Alexis

Bambina del Cassonetto

Dumpster Baby

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I was walking back from the gym. Sadly, my AirPods died halfway during my workout. I was stuck listening to the gym music. Gym music always sucked. Maybe it was on purpose? Its suckiness made the people angry and then they became more motivated to work out. I didn't think it was worth it. I believe gyms should play good music because exercise releases endorphins and endorphins make people happy just as good music does.

Today was a decent day, still. Well, decent was a stretch. I meant that I didn't cry today. That was a step for me. I felt that I was always crying. I wanted to tell someone. I wanted to call Vincent and tell him the news but I knew I wouldn't. I wanted to call him so badly. I wanted to hear his voice. I wanted to speak to him. But I never called. I haven't talked to him since the fifteenth.

With dead AirPods and no backups, I was forced to listen to my surroundings as I walked back home. It was later out than usual but that was because I went to the gym later than I usually did. It wasn't loud out because I decided to take the long way home and not many tourists were out lurking around the wet back streets of Brooklyn at ten at night. It poured for most of the day today. As I walked to the gym (the normal way not the long way) I heard on the news from a television that I passed that there was a tropical storm down in Florida. It's been cloudy in New York all week. The rain just happened to fall today. The rain made it cooler than usual. It was windy and dark out, too. There weren't a lot of street lamps on the back way. I wasn't afraid of the dark though. Nothing bad would happen. The worst already did.

As I looked ahead, my ears picked up something faint. At first, I planned on just ignoring it but then my heart beat started to make itself known and there was a twisting inside my chest that made me uneasy. It sounded like a baby. The more I walked the more I noticed it. When I neared an alley, I slowed. The sound was loudest there. I looked down the murky area. There was only one point of light and it didn't give off much. The light was high up near the top apartment window. The building itself was not an apartment. Not completely. The bottom floor was a corner store that I didn't like being by. The light was flickering. Its yellow glare made my stomach twist.

I heard a squealing cry again, and without thinking that this could be a ruse as baby crying often was, I started down the alley. My sneakers didn't make much noise as I walked down the alley. Dark bricks surrounded me and the color made it all the more stressful but that didn't bother me. I was focusing on listening. Again, I heard the little piggy squeal. It sounded near the large black-stained green dumpster. There were full black trash bags all over the place. Some bags had been damaged and cut and there was trash spewing out all over the place. It smelled horrendous. The area was wet and made the smell more noticeable. I wanted to throw up. I gagged but quickly placed my hand over my mouth. I could not throw up right now. I need to list–

The squealing sounded again but this time it was closer to a screech than a squeal. I heard ruffling with it. My heart leaped. It was right by the dumpster. I quickly moved closer to see. When I saw nothing on the side closest to me, I walked around to the other side.

My heart dropped as I gasped yet no sound left my lips. I felt my heart beat in my stomach. My lungs stopped working for a moment because I didn't breathe. There was a lot of cruelty in the world but what I saw pushed the limits.

Baby!

If a boat was sinking and you had to save a newborn baby or an elderly person, who would you save?

I would save the baby. The elderly were supposed to live up to the U.S. Constitution and provide prosperity that benefited the future of the country (the baby). The baby had a life ahead of it.