A Baysie Boy.

Zane stood on the train platform. Six o'clock, long summer hot evening. He has some smokes, and a six pack of bourbon and cokes. Nice and chilled. He had lived in Baysie, a dull suburban wasteland. It was like a desert of empty shops and closed cafes, bounded by a freeway and a railway line. Baysie station was the end of the rail tracks.

He clambered aboard the train to the Big City. He was finished with Baysie, leaving it all behind. He was going, finally. No more dole money, no more pregnant girlfriend, or his fighting family. Zane was turning his back on the Baysie girls and boys, all now getting hitched up with each other.

In Baysie, all there was ever going to be was a trip to the hotel, for snooker and bevvies, then home to someone warm in the dark. Not anymore for Zane. Maybe one day, he would trust a woman again. His last chick, Jacinta, had shacked up with Zane's best friend, Ty. He said he was prepared to take on Zane's baby when it was born.

"Bye, Baysie..." Zane mumbled at the train window. He was on his way now. His mate, another Baysie boy, was studying in the Big City. Jake by name, he was going to sublet Zane a bedroom, at least he had a bed in it. Zane would get a job in the Big Smoke. Hell, he was a Baysie boy, they all got by in life. Just like everyone else.

The train reached the Big central city by sunset. Zane paced off to the old terrace house, divided into flats. It was pretty basic, but then, Baysie had not been up to much. Zane was used to all that.

Really, apart from Jacinta leaving him for Ty, nothing too bad had happened. There were plenty of women. Zane totally did not need kids in his future anyway. Jake was his mate in town now, near the Big City college.

By the time Zane arrived at Jake's pad, it was party, party. "Party hearty!" the Baysie boys gave a fist pump. Plenty of bourbons, plenty of pizzas. "Get in my belly!" yelled Jake, ripping into the food. Zane and Jake did hook up for the night. Sort of like Baysie, but these city women were better looking. These were designer girls, with bongs at the bar, and cocaine in the corner.

Zane woke up some time the next day. He checked his phone, "Where are you?" It was Britney, Jacinta's bestie. Zane had not told each of them that the other one was also pregnant with his kids. It was the Baysie way. They could both get a single mother's pension. They would be doing it easy.

Zane turned off his phone, and plugged in his charger. The apartment was a bit of a shambles. Jake did not appear to be doing too much hard study. But Zane did get a job at the Big Railway depot, central station. He worked in the ticketing office, handling queries about the automatic dispenser.

He did not earn much, his job was going nowhere. On the flip side, he had left Baysie ,heading away from the end of the line. Zane did start smoking dope at work, so that was the end of that job. The security boys had a word in his ear. Zane wandered back to Jake's apartment, already off his face.

Time passed. Some days, time stood still. Jacinta and Britney had a master bitch fest over Zane. Too late. He had left it all behind. His world ahead was not planning to include baby gros, or a maternity unit. Both those Baysie girls were still in their teens. They would get by, no one could take the Baysie from any of them.

Zane was unrecognizable by now anyway. His smelly clothes were hanging off his skinny body. His teeth had decayed, on the methamphetamines now. He spent most of his days in a drug den near an injecting room. The only thing Zane had going for him was his phone.

It was his link to Baysie, still there. His family lived there, his brothers brawled there, his kids were waiting to arrive. The stork was going to be a busy boy. Zane went for a walk one night, into the gloaming. The seasons had turned, it was not hot weather any more. He did not care if his luck would ever change.

He wound up wandering round the Big Railway depot, Central station. No particular reason. His eyes were bleary, yellow tinged, bloodshot. Nothing much to look at, there at the station. So Zane stumbled to the railway track.

It was so easy to give up, and lie down on the track. He could take the ultimate selfie on his phone, share with the old gang in Baysie. Zane could feel the vibration of the Big express approaching. Not long to go now.

His phone! Amazing, it was still working. It was text from his Dad. "Don't turn your back on us. We love you!"

Something snapped in Zane right then. It was like a sign from above. How did his Dad guess? Clutching his phone, he rolled away, just before the Big express thundered past along the railway tracks. Zane lay by the side of the railway bridge, listening to his Dad for once. "Just come home. Everything's all right here. We've got your back."

Zane made it back to the station at the railway depot. He 'borrowed" a ticket from one of the security guards. The Big City had abandoned him, so he was heading home. He did not know how long he would last in Baysie. But he had a home there, such as it was.

Zane had a long road ahead of him, to get clean again. He decided he would be there for his kids, like his Dad was there for him. Just like that message. It deffo was not going to be easy. He had the hard yards in front of him. He was heading for tomorrow, somewhere at the end of a ride, on the train. That trip to town had not been worth it. He kept texting on his phone. It was not quite all he had going for him. But hell, from way back, he was a Baysie boy.