Worth Living For

Chapter 2

A loud ringing filled my ears, and my whole body jumped.

“What the hell-”

I cursed as my head hit the stand that held my canvas, and my paintbrushes flew everywhere. I reached up and caught the canvas before it fell to the floor, and set it safely back on the stand. I rubbed my head with one hand, and picked up the fallen brushes with the other.

“Geez...why do I keep doing this?” I asked myself, my empty apartment echoing me.

I finished cleaning up everything that had been thrown around the room when I was rudely awakened, then headed to my bedroom to shut off the torturous ringing. I pressed the palms of my hands to my eyes, yawned, stretched, then made my way to my dresser, where I pulled out a pair of boxers, jeans, and a black t-shirt, and stumbled to the bathroom.

The hot water of the shower woke up my whole body, and after getting dressed, I pressed ‘start’ on the coffee maker so that coffee could wake up my mind. As the coffee brewed, I went to the living room to see what piece of artwork was so important I felt I had to stay up so late last night to finish that I fell asleep in the middle of. To my surprise, the painting had been finished. I left it on it’s stand to dry, and headed to the window that sat at the far wall of the room. I pulled open the curtains and leaned against the window sill, watching the morning lives of the New Yorkers pass before me.

It was the middle of March, the time of the year where everyone in New York traded their winter coats for sweatshirts and hoodies. I always stuck with my leather jacket, whether it was below zero or 60 degrees outside.

I sat at the window until I could smell the coffee from across my apartment. I got up and poured myself my first cup of the morning, and after 20 minutes, I had finished my third. I looked at the clock for the first time all morning, and realized that I had to leave in the next five minutes. I rushed to the bathroom and brushed my teeth, slipped on a pair for black converse that sat next to my front door, grabbed my keys, and left.

I didn’t bring along my leather jacket, which was probably a mistake, but I didn’t feel like going all the way back inside to get it. Instead, I walked faster than usual, almost jogging, so I could keep myself warm. I bumped into a couple random people, like I did every morning. Some accepted my apology and moved on, some cussed me out, and I ended up just walking away in the middle of it. That’s just how New York City worked. I had gotten used to it, and it didn’t phase me at all.

The first time it had happened to me was a couple weeks after I had moved into the city, over 3 years ago. I wanted to walk to a coffee shop downtown, but I couldn’t find an empty cab, so I ended up walking. My head was hung low, and I ended up running into someone that had been walking the opposite way. That ‘someone’ turned out to be a huge guy, probably a body builder. He towered over me, spitting harsh words in my face so loud I couldn’t even hear them. He was about to pound my face in, but some random person ended up saving my life by accidentally nudging his shoulder as they passed by. As he went after them, I made my escape, sprinting down the street and away from him.

I had learned my lesson, and ever since then, I never stood there to listen to what the person had to say. I just simply walked away, and they never even followed me, mostly because they couldn’t find me in the crowds of people.

I quickly ran my hands over my shirt, smoothing out any wrinkles that had appeared on the walk, and opened the door to the building, which was just now opening for the day. I was probably one of the first employees here this morning, because the place was nearly empty. I made my way to the elevator and pressed the button to the fourth floor. As the doors slide open, I walked out and made my way to my cubicle.