In that moment the adrenaline from the morning had worn off and I almost collapsed on the side walk. I sat my back against the wall and took a few deep breaths. The sound of cars honking and going through the street was cacophonous but had its own rhythm. I picked myself up and walked slowly back towards my apartment.

Due to the state of my clothes and a few bumps and bruises, a few people took a wide birth when walking by me. I peaked a glance at myself in a storefront window and I can officially say I was worse for wear. The bruising around my eye started to swell. My lip was split next to the edge. I had a little bit of blood coming down from my forehead and dirt and grime covered me from head to toe. I had made it but I understood why I didn’t get the interview. A dozen blocks later and I made it to the front door of my apartment building.

I took a deep breath and turned the key. The creak of the door was defeating. The particles of dust floated down from the entryway and tickled my nose. Stairs seemed like a measure of inevitable death at this point. The long stairwell seemed to elongate as I stared upward. I could only hope to put one foot in front of the other. 

Each step sent shutters up my spine as the damage from the car accident stiffened my body. When I reached the top, I turned the corner and saw my doorway with the all too familiar note hanging from inside the frame. I stumbled my way towards it and pulled it from its resting place, as I inserted my key into the lock of the door handle. A click later and I opened the door. 

My apartment looked shabbier than before I left it. A pile of letters in the corner rested on top of the side table against the door frame. I dropped the keys into the glass dish sitting next to it. My couch was a hand-me-down cracked faux pleather outside, with a lumpy cushion on one side and a pillow for the other one. Surprisingly comfortable when you lay across it. 

I stumbled into the bathroom and took off my ripped scraps of clothing. The water said it wasn’t going to be turned off until the end of the week so I was happy to have this time to just sit in the running water. I turned the handle of the shower all the way over to cold water to try and shock my system. When I stepped into the stall my legs completely crumpled and I sit sprawled as a stream of cold water hit my body. 

It felt uncomfortable and I was cold. The pressure of the water as it fell felt like needles on my skin in the areas of bruising. The doorway of the stall remained open as I lay on the floor and the breeze floating in added with the cold of the water to make a truly unpleasant sensation. 

It’s what I wanted in that moment. I had enough strength to turn the handle of the shower again to a warm water and with the pleasant sensation returning to my body. I closed my eyes to the beating stream of pellets and fell into an uncomfortable sleep.

My eyes finally opened to the sky being dark and cold water once again raining down on me. I reached up to shut off the shower. Crawling out of the stall, I grabbed the towel on the hook against the wall and draped it over myself. The pain of where the car hit me coming in full swing. The bruising along my hip, caused me to wince as I tried to get up and wrap the towel around my waist. 

I walked over to the mirror and looked at myself again. My hands were pruned but overall I looked like I had been in a fight and lost. I was the other guy.

I left the bathroom while grabbing onto the wall and lay myself down on the closest cushion of the couch. It’s smooth and cracked pleather scratched and cooled my chest. 

My legs pressed against my pillow cushion and made an indent not perfectly holding myself up. It was a slight comfort as I lay there bruised and defeated. My eyes drifted towards the clock on the wall and the digital display showed the numbers 8:09. This wasn’t my best day. I lay still and drifted off to sleep again. The rough sandy floor chaffing against my skin. 

The next morning hit me like a bag of bricks as my phones alarm went off to wake me up. The digital screen was hard to shut down and the pounding of my head hit me full force.