How alcohol destroyed my life and my happy marriage

A blade of yellowed light cut across the long window and pierced right through his weary eyes. He labored to open them; they were gray and always exhausted as if he'd walked many kilometers. Mr. Oloo had laid in that hospital bed for the last three months, sharing a ward with strangers, each carrying a different kind of pain. The ward was always filled with a solemn intoxicating feeling of farewell as if they were all merciless to the hands of death. Mr. Oloo had been diagnosed with liver cirrhosis a couple of months before the admission. He knew it was because of the bottle, but that never worried him.

Now, he lay on that bed, still as a stone viewing the world all day like a painting in a gallery. That disease carried its own kind of pain, but he could never compare it with the pain that he felt in his heart. Mr. Oloo was a 74 year old man who was turning 75 today, it was his birthday. He had been abandoned by his wife and two sons in that very condition. They never came to see him; neither did they attempt to call to ask about him. Exhaustion had now unsharpened his imagination as the meaning to all that always eluded him.

All day memories of his youthful days and his dedication to providing for his family demanded his audience. He too had dreams and aspirations, which in the end only humiliated him as if they were too good for him. Mr. Oloo's mind always spun too much trying to crunch the meaning of his now ending life. Where did he ever go so wrong?

Because time recedes fast and fades everything with it, he'd met a good woman and started a family. With a broken heart, he worked hard every day and strived to ensure that his two sons rekindled his broken dreams.

But how has he turned out in the end? Alone, dejected, getting worn-out as the days go and accumulating bills that he knew he could never pay off. Was that the reason that forced them abandon him? Bills? Or was it because he too had abandoned them a long time ago when he turned to the bottle? Was it because of the bottle? Those questions raised storms that raged with violent brutality through his entire body each day.

"Mr. Oloo, Good morning! You are up already! How are you feeling today?" He raised his eyes that met a nurse's face that was wavering with softness. But his glaring eyes demanded the whole world to shut up.