Time to Move Out
It’s time for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by the lovely and talented Rochelle. The idea is to write approximately 100 words in response to a photo prompt. And 100 words is not a lot, let me tell you 🙂
This week’s photo is of a staircase in an old building, and was supplied by Rochelle herself! You can read all the stories submitted for this week’s prompt by clicking on the little blue froggy.
Copyright Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Harold wheezed, out of breath, as he reached his apartment block. A sharp sound – crack! crack! emanated from a nearby alley as he unlocked the front door.
“Damn gangbangers!” he muttered as he stepped over the semi-conscious junkie in the doorway and went inside. Fifty years ago this had been a nice, quiet neighbourhood.
As he approached the stairs he heard a scream and a body crashed down, bouncing off the grill lining the stairwell. Harold took a quick look. That pusher from next door.
He pulled out his phone and called his daughter.
“Honey, is that room still going spare?”
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draliman on life 
Good one, though when I saw the title my first thought was “didn’t he just move?” LOL
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I hope my new neighbourhood doesn’t go downhill like Harold’s did 🙂
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It sounds like you should be ok for a while 🙂
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Indeed, a dead body would be my last straw. I hope the room is still available. Great story!
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I reckon his daughter has been after him to move in with her for a while, so I’m sure it is!
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i’m suprised he didn’t 911 first. 😦
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I think he’s become a little jaded. Maybe he called 999 after securing alternative accommodation 😉
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I think I would have moved out a long time ago!
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Me too! I guess he’d been there for so long it was hard to let go.
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That must have been a strong tie to keep them there through all that! At least he had somewhere to go though.
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It was, but this was the final straw. Unlike many I guess, he does have somewhere else to go.
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Well I would move too!
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Yep, I’d definitely not want to stick around either. He’d lived there all his life though – hard to give up on his home.
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the final straw! 🙂
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Gangbangers – OK, junkies – whatever, dead bodies now? Time to go 🙂
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HaHa! He might be next if he doesn’t get out of there. Great take on the prompt!
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It might be best if he just calls a taxi right there and then – don’t wait to pack!
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Brings a whole new meaning to “there goes the neighbourhood”. Nice one.
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It doesn’t sound like it could get much worse. A good time to leave.
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haha i wouldn’t wanna live in that place either! dead bodies– definitely the final straw. 🙂 🙂
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He hung on as long as he could, but enough is enough 🙂
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Absolutely! No place to live. Real black comedy.
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Not the best of neighbourhoods certainly!
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Bad neighbourhood!
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The worst!
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Definitely time to move out!
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Yes, no place for anyone let alone an old man.
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This reminds me of my ex father in law. I didn’t think he would ever move out of the neighborhood he had lived in for forty years. When someone got shot on the corner, he left.
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I can imagine how hard it can be to leave somewhere after so long. I’m glad he got out.
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Sounds like a good time to turn around and keep walking.
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You’re not wrong!
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Yes, definitely the right time for an exit strategy.
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Probably way past time, but at least he’s leaving now.
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Dear Ali,
Smart man. Definitely time to move. Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle,
I can imagine a lot of people who have lived in a neighbourhood all their lives, reluctant to move, but finally things get to the point where they have no choice.
Ali
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Happens all the time. I see it in our old neighborhood. We moved 7 years ago…not as bad as the one in your story, but definitely time to “git out”.
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I just bought a house (my first!) last month. I paid the same for a one bed house that I could have paid for 2-3 bedrooms in some other places, but it’s a great location – a sleepy little Cornish village. Here’s hoping it stays that way!
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Ali, congratulations on the new house! It sounds as if it’s in a lovely place and long may it stay that way. As for your character, what a blessing he had someone to take him in and a place to move. So many can’t move, no matter the circumstances. I chuckled a bit of your last two words as I’m used to reading “going spare” in a completely different context, although he may have been doing that, too.
janet
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Thanks! The only thing I can hear in the morning is the tweeting of birds rather than the roar of the main road and the thumping of the toddler upstairs. Lovely!
He was lucky that he had somewhere to go. I also know the other meaning of “going spare” – I guess he was at that point!
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I’d leave before I packed. Good for the daughter to have a room nearby. Excellent! Nan
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Yes, I think it’s best just to call a taxi or wait kerbside for his daughter and get straight out of there.
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I can well imagine why he has no option anymore!Sigh!Times-they are a changing 😦 Excellent take on the signs of time and the havoc it is creating in many people’s lives DR:-)
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Thanks. Some neighbourhoods go down hill while others become “desirable”. ‘Tis the way of the world.
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True!
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Good story even though it was a bad neighorhood. Well done.
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Fortunately a neighbourhood our protagonist is escaping from.
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Oh wait a minute, there’s excitement in hearing gun shots and seeing dead body’s roll down stair cases. That’s never happened to me. I wish I could be satisfied with less adventures and not want to always see more.
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Be careful what you wish for!
I think if I ever heard a real gun shot I’d never leave home again 😦
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