“Alright , were here. Our new home. Nothing fancy, but it will make due for us.``

 Abbot observes while trying to make comfort for his ailing wife.

  “Can i at least paint it? The place looks just as lifeless as me.” Claire mumbles. 

Of course she could paint it. She could paint it bright yellows or pinks if it gave her just the slightest of encouragement. But abbot just grins and nods. Abbot and claire had recently been living with claire's family. But abbot had too much pride. He thought that he could take good care of claire on his own. And besides, no point in travelling all the way to Baltimore when they could just move closer to the treatment center. All of the driving was just putting more stress on claire. Although they had each other, times got tough. Abbot was working two factory jobs to pay for all of the medical bills. Food Stamps were not always putting food on the table, to say the least money was tight. Claire only saw the part of abbot that was supporting her. She didn't see the desperation he felt while trying to support her on his own. Abbot knew this, but abbot preferred it this way. They spent the rest of their day unpacking and hanging up pictures throughout the living room. eventually, Claire was exhausted, but she had to stay awake curled up with abbott going on and on about how she could decorate the apartment. She told him that she would try her best to work on it while he was gone working. Although the last thing he wanted was for claire to work, he knew the only thing she wanted to do was be able to work. So he did what he had always done before, he smiled and nodded. And after that, they melted into the bed and drifted to sleep. 

 Abbot woke up with the sun beating into his eyes as the alarm practically screamed his name for 4 minutes straight. He was nervous for his first day at his new job. He was working on an assembly line making parts for cars. He anxiously gets ready and finds himself practicing introductions in the mirror for when he meets his co workers. But he didn't have much time left, so he slipped his boots on and ran out the door. Abbot notices as he is driving that his gas gauge has fallen all the way to the left and he still has a few more miles to go. Abbot decides to go ahead and pull over at the gas station since it was on they way anyways.  As he finished pumping his gas, he noticed a woman who was walking to her car as the wind was pulling old receipts out of her purse. He ran to pick them up and under one of the crumbled papers was a credit card. One of the dense cards made from aluminum. He picked up the found card and papers and began to walk towards her car, and found himself hesitant. He froze and pondered his options. Keep the card, buy food, and save more money for bills. Or do the right thing. Before he had the chance to make up his mind she drove away. He began feeling an overwhelming amount of guilt and went into the gas station to leave the card for the woman. He stood at the counter. 

“What can I get for you, sir?” the cashier asks. 

Abbot just stood there holding the card.

 “Is something wrong with the pump?”

 “No.” abbot exclaims. 

And then suddenly, abbott says, “You know what? Nevermind, thank you.” and rushes out. He drives away flooded with anxiety. He doesn't know why he couldn't just give the man the card. Or the woman for that matter. And soon, his work day begins. 

What looked to be a run down shell of rust on the outside , was actually quite alluring on the inside. He could almost see his reflection in most of the walls surrounding him. He gazed at all of the machinery thinking there was no possible way he would understand how to work them. Pulled out of his fascination, He felt the walls cave in as a sizable man walked towards him. The man's name tag showed the name Lenny. He was twice the size of abbot reaching about 6 foot 4 inches and weighing what looked to be about 300 pounds. He stood with a cheerless mug and immediately started showing abbot what to do. The man never took time to introduce himself or even bother asking abbots name. Without hesitation, abbot follows his lead. Soon, abbot got the hang of everything as expected.  As his 12 hour shift drags on , he notices Lenny staring at him as if he was trying to figure abbot out. Abbot just assumed that he had a familiar face. It was finally 9 pm. Abbot was ready to shoot out of the door to go home and recover from his shift. That was until lenny approached him. 

“Hey man! What are you doing tonight?” Lenny asks. Confused, abbot begins to scratch at his head and replies with, 

“ahhh not much.”

