A Hug From A Neighbor

Oscar’s feet felt like two, thousand pound weights as he lifted them slowly, painfully, up the stairs that led to his apartment.

At last, after climbing what felt like the Tower of Babel, he reached the top of the stairs. His back was now bent as though a third, thousand-pound weight was latched to his neck and dragging him to the ground.

“Haaa,” he sighed as he took the 30 or so steps required to reach his front door.

Oscar fumbled in his pocket for a moment trying to find his keys, only to hiss in pain as the point of his house key jabbed him under the nail.

“What else could go wrong?” he asked himself quietly as he pulled out the keys, only for them to slip from his hands and clang to the ground. “Of course.”

He bent down and it took all his remaining strength to rise back up and open the door to his sanctuary.

Sanctuary, he snorted. Right.

The front door closed with a pathetic ‘click’ and he sighed again.

“I’m home,” he called hollowly. No one responded, just as no one had responded the day before or the day before that. “It never gets any easier,” he muttered as the circles under his eyes darkened and dug deeper into his skull.

Oscar shuffled forward, not even bothering to take off his shoes as he headed for the kitchen. He put his backpack down on the table then turned towards the fridge. The bright light blinded him for a moment as it illuminated the dark apartment, but he quickly found what he was looking for, a home-made burrito he’d made three days earlier. 

“At least I remembered to meal prep for this week,” he mumbled with the most miniscule amount of gratitude. 

He shuffled over to the microwave, still not bothering to turn on a light, and placed the meager dinner into the machine. Sixty seconds passed like frozen molasses, allowing him to delve back into his memories.

“I don’t want to have to remind you again,” his supervisor sneered at him.

“Well, when will my background check be complete? I’ve been waiting for two months!” the woman on the line complained.

“Maybe it wouldn’t take so long if you hadn’t hit your kid,” he growled under his breath just before the microwave timer went off.

Oscar grabbed his food and shuffled towards the cheap Ikea furniture that served as his dining table. He grabbed the even cheaper chair, but stopped before he sat down.

“I don’t feel like sitting here tonight,” he decided, before pushing the chair in and looking around the dark room. His recliner looked tempting for a moment, but he knew that if he sat down there, he would fall asleep before eating and his stomach loudly protested at that idea. He continued his search when his dull, green eyes landed on the balcony. 

“I don’t think I’ve eaten outside since I was a kid,” he thought aloud before shuffling his way towards the balcony door.

The night was even colder than when he had returned home, which seemed impossible given it couldn’t have been ten minutes since his return. In the end though, Oscar just added that to the list of grievances that day had inflicted upon him. 

He took a bite of his burrito. It wasn’t very good. The ingredients weren’t fresh and even if they were, he wasn’t a stellar cook by any means. Still, the warmth was appreciated and he chewed slowly to savor this small moment of relief.

Yet, in his life, such moments of relief were few and over far too quickly. Soon, the mediocre burrito was gone and the only thing that remained with him was the chilling wind.

“What did I do to deserve a life like this?” Oscar asked as his eyes turned towards the sky. “What sin did I commit? Was I not a good enough son? Did I step on too many toes? Are all those preachers and hysterical moms right and playing video games really is sinful? What did I do?” 

No answer came, but dammit, he wanted an answer so he just kept glaring up at the night sky, silently demanding whoever was in charge to explain him or herself.

“It’s a beautiful night isn’t it?”

Oscar blinked and slowly turned his head. To his surprise, a woman about his age and with the cutest spattering of freckles upon her cheeks and nose was smiling at him on the balcony next to his.

“What?” he asked, not sure what else to say.

“It’s a beautiful night,” she repeated, her smile not faltering. “It’s usually really hard to see the stars here, but tonight they’re really bright.”

“Uh,” he turned back to the sky. To him the stars seemed as dull and distant as always, “I guess.”

His eyes fell back to the woman, who was now gazing up at the stars as if some sort of dazzling fireworks show was in full swing. He was just about to head back inside when she spoke again.

“My name’s Sophia by the way. I moved in three months ago, though you probably noticed that with all the noise.”

Oscar’s confusion deepened. 

“What noise?” he asked.

