Right to the Ground.

Written in response to: Write about an apartment building being demolished.... view prompt

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Happy

"Alright, what's the buzz of the town?" my boss asks me. All of us employees are sitting in here and we are talking. Across the street, there is a big wrecking ball, and people running out of the apartment complex. We make a way to let him see. He runs outside and asks what is going on, with the person with the wrecking ball. They say that they mentioned or should have at least heard that this was planned months ago. That we had to shut down shop for the day, due to demolition. There was no one to be in the area. The material it was made of was not to be injected by people unless you had a hazmat suit on. My boss told us to go back to the shop. We all sat in the private room in the back, waiting for his direction and his call. He came in cussing. Walking back and forth, he put his hands on his head and breathed in and out.

He let his emotions blow over, and then he talked at us. "You all must go home for the day. For safety reasons, you all could get cancer. So you must go home, as we won't get any customers today anyway. It would be a waste." He then takes off his badge and sets it down where he always puts it. I live above this business, so I'll still be here. I go upstairs and watch the building get demolished. First, a man went in and opened every window, and had a bunch of others help him with that. They took every single window out. They had such a large crew, and taking them out didn't take long. Next, they raised the wrecking ball to hover above the building. And then there is a loud noise that comes out of the machine. I saw the last few people leaving, depressed they were being kicked out of their homes. Some old, some young.

A guy steps out of it and tells the boss of the operation, who was in a hazmat suit, that the machine needed gas. The boss starts yelling at people and tells that guy who originally ran it that he was fired. The machine gets gas, and a random guy gets hired to run the wrecking ball. They got into the little control part and raises it a bit more. The boss yells, to begin with, a bull horn, and then a huge wrecking ball comes flying down. And then somebody grabbed the bullhorn and cried, "STOP!" the sound was very loud, and I wondered why. "I'M A RESIDENT, AND WE NEED THIS BUILDING!" They shout into the bull horn. The boss of the operation started obviously arguing, and eventually had security drag them away. I was getting mad at this point. How could he do this to them, when they had done nothing wrong?

This boss clearly was not nice and was misusing his power in the business. I found a mask in my drawer and ran outside to yell at the boss man. I grabbed the bull horn and started shouting at him too. "NO! I LIVE ACROSS THE STREET! YOU JUST SHOWED UP TO TAKE AWAY SO MANY PEOPLE'S HOMES! STOP DESTRUCTION NOW!" The boss now is infuriated. He starts fighting with me. And when they try to take me away, I fight them off. Good thing I took karate as a kid. He blows a gasket at this point, gets the bull horn, and says to destroy. The man at the control deck looks confused. He gets out and starts parading out. Quite insulted, the boss tries to shout at them some more. Some looked frightened like they would back down. And then they would look at the crowd of people on the verge of being homeless and ignore him.

But the rest of the workers start walking away. The boss tells them he'll be back. We roll our eyes. The boss was still livid, but then he saw the wrecking ball. I tried to block him from getting to it, but he is too strong. I tried to pull him out, but it was too late. He destroyed the building. I break down crying, and so does all the residents. But he looks satisfied. "There. Now I can build my business." Over the next few weeks, it got built. And when we saw what it was, we were all super disappointed. It was another building, but this one was just an office. A real estate business. And not only that, but you couldn't turn the corner without seeing many homeless people that were starving. I always gave them at least a dollar. To get them a little something, at least money to be saved. They were always appreciative. And when I saw children with them, I felt even worse. They could be raised right if it wasn't for that terrible man.

I took a few into my care and got a few into homeless shelters. I had fundraisers for them and made sure that they were always at least somewhat comfortable. I had protested outside the office as well. How could he do that to these people who weren't doing anything in the first place? They didn't deserve it, and it wasn't right. Only a few months after the demolition, the man moved out. And I bought it. All those homeless people moved in. I had plenty of money from the fundraisers. But I started to become so aware of people being homeless. That there were so many out there, and so many just ignored them. There were so many out there that did nothing wrong, and yet they had to be homeless. This is an issue I saw a way too many times, and for every person that I had ever seen, I had tried to help, in one way or another. So many people have supported me on this journey, joining me and my effort. And it is such a big cause, everyone should help.

June 02, 2022 13:35

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