Kimmydonn Week 75: How Did It Come To This?

Kimmydonn
Sunday




Picture 1

Picture 2

Kimmydonn's Choice: Picture 1

Title:

How Did It Come To This?

I could smell the dumpster beside me. It wasn’t as bad as some I’d slept near, or worse, in, but decay was definitely in the air. Or that might have been me. Was I decomposing? Slowly being leeched away to feed some lower life? That might be good, actually, that would mean I was worth something.

I didn’t think I was worth anything, to anyone.

Pulling my coat a little higher over my head, I ignored the bright sun that beat through the holes in the frayed fabric. It was not early in the morning. I should be getting up and trying to make something out of the day. The effort was pointless; It was worth as little as I was.

The sun hit me full in the eye and I snarled, clutching my hands to my eyes. A loud, shrill cry of a bird reverberated in my ear. It must have been sitting near me, just like the princess in one of those cartoon fairy tales. All right, fucking Disney, you win, I’ll get up.

The bird was still sitting on the back of the bench when I slowly lowered my hands. It cocked its brown head to the side and trilled again.

“Yeah, I’m up,” I told it in a croak.

It chirped once more before fluttering off.

How did I get here? How did I go from the high rises of Wall Street to the park bench?

Right, the bitch got the money.

Rubbing my stubble, scratching in places, I pushed myself off the bench and went in search of work. My long thin fingers had never been used to much besides paper, pencils, and keyboards, but they were learning to do all sorts of things now. At this moment? They were peeling away the top layer of cardboard to see what was left in the pizza box in the dumpster.

How did it come to this?