Betrayed by her birth mother and left all by herself in a cold, frightening world, Teisha takes to the streets. Can she make it into the foster care system or will she live rough on the streets forever?
Join seventeen-year-old Teisha Cole on her extraordinary journey as she searches for love, safety and a new beginning. To mend her severed roots, she must travel far and wide, and look beyond her origins.
Extract
Broken Roots
By Michelle Diana Lowe
January the 5th has descended. Winter is gripping the heart and soul of Ashville. I am alone and my soul is empty. I still don’t know where my mother is. Who knows if Mother will ever return? I am as good as an orphan now, left to fend for myself in a harsh, ruthless society. Unable to live in a house with no gas, electricity or water, a house where I was completely unsafe, I had no choice but to take to the streets of Ashville. It was a scary yet necessary step. I had no Plan B, no other escape route from this wretched predicament. Here, on the streets of Ashville, my new life of grit and grime begins. Gingerly returning to the house on one dull afternoon, I retrieved Grandma’s handmade quilt. I needed it; the weather got so cold. This is the warm cover I’ve treasured since infancy, and it is the one thing keeping me going in these darker days.
Living on the streets is tough, hard. Not an option that should be considered lightly. Nonetheless, these streets are my protection from a much worse fate. I am safer here than I was at home. This is alarming, but true. Outrunning that suited man in my own home, a man who wanted me gone, has made me mindful of life’s greater dangers. Thankfully, I am not completely alone here anymore. I have company, if you can call it that. Swag Boy, also known as Dexter Daily, is that 16-year-old runaway from Barkingside, Essex, who I am now associated with. We have lived on the streets together for two weeks –as vagrants and comrades. I am a novice at this street game. Swag is a pro. Homeless, yet always in the latest gear, Swag is seldom hungry or thirsty. He knows how to haggle, too. I was forced to give him my mobile phone and Mother’s expensive watch as compensation for not robbing houses with him back in December. He promised never to pull out that weapon on me again as long as I continue to pay him for helping me out. I paid him in chocolate bars last week, but I doubt that will satisfy him for long.
Broken Roots is out now on Amazon Kindle. Get your copy today and see how this incredible teenage girl strives to rebuild her life and find true happiness.
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Michelle Diana Lowe 