“Get out a’ here, ya bum!” The guard yelled, as he aggressively pushed the other man out of the ABC Store. Tripping backwards, he fell on his ass in a puddle of mud, caking his dirty body in even greater filth. He groaned, groggily, rubbing his eyes, struggling to remember where he was exactly as he watched the security officer put up the ‘Closed’ sign on the door and turn off the lights. He was alone again it seemed, cold and hungry. Moaning, his body aching, he slowly rose to his feet, taking another sip of beer from the bottle he clutched in his hand, before lurching forward, hiccuping a bit, and swallowing his own bile, and went on his way in a depression.
Joe Davis stumbled through the park, half-drunk, in a fugue of self-destruction and personal misery. The homeless traipsed along, taking a swig of his bottle every so often, grumbling to himself. He was filthy, wearing ratty clothes that had never been washed. He stunk, not having bathed in years. He was ungroomed, his hair unkempt, his short beard matted and tangled with bits of food and barf caking it. He was a mess. He was cold, and as his stomach growled, realized he was hungry too. He hadn’t had a good meal in forever, most of what he ate came from the trash anyway. His body hungered for his addictions, a gnawing pit in his gut for drugs and alcohol to stave himself off from his sorrow and his inevitable end.
Joe was not always like this however, and once he had had a promising future, but now he had lost everything. Now he was alone, destitute, broken, and sad. All he did was chase after booze and whatever he could inject into his veins. He no longer saw any hope for himself. He hated the happy people he saw who just ignored him. He hated his misery and wanted a change. But what were the odds of that?
The slovenly man walked towards the fountain in the middle of the park. He needed to take a leak. They always yelled at him when he did, but he was in such a daze he didn’t care. Stumbling forward, he suddenly tripped, catching himself on the edge of the concrete fountain. A child noticed him, “Mister, are you okay?” They asked, innocently. It would’ve warmed Joe’s heart to have someone, anyone show concern, but he was unable to do anything now but vomit into the basin. The child shrieked, disgusted, and ran away from him as he felt warm urine trickling down his pants leg. He slid down, laying against the rocky surface. “Dear God…” He half-whispered to himself, “Why…?”
He took quick, shallow breaths, going into deeper and slower ones with each inhale, his whole body feeling like it was burning. He needed something to stop it, but had no cash. He ran a hand across his face, trying to control his upset stomach, as he shakily attempted to stand again, propping himself up on the ledge. That was when he saw it. It was a ring, just sitting on the edge of the fountain there, waiting for someone to pick it up. His hazy, unfocused eyes narrowed, attempting to see past the double-vision as he reached out and grabbed it. Suddenly he felt a strange surge of power overcome him. His mind cleared up a little as he held it in his hands. Sitting back down, Joe carefully examined the ring in his grimy palms, and started to grin, exposing his yellowed and blackened teeth. He could probably pawn this off to someone and make a few bucks off of it, just a few of course, but it’d be better than nothing. He could make it through til next week, probably. Who knew how old the thing was? Granted, it might not have been the best idea, but he was a desperate man.
“Hey!” He heard a shrill voice, seeing a park ranger there, “You aren’t supposed to be doing that here! Get out before I call the cops, sicko.” Joe shuddered, but understood, righting himself and quickly staggering off, clutching the ring dearly. He continued to peek at it in his clutches, huffing on it and polishing it affectionately, “Yeah… Yeah, you could fetch a pretty penny, right?” Joe chuckled weakly, attempting to reaffirm his own doubts as he made his way along, though feeling a little bit better, somehow. It had seemed like just touching the ring had cleared his head of it’s pounding hangover. Joe had no idea exactly what he truly held.