Coming Home649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmB3bA2QIfC
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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. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmB46T1YrXl
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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. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx3YEfCC8Uk
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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.649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrv5yxEjnIv
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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. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlL49exhdpz
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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,649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvAiTqgn7hF
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"Hey! Don't throw those away!" She put the current bottle she had down. She mumbled to herself,649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxvFMdBPdVp
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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," 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmwBbU9r438
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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. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSq5p54FGQq
She heard a grunt and entered back into the dining room, seeing that the man created another pile of beverages. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwHTWVUvdo
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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. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTFFnFDpaT6
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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. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHIazGhoTi3
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"You shouldn't drink so much," she said, still glancing at the pile. The man gave a rough chuckle,649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQlMmCJhz3
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"And why do you care?" he said, voice all slobbered up in beer and other drinks. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVwDHR95DV
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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). 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgAEWD3jXrt
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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. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhFnKec5zS0
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"Don't you have any family?" she said, looking around for any family photo. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡENVbS3tTG8
He wheezed and gave another chuckle. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡliDuIhAPee
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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?649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWkWU5jq7n
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"Divorced?" she guessed. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3k7oLdZssj
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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. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2BMdyrUDuU
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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. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcqkhMMUkSg
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"No offense but offense, you're gonna die if you keep drinking so much," 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDvDwsRNWU
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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. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ww26VgOAb
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"I'm sorry?" 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy4wwHlSvyq
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"I said, exactly. That's exactly it." His words were getting very slurred now. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGSg6BvHLh
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"But why would you want to die?" 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrNkkUbsri
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"What do I have left here? My wife died. My one and only child died. What is left for me?" 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUoCBC1tNR
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Silence fell over, and the man took another sip. She hadn't realized that he had a daughter as well. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwjjJT3cC2w
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"You have a daughter?" 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ10tPz0o33K
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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. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn0Ga8qBr3Q
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"How old is she?" she asked softly. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡboqxvD92gM
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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.649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCs6aKF5rmP
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"What happened?" she said, hoping she wouldn't come off as rude. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7oBciUkdy
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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. 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5RHGyeFHIK
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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,649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMP2HeDTuJQ
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"I think you'll be home soon." 649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssTON0b4o8
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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.