“You haven’t heard me? My other neighbor has complained twice about the noise I make during my gaming sessions, but I can't help it. I’m a streamer and my fans love it when I get really passionate and rage quit, ya know?”

“I…guess?” Oscar replied, though in truth he felt like someone was squeezing his brain due to all the confusion bouncing around inside his head.

“Well, I’m glad I’m not bothering you too,” Sophia continued, her smile stretching across her freckled cheeks. “What do you do?”

“I…work in an office. I do background checks for companies,” he explained.

“Oh that’s neat. Do you like it?”

The weight around his neck suddenly grew twice as heavy and he could not help but slump. He tried to force out a ‘it’s fine'; after all, this woman, this Sophia, didn’t need to hear his problems. Yet, try as he might to force out that answer. He couldn’t. Nor could he find the inner strength to be honest for, if he admitted out loud what was already resounding in his soul, he knew he would fall apart. He had to lie. The lie was the glue that kept his life together.

It’s fine. I’m fine. Everything will be fine. It’s fine. It’s fine. Fine. Fine. Fine…

“Hey…what’s wrong?”

Oscar’s eyes lifted and he found that Sophia’s smile was gone, replaced by a look of, what appeared at least, to be genuine concern.

“I…I’m sorry…what was the question?” he asked, his voice strained as the first, terrible signs of tears, pricked at the corners of his eyes.

Sophia stared at him for a moment longer, before she suddenly ran back inside. 

The agonizing hand that had been squeezing his brain now moved to his heart, but just as he was afraid that the organ would burst, a flurry of knocks came from his front door.

Oscar stared at the door for a moment, wondering if he’d heard right, only for another flurry of knocks to confirm his ears were still working.

Confused, but no longer in pain, Oscar made his way towards the door. A third flurry of knocks quickened his pace and he pulled open the door to find Sophia, grim-faced and hand raised for a fourth round of knocking, standing there.

“Sophia? What are you-?”

Before he could finish, he was pulled down into a hug and wrapped in her embrace.

“It’s going to be okay,” she whispered, the softness of her breath tickling and warming his scalp.

“W-What?”

“You’re going to be okay. I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but you will be. You’ll get a better job, you’ll find a better place, the stars will seem brighter and things will. Be. Okay,” she assured him as her arms tightened around him.

Oscar tried to hold back the tears, he really did. He barely knew this woman. Hell, he didn’t even know her last name or how old she was, but God, it had been so damn long since he’d had a hug. 

His arms wrapped around her body as two steady streams of liquid pain flowed down his cheeks. 

“I-It’s…r-really hard…you know? I-I-I feel like…m-my life…i-is p-p-pointless,” he mumbled into her chest.

“It’s not,” Sophia stated immediately.

“T-This…i-isn’t h-how…I thought…m-my life…would turn out,” he continued, each word filled with both agony and relief as everything came pouring out in a torrent of honesty.

“I know,” she whispered as her soft hand brushed his hair.

“I-I just…don’t know…w-what I did…to deserve…being s-so a…a-alone,” he wept.

“You didn’t do anything,” she reassured him, "and more importantly, you’re not alone anymore.”

Oscar pulled his head back and stared into her warm brown eyes.

“I-I’m not?”

She smiled.

“Nope!” she declared, popping her ‘p’. “You’ve got me now.”

Oscar’s eyes widened and a flurry of words danced along his tongues. Words of gratitude. Words of shock. Cynical words of disbelief and desperately hopeful words that his soul clung onto like cherished treasures. They all became so jumbled on his tongue that none managed to leave his mouth. Instead, he simply put his head back in his chest and hugged her tighter.

Sophia’s smile softened as she stared at the top of his head.

“Do you want to join me for dinner? I’m not the best cook, but my mom taught me her spaghetti recipe which is, no joke, the best spaghetti you will ever have!”

Oscar, still unable to speak, nodded into her chest, causing her to laugh.

“Come on then,” she ushered as she slowly pulled back, “let’s go inside.”

Hand-in-hand, the two entered her apartment for what would be the most embarrassing, laugh-filled, rage-quitting, and wonderful night of Oscar’s life.