From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way

Jesse befriends a man named Abdi at a shelter, who jokingly claims to be the king of Somalia. Abdi comments that he knows Jesse is a “real streeter” because he sleeps with his shoes on, having had them stolen so many times.

Jesse takes his friend Marko along to get crack from Jesse’s regular dealer, Flip. Flip is aggressive and secretive, and his only rule is that he does not serve new customers. When he sees Jesse arrive with Marko, he holds Jesse at gunpoint; Jesse barely escapes death as a police cruiser drives by, causing Flip to flee.

Jesse meets Lucie (from Part 2, Chapter 21) again at a Halloween party, but she doesn’t remember him. He goes back to Jerry’s apartment late that night, where he is staying with Samantha (from Part 3, Chapter 53). No one lets Jesse in, so he attempts to scale the building wall and climb in through a window but falls 35 feet and breaks his leg and wrists. He calls out to Jerry, who unsympathetically throws down a pair of crutches and goes back inside.

Jesse painstakingly climbs up using the crutches, and Samantha is barely awake. He dials 911, and the paramedics who arrive are shocked at how he managed to reach the apartment.