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Cat
Cat knewshe was tempting fate but she had to go back to her shitty apartment to at least get her stuff. She was hoping to have a quick shower but when she showed up to her place and found a padlock on the front door and everything she owned piled into two cardboard boxes, she figured that was out of the question. Yeah, her landlord was fed up and sending her a message that she was receiving loud and clear. Her days of living in the luxury of her shitty, rathole, one-bedroom apartment were over and good riddance too.
“Shit,” she grumbled. She picked up her two boxes of crap and started for the stairwell. She had just about made it down to the front of the damn building when her smarmy landlord stepped out in front of her. Cat didn’t stop in time, instead running into a wall of overweight, stale beer smelling, cigarette smoking, disgusting, sweaty man.
“Pete,” she spat, trying not to drop her two boxes.
“You were trying to sneak out of here without paying me your back rent, weren’t you?” Pete asked. He looked her body over and she wanted to vomit. Cat could read every disgusting thought that had just run through her landlord’s mind and God help her, she wouldn’t be able to go through with whatever he was about to ask her to do.
“Not going to happen, Pete,” she said.
“The way I see it is this, Cat,” he started. “You either give me my money or I’ll work it out of you. I’m sure we can think of a few ways for you to pay me back, Darlin’,” he offered. Pete ran his dirty hand down her cheek and she could taste the stomach bile that rose to her mouth. Cat was good at focusing on anything other than her job while she was doing it but Pete made her physically ill.
She shrugged his hand off and he laughed. “I take it you have the cash then?” he asked. She didn’t but telling him that wouldn’t happen.
“Sure,” she lied. “Could you hold my boxes for me so I can grab it?” Pete eyed her suspiciously and she thought the asshole was actually smart enough to see through her.
“All right,” he said. “But if you try anything Cat, I’ll fucking kill you and then do what I want with you.”
“You’re disgusting,” she spat, thrusting her boxes at the fat bastard. “Hold these,” Cat ordered. Pete reluctantly took her boxes and she saw her opportunity—her only way out and if it didn’t work, she believed that Pete would carry through with his threat. He’d kill her and then violate her body and not think twice about what kind of human being that made him.
Cat decided to take her chance, hit her mark, and run like fuck to get away from him. She brought her knee up to meet the slime ball’s nuts and when he doubled over in pain, she grabbed one of her boxes before it hit the ground and ran like hell. She didn’t look back, leaving her other box and Pete both lying on the floor.
“You bitch,” he shouted after her. “I’ll find you and I’ll kill you,” he promised.
Cat ran for as long and far as she could and when she finally felt like she couldn’t run anymore, she found an empty park bench and slumped onto it, trying to catch her breath.
“Fucking Pete,” she breathed. Cat quickly looked around the empty park to make sure she wasn’t followed—not that she expected Pete to be able to keep up with her. Even toting her box full of crap she was faster than the fat slob. She had ended up in the little park adjacent to the courthouse and she wanted to laugh at the irony. She had just left there and if she was a betting woman, she was pretty sure that after her arraignment she was going to end up back there—this time for an extended stay.
“Now what?” she whispered to herself. It had been a shit day. Hell, if she was being honest, it had been a shit few years but surviving was proving to be more difficult than she planned when she left home. A part of Cat wondered if she wouldn’t have been better off staying at home and letting her step-father have his way with her. At least she’d be off the street and sleeping in a warm bed every night. Instead, she was hungry, cold, and used up. Cat wasn’t sure what her next step should be but at twenty-seven, she was about ready to throw in the damn towel. Giving up would be easier than any of this shit but that wasn’t who she was. Cat prided herself for being strong and able to survive just about any shit life wanted to throw at her but she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to get through this. She was homeless and helpless with no real ideas of what the fuck to do next.
Cat curled up into a ball on the hard metal bench, pulling her knees to her chest. She allowed herself to cry because she had earned it. It felt like the only thing left to do. After all, she was only human and had reached the end of her rope. She cried because it was all she had left.
