Midwinter

Photo by Courtney Chestnut on Unsplash

Tarik Madsen’s studio apartment was a depressing oeuvre of decaying pizza boxes and dry vape carts. He sat with his legs extended under a coffee table, fixated on his phone — staring down the last of his dead parents’ money.

The balance read $2,414.60. Still Tarik had no ideas for his future. He thought the money would last longer, at least through the second winter. But it always dwindles quicker than you expect when every bill is in your name.