INTO THE FLAMES

There was little heroic about Nick Bostic's life. He was troubled. Aimless. Then one night, everything changed

- Nicholas Hune-Brown

AT FIRST, IT WAS ALMOST IMPERCEPTIBLE - A FAINT ORANGE LIGHT at the edge of his vision as Nick Bostic drove down the streets of Lafayette, Indiana, on a warm night last July. Bostic rolled past the two-storey house before he could process what he was seeing. Then he slammed on the brakes. Oh my god, he thought. That house is on fire.

It hadn't been Bostic's best night, but it hadn't been his worst either. The 25-year-old-burly and six-foot-three, with a messy beard that often framed a mischievous grin-was still figuring out how to make his way through a life that hadn't always been easy.

Bostic had spent his childhood shuttling back and forth between his mom in Lafayette and his dad in Arkansas, with neither home providing the love and safety he needed.

If you'd asked his friends to describe him as a kid, Bostic says, they'd probably have said "a fool." He got into trouble, acted like an idiot, tried to use humour to make friends but never quite got it right.

As he got older, his troubles became more serious. Bostic began using methamphetamines. He lost friends to suicide. At times, his own life didn't feel worth living. But over the past few years, he had started to turn things around. He'd quit hard drugs. He had a girlfriend, Kara, and was working at a Papa Johns making pizzas. If people around Lafayette had to describe him now, they might say he was a guy with a big heart who maybe didn't know exactly what to do with it.