It’s cold in the flat. So cold that Declan really doesn’t want to get out of bed, even though his bladder is fit to burst. Through bleary, bloodshot eyes he looks at his phone to see what time it is. The darkness in the room, coupled with the time of year, means it could be any time at all in the day. He hopes it’s close to afternoon – that he has slept away a large portion of the day.

His head hurts. Self-inflicted. Too much to drink last night, followed by a few joints. He’d felt good last night, for a while. But now the self-hate has come crashing in, and as he finally gives in to the desperate need to pee and climbs out of his warm bed into the icy coolness of his bedroom, he shudders.

He’ll ask his ma to sub him some money for the electric. Again. At least he can put a heater on, for an hour. Take the chill off.

His bladder emptied, he walks to his kitchen – around which lies the detritus of the night before – and opens the cupboard, looking for something to eat. There isn’t much to whet his appetite and he wonders if he should go up and see his ma early. Try to cadge a Sunday dinner off her. There’s not a Sunday goes by that she doesn’t have a roast dinner of some description on the go and she always cooks extra. Besides, he really does need to try to get some money to top up the electricity before the power goes off altogether and he can’t even charge his phone.

If he gets to his ma’s early enough, while his da is still at Mass, he might be able to score a bacon sandwich for breakfast too. If he’s lucky he’ll get to eat it without his da chiming in about how spoiled he is and how he needs to get his life together.

It takes too much of his mental energy to challenge his da, to tell him he’s one to talk. And he’s not in the mood for a row.

Declan throws some clothes into a bag, along with his razor and deodorant. Timing it properly, he’ll be able to make use of her hot water while he’s there to have a long soak in the bath. It will be much more enjoyable than standing under the pathetic trickle of never-quite-hot-enough water that passes for a shower in his flat.