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The incessant ringing of his alarm clock was what awoke Harry from his deep slumber. Groaning slightly, he blindly reached for the small contraption, hitting the snooze button before curling his hand underneath his pillow. All Harry yearned for was to fall back asleep and skip work, but he knew that wasn’t much of an option. He was still in his uniform from the other night, too exhausted to change out of his clothes. Instead, he collapsed into bed after his twelve hour shift at the diner, not bothered by the fact that there was a huge coffee stain on his shirt due to a mishap with an eight year old.

Finally deciding to get out of bed, Harry flung his duvet back and swung his legs onto the ground. Yawning quietly, he looked at his feet, noticing that he hadn’t even taken off his dirty, old converse either. He didn’t bother to untie his laces before kicking his shoes off, revealing his unnaturally large, sock-clad feet. He begrudgingly made his way to his only washroom within his tiny flat, letting out a rather obnoxious yawn as he scratched the back of his head. Hopping on one foot, he pulled off his dirty sock, a large hole present making his big toe protrude out. Doing the same with his other foot, he threw his socks into his already overflowing hamper. He stripped out of his work clothes, and turned on his shower, not bothered by the fact that the water was just above freezing; he was used to it by now. Grabbing his toothbrush sitting on a silver rack, he began brushing his teeth, leaning his hand on the dirty tiles as he allowed the water to soak his hair. He spat the remaining toothpaste, and watched the white substance flow down the drain before quickly washing his hair and body.

Once he was done, he turned off the tap, grabbing his towel to wrap around his waist. Harry made his way back into his bedroom, small droplets of water making a trail behind him. Now Harry wasn’t the cleanest man in London, so when it came to finding clean clothes to wear, it didn’t happen very often. He was just too busy with work, and whenever he wasn’t, he would spend all his spare time working on his music. Of course, whenever his aunt cam over, she would chastise him, repeating the same things about getting married and finding a proper job while she did his laundry. Harry was just pushing twenty-six, yet that didn’t stop Aunty Louise from bringing up the idea of marriage whenever she visited.

Harry stood in place as he pondered whether or not it was worth the time to quickly throw something in the laundry and dryer. He was silently praying that he would find something, not exactly fond of the idea of trying to work with that gosh darn contraption of a washing machine sitting in the corner of a small room. It was literally the epitome of what one would call a piece of shit, but of course Harry didn’t have the money to invest in a brand spanking new one. A small puddle of water had now accumulated around his feet as the time passed by. Fortunately, he found something somewhat decent to wear that didn’t smell completely foul. He quickly changed into his clothes, and put his shoes on. Grabbing his keys from the counter, he made his way into the kitchen and opened the fridge. The sight before him wasn’t much of a surprise as he reached into his barely stocked fridge, grabbing a half-empty carton of milk. He took a large sip, not bothering with using a cup. A dribble of milk trickled down his chin before he used his sleeve to wipe away the small trail.

Harry threw the empty carton of milk into his recycling bin before going out the door, making sure to lock the wooden frame. Harry could care less about the crappy television in his sitting room, or the stereo he bought at a garage sale five years ago; what he cared about the most was the fifteen hundred pounds tucked carefully under his bed in a shoebox which he was saving for a used demo recorder. Thus he made sure to lock his door every morning otherwise he wouldn’t have given two shits. It had taken Harry months to save up that much, working extra hours at the diner, and finding loose change on the ground in order to be able to buy the demo recorder without being completely broke afterwards.

“Hi Harry,” a quiet voice piped up from behind him.

Harry already knew who it was before he had fully turned around. “Hey kiddo,” he smiled at the young boy before him, ruffling the little boy’s blonde locks.