 Lenny asked abbot to go get a beer with him. That was not Abbots scene whatsoever. Infact, Abbot would much rather go home and tell his wife all about the factory. He also didn't want to turn down a chance to make friends so he agreed to go with lenny. He swore to himself it would be one beer and small talk. As the night went on, lenny and abbott became relatively close. Lenny ranted about his curious children while abbot vented of his wife's health problems. At last call , abbot drags himself to go pay the bill. He wanted to pay for the both of them but he hadn’t even gotten his first paycheck. So abbot pulls out the card he had stolen earlier in the day and clipped it to the leather receipt book with no second thoughts. Abbot thought he felt terrible earlier, but after he used the stolen credit card to buy alcohol rather than food or gas, he completely untangled. The entire drive home consisted of abbot throwing punches at his steering wheel and yelling at himself. Then he finds himself at home , laying next to his wife with beer breath, distancing himself, and drowning in self pity, while she lays there wondering where he’s been all night and if he even noticed the wreath on the front door.

As time goes on , abbot stops worrying so much. He continues to use the card but he mainly used it for things they needed. The calluses on his hands were the proof that he worked all the overtime he could. He acquired more work friends and occasionally had outings with them at the same bar. Abbot enjoyed the spare time he spent at the bar with his friends. They’d play pool, watch the game , and throw back a few beers. Claire on the other hand wasn’t a big fan of abbots friends. She thought that abbot was going to get addicted to alcohol. She also really had no clue what was happening there other than what abbott tells her. He wasn’t always gone though which eased Claire's mind a bit. Most nights he came home and they would play scrabble or watch tv. Everything was normal. He was finally financially stable and had somewhat of a normal life. But eventually abbot put aside how he felt about using the card. He used it for beer, food, and gas mainly. 

Life seemed pretty normal until the night that Abbot and his friends went to the bar on a different day than usual. It was a Saturday night and every booth and stool was full. It was a stressful day at work for all of them. They drank more than the limit they would normally set themselves at. A few of them left after they realized that some of the other guys were getting drunk. But abbot, Lenny, and some of the other guys stayed. As they were drunkenly slurring and mumbling on and on about how bad work was one of the guys spoke clearly to them as if he were sober. His name was Aron. He didn’t speak much but he was always at the bar with them. He worked maintenance so he didn't get paid as much as the other guys. But he had mouths to feed. He began going on a rant describing whats its like to live in a two bedroom apartment with 4 kids and a wife, while he jokingly suggested robbing a bank as he chugged on his drink. Everyone laughed. Then abbot was hit with an idea. He thought about robbing houses or small businesses and then he remembered how ridiculous that would be. Aron then began speaking in his sober voice again.

 “I ought to just rob that ex mayors house, he's got plenty of money to hand out. He hands it out to people who aren't even really in need anyways. Why not take what I deserve?” he questioned. Everyone laughed and continued their side conversations. But aron was serious. Nobody realized this except abbott. He could see that same desperate and hungry look on his face. He knew that most likely, nothing was actually going to happen but he still felt for aron. He suggested aron coming with him outside to get some air. As they pushed their way through the incoherent crowds, Abbott asks Aron,

 “where you being serious?” 

“I don't know man, I’m just tired of my kids going without. This is one of the highest paying jobs in town and I still barely make it through the week. I guess drunk words are sober thoughts.”  Aron admitted. 

“I understand completely” abbott pushes out while holding back his sympathy. They sat outside talking for about an hour. They slowly began understanding that they aren't really that different. They talked about their wives, quarreled about politics, and sympathized with each other. Abot began questioning aron about this “ex mayor”. Aron explains that he was the main source of funding for the town. He gave out scholarships, paid for murals, and even helped fix the roads. 

“If he is such a good guy, why would you want to steal from him?” Abbot questioned. And then aron went on to explain, 

“Just because you do good things, doesn't make you a good guy, Abbot. All he ever cared about was how the town looked. He never gave a damn about any individual person but himself.  He shut down the food pantry in the town. I used to get food from the pantry. My children went without for days until I had to start going to a different one in another county just to put food on my table. I don't like taking handouts, but I have to in order to feed my family.`` Abbot felt a sense of sympathetic rage and said to aron, “What if we did do it? You think we’d get ourselves caught?” Abbot asked. 

