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"Making a Change"

    I find myself sitting in front of my computer. Another day where nothing gets done. Through my eyes, I can see the mess of paper plates and empty soda bottles scattered about my floor. I realize the mess of an apartment I lay in, but The lack of motivation leaves me tired. Just the thought of getting up from my chair feels like a drag.

My eyes are drawn back to my computer screen. Another video plays. It's a group of people playing a horror game. As they play, they say and do dumb things to make each other laugh, even getting a chuckle or two out of me. As the video progressed, however, I felt my eyes grow heavy. My head leaned to an uncomfortable position as I started to drift. I jerked awake when the video I was watching was interrupted by a loud advertisement. Why do they always have to make them so loud?

Glancing down at the corner of the screen, I noticed the time. There's no way it was that late in the day already. Was the sun starting to go down? I decided I needed to get myself up and make some food. Maybe that would give me some sort of energy. With a deep sigh, I lifted myself from my seat and made my way to the kitchen. I scoured the fridge, hoping to find something satisfying. Unfortunately, there was nothing but bland lunch meat, as well as a bunch of other junk that I needed to throw away. I figured I would do it tomorrow.

Closing the fridge, I decided to check the freezer. To my surprise, it was a lot fuller than I remembered. I was torn between frozen burritos and corn dogs. I made a grab for the corn dogs. They would be a lot faster to cook.

I ripped open the box and threw a couple of them onto a paper plate and tossed them in the microwave. There was a beep as I pressed the number '2', followed by a satisfying hum. I put the box back in the freezer before turning back and staring blankly at the corn dogs as they slowly turned in the microwave. As I stared, I couldn't help but think about how much of a slob I have become. Just judging by the smell, I knew that I needed to take out the trash. Badly.

I think that must have been the last straw. I forced myself over to the trash can and took the bag out. I tied it up and brought it outside. The setting sun made the world look a little dreary, as everything was overlayed with a dark blue tint. I made my way back into the house, just in time to hear the microwave beep. At last, my food was done. I took it out and grabbed some ketchup from the fridge and squirted some on my plate. I then grabbed some chips from the cabinet and filled any empty space on my plate with them.

As I was all set, I made my way back to my computer. I almost sat down, but the motivation to try something different hit me out of nowhere. Was it because I stepped outside today? I walked over to the living room and sat down in my recliner. I grabbed the TV remote from the table in front of me and clicked the 'Power On' button. Nothing happened. I pressed it again, harder this time. Still nothing. I moved it around and pressed it several more times, thinking that maybe the sensor wasn't picking it up. Still, the TV remained off. I wanted to give up and return to my computer desk, but again, I felt motivated to be productive. I knew there were batteries somewhere. I could just replace them and it should be good.

I made my way to the kitchen, opened a drawer, and there was a package of unopened batteries. I took the back off of the remote and, to my surprise, they were all corroded. Carefully, I took them out and tossed them in the trash. I put new ones in the remote and sat back down in front of my TV.

I turned the television on and watched some cartoons as I enjoyed my dinner.

***
I opened my eyes to find a dark room. Had I fallen asleep watching TV? I stood up, a paper plate clattering to the ground as I did so. At this point, I was disgusted with myself. I dusted the crumbs off of my shirt and made my way to my bedroom, careful to step over the trash that was scattered about my floor. I crawled into bed. As I pulled the covers over myself, I made myself a promise to clean everything tomorrow.

***
As the morning rolled in, I found myself awake, scrolling through social media apps on my phone before I could find the motivation to get up from my bed. When I finally did get up, I looked around and was reminded of what I told myself last night. I was going to clean this place up. I made my way to the kitchen and grabbed a couple trash bags. I came back to my room and threw everything that was on the floor in there, except for some clothes and dishes. There were a lot more dishes that I remembered there being.

By the time I was finished, I could finally see the floor. It almost looked like a brand-new room. I was pouring sweat, but I felt accomplished afterward. I was proud of my hard work. I brought the trash outside, the sunlight beaming down on me, making it hard to see. I made my way back inside, breathless. I decided I'd better sit down and watch some TV before I clean some more.

After turning on some cartoons, I grabbed a bottle of water from the package beside my recliner. As I picked it up, I noticed the outside of the bottle was wet. Was one of the bottles leaking? I fished around in the package until I found the culprit. I picked it out of the package and tossed it in the trash can. I was about to go sit back down when I smelled something, like rotten eggs. Was that coming from my trash can? I just had the water bottle in there, right?

I opened the lid of the trash can. Sure enough, that's where the smell was coming from. Was the water in the bottle rotten or something? Does that even happen to water? As I peered down, I noticed there was something else in the trash can. The corroded batteries. Was that what was causing the smell?

I leaned in closer. Maybe I can just grab them out and it'll be fine.

Just then, Something splashed at me. The moment it struck my skin, it burned. My hands felt like they were on fire. Another splash and this time, it landed on my face. It was getting hard to see. Hard to breathe through the incredible pain. I cried out but knew no one would hear me. The houses in this neighborhood were pretty well soundproofed.

I cowered in the corner as the pain spread. It was hurting to breathe, to speak, to exist. All I could do was wait in excruciating pain for my inevitable end.

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