It was a cold winters night, the week before Christmas. The sky was dark and mysterious with only the moon peeking through the snow-clouds. All the stores were closed and shuttered, all the streets were empty dark and bare. Nobody in the right mind was out and about on such a bitter unwelcoming night, the only sparks of life were the homeless shivering in shop doorways, wrapped in cardboard, paper, or whatever other items for warmth and protection that they could salvage.

I was just about to escape into sleep when I heard someone approach me. In the short time I had been sleeping rough I had come to learn it usually meant either Police who were normally ok as long as you moved on until they had left, Security guards who were a lot more intolerant brusque and even violent, or other rough-sleepers who were looking to steal the few possessions or scraps of food that I had.

However this one was different, it was a young woman, well wrapped up in warm winter clothes with her long-blonde hair peeking out from under her woolen hat and wearing a pleasant welcoming smile.

The next morning, I was once again forced to sit still as my friends taught me how to put on makeup. “Why do I need to do this again? I don't look that bad,” I said.

I really did look good. I'd gotten a good nights sleep, and I was learning how to comb my hair so it wasn't tangled, or looked like I'd slept in it. And with my new, unwanted, assets, most people wouldn't be looking at my face.

Morning came all too quickly.