Chapter 1: Leaving Home

This chapter opens on a point of reflection for Victor Kennedy. He’s just returned from a hedonistic week in Spain with his fellow northern mates, at the end of a long summer before moving south to study Information Design at university in London. After two and a half years with the same girlfriend he is now single again. She’s now in Paris taking a year out before Uni. He’s now convinced he’s just contracted an STD. Just days before leaving he visits hospital for advice, only to find he must wait three agonizing months to find out if he is HIV positive or not. What sort of a first term is he going to have now?

This chapter covers a full introduction to the main character, involving some back story to set up where Victor has grown up, his interests, his education, how he got to this point and why he is leaving home. This chapter establishes a story setting by following his journey down the M6 and M1 in a loaded car with his father. It unravels their relationship with humorous and light anecdotes.

The goal of this chapter is to charge the audience with the same expectations and excitement which Victor had about what was coming next in his life, while instilling the same anxiety and interest in the outcome of his HIV test.

This chapter is divided into six parts:
1) The consequences of self-indulgence
2) The aspirations and motivations of a young northern male
3) An introduction to the Northwich Park Campus
4) The actual car journey with his dad
5) Arrival at the bedsit.