Okay, here's how I'd edit this writing, mostly it's just tightening, no drastic changes.
Quote:
His head hurt. Bad.
Sam awoke with a start, groggily looking around. He blinked. Once. Twice. The room slowly came into focus. The only light shining through the darkness was the alarm clock to the left. Its colon blinked, casting strange shadows left and right, turning the white walls red. A low rumble sounded nearby, startlingly loud in the stillness of the midnight air.
He buried himself under the covers to drown out the snores of his room-mate.
Tomorrow is mom’s birthday, he thought, running the date through his head. Has it really been a month since I was home? It’s okay, the house isn't mine any more. It belongs to the city now. It belongs to the Mayor. It belongs to...father.
None of it felt real.
Four years earlier he had a completely different life. Four years and twelve jobs later, everything was new. Everything was as it should be. He couldn’t remember the last time he went without dinner, a haircut or clean clothes. It had taken a lot to get to here from there.
Times were tough then, sure. Mom was a cashier at SaveNow, Dad sweated and grunted in the steel mills during the day, and froze in a guard shack at night. Back then everyone worked. Back then, going to college was as big a fantasy as flying horses, devils and monsters.
He sighed. For the first time in three years, he found himself thinking about Jessica. The baby. She didn’t have to work. Didn’t have to work twice. She loved mom. Mom loved her.
It happened so quick, so fast.
The change took three hundred votes, two debates, and an uprising of hope. His family became gods among men, the kings and queens of Camelot. They were the heroes of the headlines. The future.
And I was going to school.
Sam tossed and turned some more, still not believing this was his new home. The clock ticked towards three am. He coughed and closed his eyes again.
Tomorrow was a new day.
He had work to do.
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