The alarm woke Ralph as he got up in his small bedroom apartment. Once it had been full of life; but now all that remained were items that painted a picture of what was once there. He had been fortunate to be one of the few people that had access to water on the block.

How did things turn to this? He thought. When he was young, the city had so much hope; but now with age, it seemed so different from what he once knew it to be. He looked at himself in the mirror. His once black hair now showed many gray signs and even though he slept the persistent lines remained on his face.

After his wife passed and the disappearance of his daughter, Ralph repeated the same process; just going through the same motions. He found joy in what he did; it kept him sane. He got himself ready for work and left.

It was noisy outside. The people were lively and tables were set up on the roads. He passed them as he glanced on various forms of gambling. The sun rays rained down on him harsher today. Ralph shielded his face with his hands as he reflected. He like all those in the area could not afford to drive. It was either you walked or you got the train. Those who did have cars in this area were mostly associated with some form of crime, he figured. The man who sponsored him was a good guy. When he was in rough times, he ensured that the business would never have to close and kept the roof above his head. He owed this man a lot.

When his child had been lost a day on a family outing, he had also been there for him and although he tried his best to help, they never found her. Ralph had not given up hope. He believed his daughter would find her way home to him or if she couldn't, that she was safe.

His wife had given up to alcohol, an expensive drug and she just toiled in depression. He tried his best to help her uplift her mood but nothing changed. The cheerful woman he met with a bubbly attitude was nowhere to be found. She left the house less and less until she wasn't leaving at all. In her last days, she had gained much weight, her face had changed completely. Carved into it was her stress and her worries. Even on her death bed, yet again that man was there to help him give her a funeral. The ashes that remained now lay within the house as he still couldn't see himself parting with her even in death.

He tried to remember better times, when they first met. They were both so young and the times before all of that but the last moments always lingered with him the most. Even when he thought about his daughter, he kept seeing the last day she was with him and then the promise he made that day to her; to get her that stuffed toy she always wanted it laid there in the house but she never returned.

He sighed out loud.

He didn't live too far from the store he owned so he never truly minded these walks there. The walk was a lonely one. However, regardless of how friendly he tried to be on mornings, everyone he passed would not share his pleasantries. Not even those that live at the apartment with him. Most people kept to themselves and only spoke to others in cases where it benefited them.

Guess that's why I like working my job he thought; because it was only there that he could truly have engagements as he met all different types of people.

He wondered how Natalya was doing. She truly reminded him of his daughter; at least what she would be like at her age and he enjoyed seeing her. He felt pity for the children but he didn't want to make them feel uncomfortable. I hope she is well he thought as he made a turn towards his shop and found three children sitting outside.