**Diary Entry November 15th**
The wind in November cut through my skin like knives, carrying a damp chill from the river that seeped right into my bones. Across the yard, between crumbling concrete garages, a five-year-old boy was playing. His mother stood a little way off, phone pressed to her ear, laughing at something her friend had said.
The boy edged closer to the steep riverbank, but his mother was too distracted to notice. The water was murky and wild that dayrecent rains had strengthened the current. One wrong step, and the boy shrieked as he tumbled in, his heavy coat dragging him under instantly.
His mother noticed nothing. She kept chatting, occasionally glancing around with boredom.
The boy thrashed, desperate for air, but the current pulled him further away. He coughed, choked, gasped for breath in the freezing air.
Then, a man appeared on the opposite banksomeone most in the neighbourhood spoke of with disdain. Thin, unkempt, known simply as *Billy*. A homeless man who sheltered in an abandoned house nearby.
He heard the boys cries and, without hesitation, plunged into the icy water in his ragged clothes. The current battered his legs, trying to drag him under, but he fought until he reached the boy, gripping his collar and hauling him out.
The boy sobbed, pale and shivering. Billy carried him to the bank and wrapped him in his tattered coat.
When he brought the boy back to his house, the mother finally noticed and shrieked:
“What dyou think youre doing, touching my son?! You filthy wretch!”
“He was drowning”
“Better he drown than be handled by the likes of you!”
Billy stared, bewildered. He felt a sting, but more than thathorror. How could she scream at him instead of checking if her child was even alive?
And then Billy did something no one expectedbut something deeply right.
In one swift motion, he scooped the boy back into his arms and turned away.
“Oi! Give him back!” the woman screeched, but she didnt dare step closer.
Billy walked calmly to the house of an elderly neighboura kind, watchful womanand knocked.
“Help the boy,” he panted. “Call the police. His mother nearly killed him. You saw it too.”
The neighbour rang them straight away. Soon, officers arrived and took the mother away, still hurling insults. Billy told them everything, leaving nothing out.
After the investigation, the mother lost custody. The boy stayed with the neighbour at first, then went to foster care.
Billy vanishedno one saw him in the area again. Months later, someone remembered: *He was the one who saved that boys life.* A child who mightve suffered far worse if left with such a mother.
