Journal #4

   Chris Merkwaters tossed his coal  on to the stained couch and slammed his apartment door.
"I hate my life" He said to his dog as he collapsed on to the couch. He attempted to reach for the TV remote but gave up in half way through the process."I brought you a treat from work" he said and tossed the blood stained paper bag on to the floor near by Dino. He stared at the grey paint on his walls, the wall was pealing and there were water stains nearly everywhere on the wall. He then looked at his kitchen which had piles of junk food on the counters, dishes that no longer could be cleaned, and for some reason his underwear was on the toaster. He then for the first time in a long time inhaled the scent of his apartment which had a variety of smells like spoiled milk and year old fish. He had lost motivation and hygiene all because of one stinking job.
   He looked around and on top of a dark wood table was fish tank he had complete forgotten about. He stood up he knew he had never flushed a fish down a toilet before so they had had to decomposed in there. Chris could not see through the water tank but he could see there was a red tie that he had only worn once ever in his life. He stood up and walked towards the bathroom which was in even more horrible conditions. The sight of it would paralyze a health inspector for the rest of his life. He looked at Dino who had long finger nails and grimy brown fur even though Chris recalled his dog being white once. Chris then looked upon himself in the mirror and his hands began to shake, he looked down at them, rugged and bloodstained. In a blink of an eye he raised his had and punched the mirror. He couldn't look at himself. At the age of 21 he had already begun to gain grey hairs and dark spots under his eyes.
   The phone rang in the living room. He knew who it was even though he had not checked the number.
"Hi mom" He said while trying to pickup after himself.
"Hi honey, how was work?" she said.
"Could have been better" He replied hoping he didn't hurt his mom's feelings.
"Why what happened?Did you cut yourself again? Is it bleeding a lot? Put some..."
"Mom! No I'm fine" he said looking at the cuts the mirror had made on his hand."Work is ruining my life." He didn't want to hurt his father who had gotten him that job after he dropped out of college.
"Honey you know your Dad worked hard on finding you that open spot"
"I know but it's ruining my life I didn't even know I owned a fish tank because of all the stress from work. Going in at 7 am then coming out at 9pm is just not right. And the working conditions, Lets just say they didn't want to give me a steak that fell on the floor."He couldn't hold it and he knew it was harsh. " But I wont quit".