ARSENAL! [rewritten]

Carry onward son

The man walked up the metal stairs to his apartment room. Thirty-eight is the number. He scrambled into his right pocket to get his keys, pulling them out from his pocket with a loud jingle, inserting the key into the lock continued making the loud sound of jingling with a rattle now. Opening the door with the key jingle echoing into the dark, empty hallway of the entranceway, he turned his attention towards the wall to his left, seeing no pair of his roommate's shoes. He scoffed out loudly as he walked in, closing the door behind him and locking it, grabbing his keys, and throwing them onto the kitchen counter.

Going to the refrigerator, he grabbed himself a water bottle before he went to their dining table. Despite them having the table, they didn't eat on the table. It was pretty much pointless. They mainly used chairs. The man pulled out a chair and sat down, opening his bottle of water and taking a sip. He grabbed his phone from his back pocket, seeing that he had missed notifications from his roommate, V. His roommate never told him of their name, only saying for them to be called V. He went onto the voicemail app, tapping on the voicemail that V sent him. Turning his phone on max volume, he set the phone on top of the table to let the message play out while he started untying his shoes.

As he pulled his knee up to his chin and started untying, the voice message played, the message starting with a beep as it played.

'Hey, Kaleb.' V's voice started speaking, 'Sorry for not being home, I'm headin' over to hang out to go and visit some friends that came down from California. Probably won't be back for a week, maybe two. Don't wait up for me.' V finished before the message ended.

As Kaleb finished untying his shoes, he sighed out loudly. Not as it was unusual behavior from his roommate to be out, he just didn't enjoy being home alone for long periods. Nor, did he like making new friends or talking to people, it always causes his anxiety to spike up. Worrying if he'll mess up talking, saying something rude or disrespectful without having those intentions in the first place. He doesn't have a good grasp of having a filter when talking and just understanding others. While his roommate isn't a friend or best friend, more of a mutual, giving Kaleb comfort to be himself.

Grabbing his shoes as he stood up from the chair, went towards the doorway and placed his shoes by the side of a wall within reach of the door, making sure the heels made a thump to indicate that the heels hit the wall.

He goes back into the kitchen and to the refrigerator, opening it again as he reaches out and grabs a lemon from the bag, setting the lemon onto the counter and grabbing a knife. Slicing the lemon in half and grabbing one of the slices. Placing it near his lips, he began to suck on it. He always had a high sour tolerance since he was a kid, others thought it was strange but others also praised him for it. Somehow.

He looked around and saw something within the microwave, opening the microwave to see a white foam container. He stuck his hand into the microwave to grab the container, dragging out the container, and it made a squeaky sound. Kaleb cringed as he continued to drag it out until he finishes pulls it out and set it on the counter near aside the lemon and knife. He sighs again, knowing the squeaking won't stop anytime soon. The sound always agitated him, always remembering the time whenever he was a kid the sound would make him start to cry as he covered his ears. He always hated the sound. He quickly opened it to see noodles with vegetables mixed in, it was Lo Mein. A type of Chinese food that he always enjoyed, with the texture and taste always giving him some sort of comfort. He smiled softly as he went to a cabinet and grabbed himself a bowl, dumping the noodles into the bowl as he slid the bowl into the microwave, closing the microwave with a slam and pushing in the buttons allowing them to beep and play with a hum.

Kaleb spaced out while watching the container spin while inside the microwave, after a few moments of spacing out, he suddenly remembered the phone number. Reaching into his pocket and pulling out the small piece of paper. Walking over to the table he grabbed his phone from off the table, he went onto the phone number app onto his phone, typing the numbers into the number pad before entering them. Kaleb pulled the phone up to his ear as he heard it ring, 20 seconds went by with no response. Only the end dial plays the usual message. Kaleb pulled the phone away from his ear as he hit the end call button, seeing the number pad before he clicked the power button to turn off his phone. After a minute or two, the microwave beeped, signaling that the food was done.

He ate the Lo Mein and trashed the foam container. He went into the bathroom and went to the medicine cabinet where he took a sleeping pill to help him sleep. Popping a pill into his mouth, he turned the faucet on, he collected some of the water into his hand til there was enough for him. Cupping his hand and pulling his cupped hand towards his mouth to drink out of it. After finishing, he shook his hand to get any excess water off his hand. Finishing up and closing the bathroom door, Kaleb went over to his room and turned the lights on in his room. Showing himself his room he had for a few years, was it four? Maybe. Carrying onward with his routine, he walked over to his bed, passing by his desk. He stopped and saw an old photo, it was him when he was younger with his friend- best friend. Kaleb's hair was quite long, his hair recently was quite long but it wasn't anymore. For his friend- it was always short, but he didn't know if it was still short to this day. He misses him.

But Kaleb knew it wasn't time to cry anymore. He knew there'll be peace whenever it's all done.

Kaleb went towards his bed. Picking up the sheets and covered himself with the blanket, laying his weary head to rest.

Don't you cry no more.