Coming Home679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzauB0WPYMN
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"Do you think I'll be home soon?
"He's on the fifth floor, call us if you need anything," the front desk assistant said to her. She nodded in thanks, "oh! And...he's a bit of an alcoholic, just a heads up." She thanked the assistant again and headed to the elevator. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj274kgbU8n
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It was all her mother's idea. Her mother suggested to go volunteer at this apartment building and assist the elderly residents there. She would've forcefully said no, but she had absolutely zero community service hours. And she desperately needed some. She sighed and hit the number 5 button. She would just tidy the place up, make sure that everything was fine, make the elderly happy, and leave. Simple. Ding! She got out, and walked to room 528. She took another deep breath in. She was nervous. For what, she wasn't sure. What was there to be scared about? She was wasting time by asking these questions. She rang the doorbell. She heard a small grunt, but it was so faint that she couldn't be sure. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnoePEvC2e
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"It's unlocked," a husky voice called out. She turned the handle of the wooden door, and the front desk was wrong. He wasn't "a bit of an alcoholic"; he was a major alcoholic. She was practically knocked out by the strong stench of beer, wine, vodka, and whatever else the man could consume. Bottles of all shapes and sizes were on top of...well, anything. She heard another grunt and walked towards the sound. She found a man who had a quite distinctive beer belly, in a large chair. He had a beer in his right hand, and was facing towards the window.
"Hi, we talked on the phone. I'm gonna be helping you out this morning and afternoon," she said, in a fake-cheerful tone. He grunted again.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO61tU9nZKI
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"You're late. You can start by taking the trash out. My bones are gettting weaker, or something, well whatever it is, it hurts. Anyway, you can do what you want. Just do what you need," he said, not even looking at her. She could tell he's been drinking. His voice was quite husky and his words were slightly slurred. She gave him a thin smile, and took his trash out. The kitchen was practically clean, just the trash was filled with broken alcoholic beverage bottles. She threw it away, and decided to inspect the other rooms. The man was in the dining room area, where there was a upright piano in one corner and a medium sized dinner table in the middle. He sat in the far left of the room, facing towards the window, looking at....she didn't know. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwdSBB4ZMLy
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She gave him a worried glance. She entered the family room. It had a couch and a small old television. On top of the television were beer bottles, next to the television were more bottles, and in the dvd/cd storage area were more bottles. Around the television were, you guessed it, beer/vodka/wine/champagne bottles. The couch was the only thing that was free of the bottles. She grabbed a trashbag and started to place the glass bottles of sadness into the trashbag of the past. He must've heard because he cried out,679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡll4rYNBLeA
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"Hey! Don't throw those away!" She put the current bottle she had down. She mumbled to herself,679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd0lbdxRWET
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"Geez, what's his problem? He goes telling me that I can do whatever, and gets upset when I try and clean," 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2W4Gr9EWC
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She waited for the man to make any more comment, but he said nothing else. She cleaned up his other room, avoiding the alcoholic beverages around the TV, and threw them all of them out. She dusted off some places, and made a mental note to tell the front desk lady that the man needed groceries, for his fridge was bare. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlM473BdDk
She heard a grunt and entered back into the dining room, seeing that the man created another pile of beverages. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhurQ4sTZE
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"Come over here," he huskily said. What could he possibly want? She walked over to where he was, pulled up a chair and sat down in front of him. The pile of bottles was up to her ankles. He saw her glancing at it. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvvY2qOdYWU
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"Say it. Say what you want about me... Say it." He said, finishing another one. She slightly glared at the man, not really sure if he was being serious or not. She took a deep breath. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ZJwIujhad
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"You shouldn't drink so much," she said, still glancing at the pile. The man gave a rough chuckle,679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMStVM4OXv2
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"And why do you care?" he said, voice all slobbered up in beer and other drinks. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGtdEIpO9Hd
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"Well, I'm suppose to be taking care of--" she started saying, in the usual fake tone (that she uses around elders to seem like a nicer person than she really is). 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTKQ6vxrUhg
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"Why do you really care?" he said, with a serious tone. He looked straight at her. She felt slightly uncomfortable, and switched the topic. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZWt6fvsq2s
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"Don't you have any family?" she said, looking around for any family photo. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRCr4glXGha
He wheezed and gave another chuckle. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHUYPMj48Vp
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"Don't bother looking for it, missy. Family is the reason why I'm here," he replied, gesturing at his body and the pile of glass bottles. Her eyebrows narrowed. What could he have meant?679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxEkdnGnvX
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"Divorced?" she guessed. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTIpCmKy7C
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"Hah! Divorced...no, guess again, girl," the man said, swirling the bottle between his fingers. "Did your wife get into a car accident?" she asked quietly again, listing another scenario. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgBqWPXAb3o
679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxd67D92nU
"No, no, no...she was a great driver," his voice got relatively softer. He opened another beer and took a large gulp. She looked at him in disbelief. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqU9V7UcQbv
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"No offense but offense, you're gonna die if you keep drinking so much," 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ10w2NlPv2D
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"Exactly." The man said, making eye contact with her. She was taken aback, she hadn't meant for him to agree with her. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEEyZ0MAYJ
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"I'm sorry?" 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpErP2lste2
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"I said, exactly. That's exactly it." His words were getting very slurred now. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6L43sWXL6
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"But why would you want to die?" 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcwyKJaxEHx
679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUcgltug6LM
"What do I have left here? My wife died. My one and only child died. What is left for me?" 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgtm89YaCym
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Silence fell over, and the man took another sip. She hadn't realized that he had a daughter as well. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNrxxLNAYpQ
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"You have a daughter?" 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfwVVIqe4A
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"Had," he corrected, with a sorrow look in his eyes. "Yes, she was a beautiful young girl. Never quite got to your age," he said, looking up to prevent tears from spilling. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kO9jT393I
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"How old is she?" she asked softly. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNLb1fH5Sq
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"She was just about to turn 10. I still celebrated her 10th birthday though..." he said, seeming to make a point that she should stop referring to his loved ones in the present tense.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbI48z8KYXy
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"What happened?" she said, hoping she wouldn't come off as rude. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQkhTMfWZJg
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"Cancer. Cancer got my daughter. And my wife," he said, on the verge of crying. Before she could ask more or leave, the man spilled out. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4srBz6sn3
679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqXzq9eMnii
"I had to tell my little girl that she was going. There was no chance of her surviving, my heart was breaking. Absolutely no chance. I had no money, and the survival rate was overwhelmingly low. My baby girl asked me if she was going home soon, and I said she was." The man's tears spilled. "Because she was. She was going home. And she asked, will I come home earlier from work so that she could see me sooner, I said I'll try. And I'm trying. I'm trying, can't you see that? My wife died, a few years after that, and I said to her, take care of Angel, she's waiting for you at home. It's been so long. It's been more than 10 years. And now it's my turn. I want to go home. I want to go. Home. And so I'm trying. Because this?" He said, looking around at his monotone apartment. "This? This isn't home."
Tears were pouring out of the man's eyes, and she could only look at him sympathetically. The man slumped and dropped the bottle he held out of exhaustion. "Do you think I'll be home soon?" He whispered, closing his eyes. She smiled at him, and patted his weary, drunk shoulder,679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7HsYiIz23H
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"I think you'll be home soon." 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdLoHYirtF
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And those were her last words to him, before he passed out on the chair. She gave a sympathetic smile at the old man and headed towards the elevator.
