"One eye" is one of the thousands of homeless people in the united states. During this story, he looks back on his past and begins to lose hope on ever getting back on his feet. But one small event changes his perspective.
(First short story, please...
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Slap! The sound of meat hitting the wet ground echoed in the alleyway. The nearby deli was done for the day and was discarding their unwanted products into the world. It was a dark alley, filled with rats with a insatiable hunger and of the homeless that rejoiced at the sight of discarded food.
They all leapt towards the mysterious meat that laid on the ground all alone, cold and wet. Meat that was once looked at with eager eyes and watering mouths now covered in mold and loathed by society. But the rats and homeless thought nothing of such things, it was food for Christ sake! They fought each other for the meat, gouging eyes, groin shots and bites from the crazed rats.
Their tattered clothes hung like spiderweb drapes from a skeletal frame that would rend from the slightest touch. The rats were greasy beasts with beady eyes abring sharp teeth as they fought each other and their rivals: the homeless. But the rats soon saw that they were outmatched by the humans and scattered to look for other food. While the homeless people were fighting; one man in particular grabbed the meat and took off.
His name was "One eye" and he was known to be cunning and quick on his feet. He made it out of the alley with the speed of a gazelle. His feet slapped the street with the staccato of the raindrops falling heavily on the street and his heavy frame. He was a short and stocky man of forty-five and he had a heavy beard that he hadn't bothered trimming for as long as he could remember. His one eye was bloodshot and the other one was a dark pit that captured the light and happiness in the atmosphere around him; which made everyone that he stared down cower away in fear of the mysterious and intimidating man.
He was no crackhead, or schizophrenic reject; he was just a man that had been down on his luck, he would get back on his feet soon. "I'm just down on my luck, I'll be back on my feet soon". He told himself that sentence every time he woke up. He'd been repeating that phrase in his head for ten years. Once he was in the clear of the alley where all those animals were fighting, he sat down on a curb and started to eat the meat.
It was covered in black specks from the street and mold from sitting on a counter for probably a week. The meat resembled pork, "maybe it was supposed to be used on a sandwich".One Eye thought. It oozed when he pressed him fingers into it, the grease from the meat slid down his arm and he quickly licked it up.
Once he lifted his head back up, he realized how hungry he was and he sank his teeth into it. It was chewy and watered down from the rain, but it was good enough for him. I wasn't often that he got meat this fresh. He looked out at the busy city street as he ate and watched the cars pass by, busy people with busy lives. Those people would pass him by and not even look at him. "I used to have a car..a nice car." One Eye recalled while swallowing the last piece of meat.
He got up and looked up into the rainy and dark sky. The heavy rain had turned into a nonchalant drizzle. One Eye started walking down the the sidewalk, it was pretty late; he didn't have a watch, but he'd noticed that most shops were closing so it must be late. He saw to woman walking towards him with big mall bags full of clothes after a long and tiring day of shopping for themselves.
They laughed and spoke of self-centered topics and carried themselves as if they were queens. As they got closer, he saw them recognize his existence and screw their faces up at his visage. They looked him up and down and immediately thought he was some insane pervert and crossed the street whispering to themselves.
"I used to love taking my wife shopping" One Eye thought to himself. He could remember not thinking about the costs of things as his wife browsed designer stores and the look in her eyes when he'd purchase everything she asked for. He'd had a job working on an oil rig. He made good money and every time he came home, he'd take his wife shopping.
He was a good husband, he only thought of her and her needs; he came second. But one day there was an explosion. Not an explosion from a bomb, but methane gas had ignited and blew up the entire rig. He was one of the people that had been injured in the explosion, the flames hit him directly in the face and melted his face and right eye. When he was rescued and rushed to the emergency room, the doctors paled at the sight of his destroyed face.
He had melted like icecream, his skin was no longer there and the right eye socket was agape. The blue robe clad doctors took the skin from his back and put it on his face. They also gave him a glass eye to replace his missing eye. When his wife came to visit him, she was horrified to see his grotesque face, but she sat and spoke to him for a few minutes. He told her how he'd saved up money and that everything would be alright. Her face was unreadable to him. He'd always been able to tell if his wife was happy, but this face he'd never seen before. It was twisted and ugly; her eyes only saw a creature that wasn't her husband. When she left, she kissed him on the lips and walked out.
That was the last time he saw her.
The next week, he received papers for divorce. His life had seemed meaningless at that point in time. After reading the documents, he got up from his bed, ripped the glass eye out and walked out of the hospital. Nobody stopped him, they only watched in horror at a man that was mutilated with no hope of a future.
It is what it is.
After that day, he took to the streets and looked for jobs. Every interview he had was cut short, his resume was always impeccable and he was always in a sharp suit.
No one ever hired him.
He rented a small apartment and drank his life away; he bought expensive shit offline and got addicted to pornography; he was losing himself and he just wanted to disapear. One day he got an advertisement online and was scammed to where his bank account was negative. He was deep in debt and he filed for bankruptcy. He left his apartment and began to lurk the streets. Recalling his past made One Eye just sigh and look down in anger. "Why was it me? Why did my life get fucked up because of some stupid explosion?" Whenever he thought about the past, he'd go into this mental state that he couldn't snap out of.
His surroundings were blurred and he did mindless things. He began to run. He knocked over trashcans and kicked any car in his way. He was really filling the stereotype for a crazy bum. In his skewed line of sight, he saw a red floating object, he wanted to destroy it, he became an animal . He grabbed it out of the air and bit it with his teeth. It deflated with a satisfying hiss as the air escaped from the tiny hole he'd bitten. He was interrupted from his small victory of defeating the red floaty thing by a little girl's crying.
Like a fog dispersing by a strong wind, his vision and sanity came back to him. He saw a small girl holding a white string tied to a limp balloon on the ground. Her cries echoed into the night and One Eye felt terrible. Even though he was a good for nothing bum that didn't care about anybody. He still felt bad for the little girl. She was about six or seven and she wore a green dress with shiny black shoes. One Eye quickly grabbed the balloon and patched it up, the hole was small, so he tied it up effortlessly. When he was done, he bowed and displayed the now fixed balloon to the young girl. Her face lit up in delight at what the scary homeless man had done. She thanked him over and over saying he was so nice. He didn't hear all of that though. He was too focused on how she was treating him. She was staring at him with unwavering eyes and genuine happiness. She was such an innocent and pure girl, she saw nothing but a nice man in front of her. And to One Eye's surprise, she gave the balloon back.
"You look sad mister, I want you to have it" and she walked away. A big stream of tears came out of One Eye's good eye as he watched her skip away and he looked down at the big red balloon given to him. Maybe this life wasn't so bad, he was just down on his luck, he'd get on his feet soon.
