At the police station they laughed at an eighty-year-old man and didn’t even accept his complaint, but the officers had no idea who this old man really was and what would happen when the head of the station walked into the office 

The elderly man woke up in the middle of the night and stared into the darkness. It was two in the morning. Outside it was deep night, but the neighbors were making noise again. Voices could be heard, a man was speaking loudly, and then a woman started laughing. They turned the music up loudly.

The old man was almost eighty, his heart was weak, but his hearing remained far too sharp. He threw on his old robe and slowly walked out of his apartment and up to the neighbor’s door.

The elderly man pressed the doorbell.

After a few seconds the door opened, and a young woman appeared in the doorway. Bright makeup, a bottle in her hand, the smell of alcohol.

— What do you want, old man? — she asked lazily.

— It’s already two in the morning. I can’t sleep. You are making too much noise.

The girl rolled her eyes and shouted into the apartment:

— Do you hear that! The old man is complaining again!

From deep inside the apartment her new man came out. Huge, with a heavy look and a beer belly.

— And what’s the problem? — he smirked. — Take some pills and you’ll fall asleep.

The woman laughed loudly, and the man slammed the door right in front of the old man’s face.

The elderly man stood on the landing for a few more seconds. He had called the police before, but by the time the officers arrived, the neighbors always managed to quiet down. An elderly couple lived downstairs who could barely hear anything, and the building manager only shrugged and advised them to “work it out”.

The old man returned to his apartment, took his medicine, and lay down on the bed.

When he finally fell asleep, memories from the past appeared before his eyes again.

He and his wife are sitting in the kitchen. Their only son stands by the window and says that he has been accepted into a military institute.

— Son, military service is dangerous. Maybe you should think about it?

But the old man said something different back then.

— You should be proud. A real man must serve his country.

He patted his son on the shoulder and said words that would trouble him for many years.

— Our grandfather was a hero. And you will be too.

The dream always ended the same way.

A gray corridor. A soldier at the door. Quiet words that his son had died during a special mission. His wife’s scream, an ambulance, and emptiness.

The elderly man woke up breathing heavily. Twenty years had passed since then, but the feeling of guilt had never disappeared. He often thought that he deserved his lonely life and sleepless nights.

But two days later the situation repeated itself.

The old man couldn’t take it anymore and decided to go to the police station himself.

He wrote a complaint, but the young officer on duty barely listened to him. When the man was about to leave, the officer simply crumpled the paper and threw it into the trash.

When the grandfather saw this, he demanded that his complaint be accepted, but the officers only became irritated.

They thought that in front of them stood just a pitiful, ordinary old man. But they had no idea who this man really was and what would happen to them when the head of the station walked into the office  Continuation in the first comment 

— Go home, old man. You need to see a doctor.

The old man slammed his palm on the counter.

— I’m not going anywhere! I will wait for the chief!

At that moment a sharp pain shot through his chest. He staggered and grabbed his heart.

The officers became frightened and seated him on a bench.

The elderly man took pills out of his inner pocket, but along with them an old photograph fell to the floor.

At that moment the head of the station came out of his office. He picked up the photograph and suddenly froze.

In the picture there was a young lieutenant.

— Who is this? — he asked quietly.

— My son.

The corridor fell silent.

The chief slowly raised his eyes to the old man. Pain appeared in his gaze.

— This is that very lieutenant… the one who saved us in the war.

He slowly went down on one knee in front of the elderly man.

— He threw himself onto a grenade to protect us. There were ten of us. We are all alive only because of him.

The officers stood in silence. In front of them was the father of a hero, and this was how they had treated him.