He sneered at me, “Yeah?” he asked rudely.

“Hey, I’m Jamie Cole. I was told I had a room here,” I said trying to ignore the rude way he was looking at me, like I was a piece of crap or something he‘d stepped in.

“Cole? Let me see…..” He shifted slightly on his chair, rifling through some papers.

I turned slightly so I could see up the hallway, I didn’t want anyone sneaking up on me from behind or anything. I’d gotten pretty good at staying out of trouble in the last four years, as long as you see trouble coming, you can either face it head on or walk the other way. That was what I had learnt, and I planned on sticking to it even now I was out.

“Yeah, he you are,” he said ticking me off on some sort of list, he walked over to the little cabinet and grabbed a set of keys. He sat down at the desk and put a couple of forms into a little metal drawer, he shoved the drawer and it popped out my side of the bars. Wow, he’s not taking any chances at all. I could barely stop myself from laughing at how this place was really setting a good impression already. I dragged the forms out, looking them over, they were just registration forms.

“Sign on the bottom and it’s all yours,” he said nodding at the form, I scribbled my name and passed it back to him using the drawer. “Ok so there aren’t very many rules here, just try and stay out of trouble. If I were you, I would be careful not to go out in the dark too much, make sure you lock your door, even when you’re in the room. Take anything valuable out with you, or lock it in one of the safes here inside the office,” he said, nodding over his shoulder at a row of little safes built into the wall.

I nodded and he continued. “You have a front door key. The door gets locked at ten so after that you’ll have to let yourself in. Your room is 134,” he stated, shoving the drawer back through to me.

I grabbed the set of keys from the bottom, “You have your own shower, toilet and sink in your room. If you want to have a bath, there’s a bathroom on each floor, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”

He cringed subconsciously as he said it. I couldn’t help but laugh, maybe I should have just asked Brett to kill me after all.

“Right, thanks. Hey, do you know of anyone round here looking to hire someone?” I asked curiously, he laughed then I saw the smile slowly fade from his face when he realised I was serious.

“Oh right, sorry I thought that was a joke. Err…. I don’t know of anyone. What kind of thing you interested in?” he asked curiously. I smiled, the only thing I knew about was cars, I was good with cars but useless at anything else.

“I’ll take anything,” I said honestly. I figured I’d need to stack shelves for a while just to make some money until I found something else, obviously I needed to get out of this crap hole as soon as possible.

“If I hear of anything I’ll leave a note in your pigeon hole, that’s where you mail will go, so you’ll need to collect anything from here.” He nodded over his shoulder again, this time at the shelves with room numbers written on them.

“Ok, thanks for your help,” I said, looking around for the stairs.

“First floor, turn left at the top, and good luck….” he trailed off with a small knowing smile.

“Right,” I mumbled, as I headed up the stairs. I avoided touching the railings and walls on my way up, they looked like they were covered in years of grime and dirt. Wow, if Brett doesn’t kill me, then maybe I’ll die of some sort of gross infection or something that I‘ll catch from this place.

I found my room easily even though the number just said 34 instead of 134. I unlocked the three locks and shoved the door open, preparing myself for the worst, well, I thought I did anyway. Even I was shocked, there was literally nothing in here apart from a bed, a battered looking chest of drawers and a dressing table. Not even a closet, nice. I shut the door quickly, locking it from the inside like he suggested and dropped my bag on the floor. The bed didn’t look too bad though, which was a bonus. The mattress looked clean, and the sheets that were piled at the end actually looked new, so at least I wouldn’t have to sleep in other peoples filth.

There was a little sink in one corner, I went over to the door near the sink and opened it to find a tiny little wet room and toilet. It was barely big enough to shower in. I laughed quietly to myself, looks like I could kill two birds with one stone and shower while I’m taking a leak, now that’s a time saver! I couldn’t stop laughing, this place was awful, I kind of wished I was back in juvie, at least that was clean and comfortable.

I flopped on the bed and stared at the ceiling, all I could hear was the sounds of shouting and fighting from outside, people banging around in the room next door. I closed my eyes and thought everything through, I needed to get a job, and I needed to get a car, then I could get the hell out of this place. One job for Brett and my Mom would be safe and then I could move on.

I changed into a blue shirt, grabbed the photo of my little sister out of my bag and shoved it into my pocket. It was the only thing that mattered to me, and I couldn’t chance leaving it here, just in case something happened to it. I shoved my bag under my bed and headed out to try and get a job, might as well start now.

I actually left the bedsit in quite high spirits. I managed to get out of the building with no hassle from the girl again, thankfully, I just didn’t need that kind of attention at all. I headed to the nearest stores and started asking around. A couple of them were interested, until I told them where I was staying and then they backed off straight away. It was obviously common knowledge what kind of people lived at that place, scum of the earth, murdering wasters, just like me. By the third place I asked, I was lying and telling people I was in the process of moving house, but still didn‘t even manage to get an interview.