Another day

Arthur slowed his pace as he realised he was far from the drunkards.

Looking at his surroundings, he found himself drifting into one of the narrow, forgotten alleyways, that no one enters.

"Guess that'll have to do," he murmured to himself, taking in the sight of cracked walls and crumbling brick.

The faint smell of garbage filled the air, but he ignored it.

The alleyway was just wide enough for him to sleep in.

"Nice, there are some newspapers and cardboard boxes" He muttered.

They had probably been tossed aside, either another homeless person's baggage or some person's garbage. Either way, he was going to use it tonight.

Arthur leaned back against the cold wall, he pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them, drawing himself in for some warmth in the dark, cold night.

It wasn't comfortable—nowhere near it, far from it. But he was used to it by now.

He'd gotten good at finding little corners like this, places where no one would bother him, places that most people wouldn't even glance at as they walked by.

"It's not much," he muttered, glancing at the broken alcohol bottle lying a few feet away.

"But at least no one's gonna find me here, It does the job."

A soft sigh escaped him as he looked up at the slice of sky visible between the rooftops above.

He let his head rest against the wall.

"It's funny," he thought.

"How something so disgusting can feel like home after a while." He thought, glancing at the dirty alleyway that was housing him when no one else did.

"This isn't a life, is it?" he murmured to no one in particular. "It's just… surviving. Just getting by."

"The other world was nice, although it was dangerous."

"I felt alive, I felt like I had control over my life, over my future..." He muttered as he couldn't wait to go back there.

He closed his eyes, trying to get some sleep in. A few hours later, he opened his eyes back.

"I can't sleep, this type of life is really unbearable without Charlotte." He muttered, as his thoughts wandered to her.

The warmth of her smile, the quiet strength in her eyes.

She was the one bright spot in his life, the one thing that kept him pushing forward, and kept him getting up each day despite everything he went through.

"Just hang in there, alright, Charlotte?" he whispered, his voice barely audible. "I'm gonna get us out of this shit hole soon."

The night slowly drifted away, as the sun slowly rose marking a new day.

Opening up his eyes with difficulty, Arthur felt groggy.

"It's finally daytime," He muttered.

He hadn't been able to sleep the whole time, he was in the realm between sleeping and being awake, it honestly felt like torture but he couldn't do anything about it.

Standing up and stretching, he made his way out of the alleyway.

He smelt himself, bringing his twitching nose to his underarms.

"Damn it, I stink now," He said with disgust, as he glanced at the area he was in that was filled with garbage.

"I need to go back into Armageddon as soon as possible, and farm some more equipment."

After leaving the alleyway, he stepped into the main road as people went about doing their thing. 

Be it work, appointments or just a morning job.

Life seemed to be slightly different from before, as people seemed to have a lot on their minds due to the descent of Armageddon. 

But it wasn't an overwhelming change, in fact, some people found it a good change.

He had heard many people talking about it, as they walked on their daily life.

Being able to enter another world, plunder the resources of that world and transfer it to real money, it was simply a dream come true to many. Whilst, others thought there was more to it than meets the eye.

Arthur was in the middle, he wasn't firmly stuck into a position, and he believed it could be a good change. 

"At least, it's good for me," He muttered, as he realised he wouldn't be able to pay for his sister's medication if it wasn't for the game.

"But there must be an equivalent exchange, the smirk on that man's face as he said the rules, still irks me today," He muttered, remembering his smirk.

Shaking his head, deciding to not worry about it for now.

He headed to the hospital, it was a day visit anyway. 

"I should be able to take a shower in the hospital, but I need some change," He realised, as he made it near the hospital.

After looking around, he found a small clothing shop.

After entering, he quickly bought a cheap set of clothes for $15 because of its low quality and left.

"Some new clothes," He smiled, as he couldn't wait to finally wear some new clothes in almost a month.