“Doubt it. He lives with his wife. That's it. That's the only other person who could-- wait. You're not being serious are you? That would be crazy!” aron exclaimed. 

“I know, but who could really blame us for considering it?” Abbot thought. 

They eventually planned it all out. What time they would go, what weapons they would take, and what they would do to protect themselves. Abbot made it clear to aron that all he really needed was money. He didn't care about the materialistic things. While aaron was getting more in depth with the plan, planning to take household items that he believed would be of worth in a pawn shop somewhere. They were both still buzzing, but sober enough to know that what they were doing was risky so they waited until 2 am. They walked around the man's property, looking for an entrance and exit. They finally figured out how they would get in and out. The front door was unlocked but the screen door wasn't, so it was fairly easy for them to get in. but once they entered the house, they realized they had no clue where to find the back door. It looked like a straight shot from the outside but on the inside there were many doors and hallways. Abot was enamored by the house. It looked just like something claire would describe as her dream home. They thought the house was vacant. It was so quiet that you could hear your own ears ringing. There was no air conditioner or fan blowing, no tv glaring through the halls, and certainly no sounds of people. So abbott and aaron began sweeping through the house, snatching all of the shiniest, most valuable things they could find.  They were there for almost an hour before they woke the man they were robbing from his sleep. They had made their way to the living room where they had gathered their piles of things to take and suddenly they heard the squeak of a door moving slowly. Abbott froze. He turned his head around as slow as he could. And there he was. John simmons, the towns ex mayor, staring at him with a rifle in his left arm. Aaron had given abbott a mini hand gun just for protection before hand, and now abbot knew why. Abbot looks to his right where he last saw aaron. He was gone with his portion of things. Abbot tried reasoning with john and explaining his actions but that only lead to john commanding that abbot get on his knees. Abbott panicked. He thought that he was bound to die on the man's floor. The man began to speak , and unconsciously, abbott pulls out his hand gun and shoots john in the chest 3 times. He stood in disbelief of himself, shaking. He ran back to the bar where he had left his truck and drove home shaking. 

While abbot was gone all night, claire was terrified. She began rummaging through his things looking for answers. The first thing she had considered was cheating. But something in her made her feel as if it were much more than that. She begins going through his wallet and pulls out his driver's licence. Whild strangely admiring the picture, she noticed a black card behind where his license was. She yanks it out vigorously and finds the name rachel simmons. She sobbed for hours while thinking that all along he had been with another woman. Despite her feeling of uttermost betrayal, she waits patiently for him to come home. Abbott finally shows up at 3:30 am, trying to be as quiet as possible. As he was tiptoeing to his bedroom, he sees the light of the tv glaring through his hallway and realizes that Claire has stayed up all night waiting for him. As he stood there brainstorming reasons that he had been gone so late, he begins hearing bits and pieces of the news channel coming from the tv. He moves closer to the door only to find a news anchor standing in front of john simmons home, telling the story that abbott already knows. Soon after that, he sees a woman came on to the tv sobbing over her husband's death. Pleading to the community to help find who murdered him. And then she goes on to mention that her credit card was just stolen a few weeks before the tragedy. And as soon as he heard what rachel said, his wife begins weeping over what she has just realized. She finally understood everything. But abbot thought that she would forgive him. Or maybe think that it was just a coincidence. The last bit of hope he had left was in her. She had to understand what he was going through.  Eventually Claire cried herself to sleep. Abbott crawled back in bed with her once the screams and wailing had stopped. 

The next morning claire was gone. All of her things, her clothes, her entire existence was just gone. Abbott woke up knowing why. He wasn't even surprised at her leaving. Although his entire life had just walked out of the door with no goodbye, he knew it was for the best. he then heard a knock on the door. He thought that it could be claire to stop by and say her last goodbye. And then he felt himself crash into his floor being tackled and surrounded by 7 policemen in bulletproof vests. He was drug to prison and received a 30 year sentence. Only to find out that his wife, Claire had died, a month after his trial ended. All of it was for nothing.