Hurst 1

Ainsley Hurst

Jackie Burr, Instructor

English 2010

16 March 2022

No Way Home: The Result of The Lifestyle Not Chosen

Nick Adams is the third son, born to Richard and Peggy, who would have three more

children following him. His elder brothers Bronson and Tanner would tease him and shut him

out, and he never could form a lasting relationship with the fourth son, Alex. From an early age

and through the rest of his life, he would move around frequently, never having anywhere steady.

Without a solid friend group or older siblings to lean on, he grew closest with his younger sister.

The only girl of the family, Stephanie, who also happens to share the title of middle child. She

was his built in side kick, his rock. From the beginning they were troublemakers, continuously

feeding off of each other's bad influences. This downward spiral still takes place to this day.

When Nick was only ten years old, his youngest brother Cole died at three years old from a rare

form of Leukemia. This took a toll on Nick and he started showing signs of anger issues, he

would often bang his head against the wall. Nick also had an acute chemical imbalance that he

has had to be medicated for.

Growing up in the same town of Parowan Utah, you have little to do. Early on he got

mixed in with the bad group of kids and still feels the consequences of that decision to this day.

In high school, Nick and this group of boys would sleep around, vandalize property, and drink. A

past memory was lighting metal bottle caps on fire, placing them on the ground, and then

jumping on them. This dumb contest led to burns, and eventually scars, that he still has today.

Nick’s safe place was found in football, it was his escape, and he wasn't too bad at it either.
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During his senior year he would move to Salt Lake, and attend Hunter High, where he was

promised to be a starter on their football team, and eventually a scholarship to SUU. Sadly, this

promise was not kept, and he rode the bench majority of the season. He found his worth in his

football abilities, without that, he was lost. Nick grew angry and lost the few friends he had. As a

result he turned to Stephanie and would cut class and often heavily drink. He barely made it to

high school, so he decided college wasn't fit for him.

Because of sleeping around and never having a truly stable relationship romantically, he

grew to have codependency issues. Straight out of high school, he was married at the young age

of only 20 years old. She pulled him in deeper, to the point of being classified as a full fledged

alcoholic, drinking six beers every night. The marriage didn't last long, due to the fact that Nick

didn't like her holding him accountable for his actions. Then, the unimaginable happened, his

rather Richard died unexpectedly of a stroke when Nick was only 21 years old. You cannot

imagine the effect this had on him and his siblings. His oldest brother Bronson had a brain tumor

removed around the same time and he got hooked on drugs, this introduced Nick to his new

found obsession. He started to cope by experimenting with drugs, and sleeping around, but there

was nothing to fill that void. This unfortunately led him to trying every drug out there. After

receiving a DUI he decided to make some very needed changes. He then went cold turkey for a

while.

Soon after, Nick married Brittnay, who had three children from a previous marriage. But

not too long after the wedding Britnay gave birth to Nick’s one and only child. His family and

friends assume that's why he married her. Brittany was addicted to painkillers, she would

repeatedly break her wrist purposely so she could feed her addiction and be prescribed more

pills. She and her marriage were very unstable. Nick has a problem with authority, does not like
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having to do things for himself and has never been good at handling money. So not only was his

home life unstable, but so was his work life. He has relentlessly bounced around jobs, which led

to them running out of money quickly. They couldn't afford a divocre, let alone their four kids.

So they were forced to sell their house and ultimately ended up separating until they could afford

a divorce.

Soon after that he decided to move back to his home town of Parowan to clear his head.

He had high hopes of relieving his young and wild high school days. But he failed to consider

that all of his friends would have families of their own, and had grown out of their teenage

shenanigans. He believed that this move would make him happy, but it drove him nearly mad.

His daughter refused to keep contact with him like she had promised, so this place of his own

only lasted a few months before deciding to move back. He had always dreamed of being a part

of the US Navy so upon his return he applied. He later got in but during inspections they saw the

burn marks from all those years before, and kicked him out. They believed this showed he had

tendencies of self harm.

Nick went on a major downward spiral and moved into a whore/drug house. He then got

evicted, and let go from his job at Walmart after the police inspected the house. The little money

he did have went to drugs and alcohol. From there he moved in with Stephanie who has recently

been separated from her husband, but not too long later they got back together. He then moved in

with some girl, but that didn't last. Peggy and Stephanie rented out a hotel room for him to stay

in, but neither of them were in the financial position to keep that up for long. Nick had nowhere

else to turn except for his car. An old beat up Subaru that is missing the drivers seat window. Not

only that, but it's the middle of winter. Nowhere to go, no money to cushion his pants pocket, no

home to safely return back to, just the feeling of his body trembling in the freezing cold. He slept
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in the frigid backseat for two weeks until Tanner offered him his guest bedroom, after hearing

from Peggy about his situation.

Just three short months ago he felt that he shouldn't still be alive after everything he has

done and experienced. Nick has expressed that he regrets a wide majority of his decisions. He

feels like Peggy is embarrassed of him. He is disappointed that he has not seen any of extended

family since his family reunion 15 years ago, and that he wasn't invited to the family reunion that

took place last summer. He wishes that he did better in high school , and went to college so that

he could have had a career. He wishes that he had enough financial stability to provide for his

daughter, maybe even travel with her. He wishes that he didn't have the uncontrollable urge to go

outside and smoke a cigarette every hour. He wishes that his life was different, and that he didn't

have to rely on his older brother for a roof over his head.

Through all of these hardships, we can find small wins. As of right now, Nick’s main goal

is to get a job. The one major obstacle is that most places drug tests for marijuana, and much like

high school, he would not pass this test. So he is working on staying clean for 30 days. He is

working towards having his own place so he can be granted visitation rights to see his now 14

year old daughter. It is admirable that he has worked hard to have jobs to support his kids. He has

always been a hard worker and up for big tasks. When he had a job, he would often work

graveyard shifts as a supervisor, not a task many can complete. He is independent and avoids

asking for help, even when he has nowhere to go. Nick is strong and has a good heart, and I

believe that in no time, he can be back on his feet after a life of instability.