Originally <a href='http://www.sportsbookreview.com/forum/showthread.php?p=26189844'>posted</a> on 08/28/2016:

It was a dark and cloudy Saturday. I had just turned 25 a week ago. Left my house early around 10 in the morning to pick up the girlfriend to hit up six flags and then catch the hawks game later in the day. Picked her up from parents house and on the way to six flags, I saw some scrawny white kid with glasses carrying around two duffel bags and wearing a backpack and he looked worried. I was thinking to myself where was this kid going with all of that stuff? And the direction he was going, there was nothing much that way. But I thought nothing of it and headed off to six flags, then hit up the hawks game which ended around 11:00 and then went to go eat.

After dropping girlfriend off at around 12 at night, I had to get some gas and I saw the same white kid from earlier sitting on the sidewalk of a business building across the street of the gas station with all of his stuff sitting next to him with his head down. From where I first saw him, he must have walked a long ass way to get to get all the way there, because it's a 30 minute drive just to get to where he was at from where I first saw him. It got me wondering about the kid because there were no buses running at that time and that area is pretty rough with all of the crack fiends walking around and he would have got ate up on those streets seeing as he couldn't have weighed any more than 140lbs and was around 5'5 in height wearing glasses, so I drove over and asked if he was alright and if there was any place he was trying to get to.

He said he was trying to figure out where a homeless shelter was and I then asked him where his parents were and he said he can't go back because his stepdad doesn't want him there anymore. I asked him how old he was and said he had just turned 18 a few days ago. (Sounded eerily similar to my situation when I was his age when my mother kicked me out). I told him I didn't know of any shelters or ymca's and they are probably full at this time right now, so I told him we can figure out what the next move is tomorrow because there was nowhere to go tonight and and offered him to come back to my house to crash, but before he got in, I asked him if he did any drugs or was in trouble with the law. He said he's never done drugs and has never been arrested and even had his license on him telling me I could check it out if I wanted.

So while driving 30 minutes to get back, I asked him why his stepdad kicked him out and he said he was physically abusing his mother and saw the bruise on the top of her head and couldn't take it anymore, so he ended up getting into a fist fight with him and his stepdad ended up kicking his ass because he was a lot bigger and stronger than him and after beating him up, he told him to get the hell out before he calls the police. He said his mom just looked at him and didn't say a word. Didn't jump in or anything to help him.

He then asked if he could turn on my car light and show him the bruises and the kid got fkked up in that fight, but he obviously had heart. Marks and bruises everywhere. I asked him if he had any family or friends to go to know and said he had some family in North Carolina and thought about asking them if it was okay to stay there, but hasn't asked them yet, because he didn't know what to say and hasn't seen them in years. So while I pulled up in the driveway, he asked if this was my parents house and I said nope it's my house, I bought it. He then asked how old I was and was surprised at how big it was. Helped him carry his stuff in the house and showed him what room he would be staying in and told him where the shower was and if he was hungry, he could make whatever in the kitchen. I could tell the dude was exhausted so I just told him I'd let him get situated and let him do his thing.

Next day I wake up and see he's still in his room. I knock on the door and the dude is just bawling his eyes out saying he called his family in NC and said they told him they just don't have the room for him to stay there and there is nothing they can do. I told him that was ridiculous and that there is always room when it comes to family. I told him lets go to the kitchen to get something to eat and to give me the number so I can talk to them. So while down there, I talk to them on speaker phone telling them what the situation is between him, his mother and stepfather and those fkkers are telling me they would love to help him, but there is nothing they can do right now. I told them their nephew was going to die out there in the streets and you could hear that they just didn't care enough. So I told them that they were pathetic excuses for family and THAT'S when I got some anger and yelling from them telling me I know nothing about their situation and they would if they could. After arguing back and forth, they ended up hanging up. I tried calling them back and no answer.

I told the dude "our families are exactly the same, fkking worthless". He asked what was wrong with mines and I told him when I was down on my luck, my mom didn't step up for me neither and the little family I had was nowhere around when I needed. Told him my story when I was his age about my mom being an alcoholic and bringing boyfriends over and he said his mom also drank a lot to get rid of the pain. After going down that depressing lane of memories, I told him that it was all good and he can stay as long as he wanted until he figured out what his next move was. He had the biggest look of relief on his face that I have ever seen on a person. He truly didn't know what he was going to do. I then asked him if he had some things that he needed to get at his step dads house and said there were a lot of things and said he is probably at work right now, but his mom is always there, so we drove over there.

I stayed in the car while he knocked on the door and his mom answered and he walked right by her without saying a word, but his mom was trying to talk to him. About 10 minutes later, he's walking out with stuff and his mom is walking behind saying "what else do you want me to say? I told you I was sorry" and the kid turns around and snaps saying "you were real sorry when you didn't stand up for me when he was kicking my ass and told me to get the hell out, weren't you". She then said kept saying "I told you I was sorry, how many times do you want me to say it?" He didn't say anything back to her, put the stuff in the car and we drove off. I wanted to say something to her, but I stayed out of it.

Driving back home, he was pissed and you could see tears starting up from how angry he was and his face was as red as a balloon. I told him it was going to be alright and we would figure out what to do next.

He was in his last year of high school, but with 5 months left, he thought he would have to drop out. He said he wanted to become a neurosurgeon and the kid had the grades to back it up. He showed me all of his report cards from his previous years in high school and had A's on every paper and ended up scoring high as fckk on the SAT. I told him he could stay here rent free and food free with the only catch being that he closes out his final months in school strongly and gets into college. He held up his part of the bargain and got his diploma and went off to college shortly after. He told me when he becomes a neurosurgeon, he would pay back every penny times 100. I laughed and said don't worry about it, you already paid me back by getting your diploma and getting into college to make something of yourself, but he kept shaking his head saying "no way"

Fast forward to today, he's still in college tearing it up and pretty soon he'll be going to medical school. We keep in contact all the time. He has a long way to go to reach his goal, but he's staying with it and loving it. He's stated that he has not talked to his mother since leaving the house to pick up his things and I believe that's what's driving him to succeed.