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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. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhbGDO25uij
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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. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGmFibJOVO9
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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.569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIMpD0IWrl
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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. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEEHJkBSqH
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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,569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc5K3mknlEt
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"Hey! Don't throw those away!" She put the current bottle she had down. She mumbled to herself,569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGw9FhuOQRn
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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," 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLXItb4iJDl
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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. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHTnLLGS4C2
She heard a grunt and entered back into the dining room, seeing that the man created another pile of beverages. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ23i8zqgWqr
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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. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcpTH3j0APw
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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. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7dEdTOevr7
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"You shouldn't drink so much," she said, still glancing at the pile. The man gave a rough chuckle,569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUDukgqoVD
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"And why do you care?" he said, voice all slobbered up in beer and other drinks. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiRbM9p3Y1o
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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). 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqR5yZ4PkwQ
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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. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoYLuL5FWy
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"Don't you have any family?" she said, looking around for any family photo. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEZp242yOy
He wheezed and gave another chuckle. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9wrUnBa1tm
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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?569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuFKimfLkSr
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"Divorced?" she guessed. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2BvTxlAwh
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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. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQtFKIVU8M
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"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. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmMFSkPklnr
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"No offense but offense, you're gonna die if you keep drinking so much," 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxA3nfwJsPG
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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. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBvatsVcrI
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"I'm sorry?" 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFmmuXlKKC2
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"I said, exactly. That's exactly it." His words were getting very slurred now. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXj9hC8Cjx
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"But why would you want to die?" 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmjRVdcI4M
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"What do I have left here? My wife died. My one and only child died. What is left for me?" 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSINYQ7FqQ
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Silence fell over, and the man took another sip. She hadn't realized that he had a daughter as well. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsF1MlMXKAn
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"You have a daughter?" 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0ntIME3Fh
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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. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdifVAgh5IP
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"How old is she?" she asked softly. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvwVSSTVgzr
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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.569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOM0wRcfcB4
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"What happened?" she said, hoping she wouldn't come off as rude. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20RKqNq3EQ
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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. 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnSuiwh2Ng
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"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,569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKT8ye18RHX
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"I think you'll be home soon." 569Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIN4NhJtyc
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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.
