LOOK ALIVE

*SETHRONY*

I wake up with the sun hitting against my face coming through the room curtains. "Its so bright," I grumble as I turn away from the bright light. My eyes feel puffy and sore from all the crying I did yesterday. It feels like a minute ago I was dragged into a parking lot and the next I was abandoned, but I promised myself its not always gonna be like this. It will get better along the way.

Sitting up, I rake through my hair feeling exhausted and rang dry of all my tears. A full body mirror stands at the far corner of the room with large number of stickers and "YOLO" leather badges glued to it. Staring back at me through it is a horrible person who looking person whose eyes are swollen and sunken from all the loss of sleep these past few weeks, and hasn't showered since yesterday morning.

"I can't go out looking like this," giving myself a small pep talk before walking out the door heading for the bathroom. I open the door slowly looking out for Lucia before making a beeline for the bathroom before she sees me.

"Sethrony sweetheart, is that you?" Lucia calls to me from the other end of the hallway. "Good morning Lucia, I hope you slept well?" I say as I tip toe my way to the bathroom slowly before she can hold me hostage at the dinning table. Too late, I have already been spotted.

She smiles at me softly "come here sweetie," as she pulls me in for a hug. "It feels great being loved" quietly whispering to myself as I wrap my arms around her and embrace it.

"come on, lets get you some breakfast." she pulls me towards the dinning room. Well there's no hope for me taking a shower first. I lumber along with her to the dinning table and she sits me down next to Ben.

"Good morning Seth, did you sleep well?" he says as she scoots the plate of waffles and the syrup next to me against the wooden table.

I lie through my teeth, "I slept well thank you." looking down at my lap. Ben can obviously tell I'm lying but moves on to the next subject.

" Well Lucia and I had discussed this yesterday and thought it would be best if you stayed here for a few more days before we could get things sorted out." he says as he glances at Lucia. "You can use Janet's room for the time being."

I'm left speechless and just a whole whirlwind of emotions. "but there's another thing we discussed before all this," he pauses and stares at me, "We can't continue looking after the store anymore cause we're old and thought of closing it down for the time being before anything else comes up.

My heart sinks to the very bottom of my chest. I can't be in my favorite place anymore. " So before the store closes, we found you a better job that pays much better and has the best environment." Lucia chimes in as she walks towards the cupboard in the far center of the dining room wall. She pulls out an advertisement flyer and interview form and pass from one of the drawers and hands them to me.

ASSISTANT CAREGIVER NEEDED pasted at the top of the flyer. I take a closer look at it and read the rest of the instructions and requirements

# MUST BE BELOW THE AGE OF 35

# YEARS OF EXPERIENCE NOT REQUIRED

# SHOULD NOT BE OF MARITAL STATUS

# SHOULD HAVE ATLEAST COMPLETED HIGHSCHOOL

I qualify for all but still skeptical. " I don't know if I can do this." doubtingly I say to them. " Its okay honey, well talk about this when you're ready to. There's no rush.

They had so much hope that I would accept the job offer. "I'm sorry," I say sheepishly looking down at my lap.

" It's okay, we'll figure something out," Lucia rubs my back as she takes a seat next to me. An awkward silence befalls us and I don't know what to do. I would have loved to take the job but can I really do it? Can I work as an assistant and not mess up? " I'll think about it." saying with a small smile as I excuse myself the and leave the dinning room. I need to pick up my stuff from the apartment.

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I walk into the apartment building and bump into Mrs. Chang who lives down the hall. Probably the nicest person in the whole entire building. She smiles at me warmly "Hey Seth, how are you?" as she pulls me in for a hug. " I thought you had left the building?" she looks at me inquisitively.

"What do you mean left the building?" I pause and look at her. " I still live here." I tell her.

"Your Dad stopped with a moving truck and got some things from the Apartment. He took your stuff too, so I figured you had moved out together." She tells me as you look at me.

no no no no no no no this can't be happening, I walk past Mrs. Chang and rush through to the apartment. I open the door as quickly as possible and there it is. Absolutely nothing. This has got to be the most hectic week of my life.

"I'm gonna need those keys back." Ted pops out from the back saying with a grim smile. " Seeing as your daddy came and ran away with all his stuff while I was away, you are no longer welcome in this building." he says as he snatches the keys away from my hands and walks away.

Mrs. Chang looks at me sadly from the end of the hallway. I can see the pity in her eyes. I don't want to ever be looked at like that again. Showing my brightest smile, I take easy strides towards her and say my goodbye's. Walking out the building, the evening breeze feels cool against my skin making it impossible to cry my eyes out. Deciding to take a walk, I disappear into the crowd of people getting back from their jobs heading to their warm houses and families.

************************************************

Sitting on the park bench feels calming and serene. Pulling out my phone, I call Abby and tell her all about my week. She fails to believe all that happened to me during the week. " You are lying to me and I know it, that's horrible." Abby practically screams in my ears through the phone. " Why didn't you tell me about all this, I would have helped you." she says angrily.

" I didn't want to give you anymore stress than you already have." I say to her recalling the story she explained to me about her family drama. Her boyfriend of 3 years cheated on her with her step sister while her mom was cheating on her dad with the next door neighbor's 25 year old son. Her dad did not find out in the best way possible. While he was working his butt off to provide for his family, she and Josh, his apparent neighbor were getting it on in their pool.

" I still would have helped you if you had just called me, I'm your best friend", she says emotionally on the phone. I can practically see her pouting through it.

"It's okay, everything is okay now," I lie to her feeling pathetic as I'm making it worse. " You sure?" she asks me making sure that everything is okay. " Everything is sorted out, no need to worry." closing my eyes knowing I'm gonna regret this later. " I have to go, I'll call you back as soon as I can." cutting the phone as quickly as I can without hearing her response.

I make a quick call to Lucia and tell her I'll take up the job offer. I having nothing left to loose. I stand and walk away from the park bench. I need this new job and can't keep on looking like a zombie if I have to go for that interview. It's time to look alive.