He could hear everything, but dare not open his eyes. Why did they always need to fight? Was it a common thing to do? Through the thin wall of his bedroom he heard him yelling, her screams.

'Stop raising your voices', he murmured while hiding underneath the blanket, 'please, have some mercy. If not on each other on me. It would be a nice start. I am not deaf... not deaf yet.'

There was a time his world had looked better with closed eyes. If you pretend you are asleep no one cares about you, they ignore you. It's easier you stay in your dream world but today turned not out to be that day. Memories out of the past chased him. A shouting teacher, fighting neighbors, violent foster parents and now he had to deal with them... A remarried daughter in law. They had always been close and she had loved to have him around. She was a good child, great daughter, and once at her home he had never felt an outsider. At least not till the moment she met him. Once he moved in everything had changed. 

His bedroom became his entire world. The only times he saw her pale face was as she brought him his breakfast and dinner, took the empty plates with her, and gave him a bottle of water and his medications at the end of the day. 

As it finally became silent he dared to set a foot out of bed and shuffled to the window. It poured. When was the last time he had made a walk in the summer rain? He pushed the window open and climbed on a stool to make it easier to sit in the opened window. It felt like a warm shower.

A shower... How long ago it had been he had one? This was not the life he had planned, the future he had looked forward to. He thought. What kind of future he had had in mind? His beloved wife and son both died and being locked into a room was not his idea of enjoying his retirement.

Slowly he turned around and let himself sank till his feet felt the floor. 
A bath was what he needed and he would take it now. 

The house was silent as the old man limped into the bathroom. He opened the taps to fill the tub and added some bath perls to it. He liked the pink ones and she wouldn't miss them. Relief is what he felt as he sank into the tub and laid underneath the water level and closed his eyes. He heard everything just didn't feel the need to open his eyes and respond. His wife smiled and waved at him and being with her was exactly the future he had had in mind.







>The prompt 'summer rain' is provided by @mariannewest.


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