500 Word Character Sketch

Luka walked up the stairs of the crowded apartment building. Papers were littered across the floor, torn and padded down to serve as a carpet-like timeline. Layers of documents recorded dates and pleaded for help or tried to convince to rise against Hitler’s army. “Kampf, Sieg, oder Tod!” A snoring man was hunched up against the doorway o one of the apartments. He breathed shallowly, in and out. When Luka walked by, he awoke with a start and glanced up at him. His unruly beard framed a worn face, his eyes black holes holding no emotion or thought. His hair grew wild and stringy down to his shoulders, the silvery grey clashing with the dirty red plaid of his shirt. Luka walked past, ignoring the man as he clawed for his pant legs. He walked straight to the farmiliar door on the second floor; nummer achtzehn.
He knocked on the hard wood, and heard a scuffle on the other side. The door cracked open, revealing a wrinkled eye in the gaudy light of the inner doorway. A shaky and frail voice questioned from the other side; “Luka?” The door opened, and he was let inside. His mother stood before him. She had become much smaller in the years he had been away. Her once well-rounded figure had changed into a sickly-looking thin frame. Every wrinkle on her face spoke of a lifetime wrought with hardships unnumbered. The years of worry and poverty had finally gotten to her, for her face looked hollow and her eyes no longer shone.
They embraced in the doorway, and he caught a sweet whiff of his childhood in her perfume. It brought back memories of playing in the green fields- carefree- gazing into the sky as if scrying, and trying to make sense of the smoke-like clouds. Now if he up, all he would see was the grey of the smoke-filled and sullied sky.