Story Outline

82 year old Arthur Cortez wakes up to his 6:30 alarm as he does every morning. The same jazz song plays for five seconds before he reaches over and turns off the alarm. Beside the alarm stands a frame with a portrait of a woman. His body lies perfectly neat under his thick blankets. He slowly pulls himself out of bed and walks to the kitchen to make his usual breakfast, which consists of cornflakes and a cup of instant coffee.

He sits at his kitchen table alone, it is quiet and dark in his house. Once he is finished he washes his dishes and goes into the bathroom. He washes his face and then looks at himself in the mirror with a blank and tired expression on his face as he does every morning. He runs his old and tired hands over the lines that mark his age.He returns to his bed and after he finishes making it, he picks up the frame with the portrait of the woman that stands beside his alarm clock , holds it in both hands and then returns it back to the night stand.

He walks back to the kitchen and picks up a bouquet of flowers that he bought the day before and walks to the front door of his house. He puts on his best coat, scarf and hat that were hanging on the stand by the door, then stops to look at the shelf that stands beside the door.

He looks at an old portrait of the same woman where she is a lot younger than the portrait in his bedroom. He holds his right hand to his chest, staring at the portrait and opens the front door. Arthur steps outside and shuts the door behind him cradling the bouquet in his right arm. Leaving a cold and dark house behind him.