe she had truly grown up overnight!


By
Sandy