It was eight o'clock at night and rain was pouring heavily outside, A boy wearing a tattered black raincoat was walking down the street while calmly carrying a carton of eggs and a pack of wheat bread in his hand.
The water slushing on the road as vehicles went past him, was getting inside his torn shoes ——drenching his feet.
He lowered his head and his shoulders slumped, his sopping wet glasses becoming hazy while his face turned even more gloomy as he continued to walk on the sidewalk, he rounded a corner around the old apartment building when a car came rushing from behind, its tires skidded through the pit that was filled with mud and went splattering it all over the boy, leaving his raincoat dirty and sticky and without a care, in the world, the car then went past him at an incredible speed before he could even shout at the driver.
Standing on the wet pavement, the boy wiped the mud off his clothes and muttered angrily, "God, why does this always happen to me only?" He kicked the stones on the pavement in anger before clenching his fists and letting out a low and muffled yell. This was really good, now he has another thing to do when he gets back home!
After the boy was done with his tantrum, he began walking down the street again before he came to a stop in front of a dilapidated building and went inside it, the insides were as cheery as a funeral hall and with flickering lights, it only became even more fascinating——as fascinating as the house in a horror movie. The elevator was down ever since he came to live in the building with his family so it was no use waiting for it, he turned to the stairs and started climbing up.
He had to climb the stairs for a very long time until he reached the floor he was living on and finally came to a stop in front of a door that was completely damaged, with peeling paint and some dark moss sticking on it as well. He breathed in a breath and pressed the doorbell.
" Coming," a woman answered and ten seconds later a harassed-looking woman opened the door, her eyes that were wild with panic finally eased some of their tension as she looked at the boy but she still sternly scolded, " Cesar! does it take so long to bring the eggs and bread? Do you know how worried mother was? It's eight in the night not in the morning young man."
Cesar entered the house ignoring his mother's scolding, as he handed over the eggs and the pack of wheat bread to her and only then did he reply, "It is raining heavy tonight, the main street is completely jammed with traffic and another one was barricaded because it was flooded, so I had to take the long route instead."
He calmly took off his raincoat and put it on the hanger beside the main door when, abruptly Ella asked, "And where are the medicines that I told you to bring for your sister ?" Cesar who was walking inside the house rolled his eyes and then came back before he started rummaging in the pockets of his dirty raincoat and pulled out the medicines, " Here you go."
The medicines were covered with mud because of the holes in the raincoat and Ella couldn't even hold on to them.
She sighed and then removed the mud on them with her fingertips while she was doing it, her gaze fell on the mud stains. A rush of annoyance went past her as she picked up a slipper and threw it at the back of his son lightly, "Cesar! Come back and take this raincoat into the bathroom, you need to wash it properly. Look how dirty and sticky it is."
——-
Cesar who was almost reached his room turned around and picked up his dirty raincoat from the rack before taking it to the bathroom.
While Ella cleaned the medicines she heard the sound of someone's heavy coughing and immediately went inside to look, her daughter Amelia lying on the bed suffering from a congenital disease. Because Cesar returned late, the medication could not be given to her on time and her cough started. Ella quickly rushed inside the room with concern and helped her to pick herself up after she was done helping Amelia sit up straight she pulled out a pill from the medicine package and gave it to Amelia who swallowed it with a glass of water to gulp the pill.
The coughing eased and Ella helped Amelia back on the bed with her support as she heard the sound of something gurgling and cluttering.
After laying her daughter on the bed, she immediately headed to the kitchen and saw that it was the lid of the pot trembling due to the boiling water.
She instantly turned off the gas and removed the lid with the help of a cloth to check whether the vegetables were cooked perfectly or not, though there wasn't much to see as the vegetables were already in a pitiful amount, to begin with.
Ella looked at the thing she called vegetable soup and sighed, just a few more days.
Cesar was in the bathroom brushing his raincoat, removing all the mud on it, just as he was rubbing the mud off, a drop of water fell right onto his head. He raised his to see where the water drops were coming from, the water was dripping from the ceiling of the bathroom and Cesar was thwarted by it, oh no looks like they have to be careful while helping Amelia in, since the bathroom was going to be full of water next morning.
He sighed and then he turned back his attention back to the raincoat and start brushing it.
Cesar was finally done cleaning his raincoat and left it for drying up on the hanger in the bathroom.
After that, he went back to his room turned on the dim light and fished out his mathematics book along with a notebook from his bag to complete his school work. The moment he opened his math book, he realised that his desk has gotten wet due to rain coming inside from the broken window of his room.
Looking around he picked up a wooden plank from the closet and placed it on the broken part of the window to cover once he was done with it, he went back to his desk, but it was already too wet for him to put his book on it, no matter how old the books were he couldn't just put it on a wet desk, can he? Slightly, uncomfortable he decided to sit down on the floor and complete his school work, he picked up his books along with his study lamp and sat down on the floor, placing the lamp on the floor and turning it on.
But the lamp only flickered slightly before going off, it must have been left in the rainwater for far too long. "Darn it! I have to complete this by tomorrow and this happened. Oh God ! please have some mercy on me."
Since he has to complete the school work he went to the shelves of his room and picked up the torch, turning it on——he returned to his spot on the floor.
Ella was finally done preparing the dinner, she picked up some of the old bowls from the cabinet and started to serve the meal in them, once done she was she picked up the soup poured in the bowls, and brought the pot to the living room but her feet slipped due to the slippery floor and the lid of the pot fell on the floor with a clatter. The hot soup slushed in and out of the bowls but she steadied them burning her hands slightly, Ella bore the pain silently and let out an inaudible hiss as she placed the bowls on the floor and called —
"Cesar! Amelia! come down the dinner is ready."