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Sooooo fucked.
I start really missing my dad. Warm tears flow out. They stream down my steering wheel and onto my lap as I break down in sobs.
He was the toughest guy I know. He was a decorated Navy SEAL before he got killed in action when I was only sixteen.
If he was still alive, I’d run to him and he would take care of me. He would have taken care of everything.
But he’s gone now and I have no one left to look out for me.
Not true…
It’s a little voice in the back of my head. An optimistic tone peeking out of the darkness.
You can always run to Jack.
I take a breath and raise my head at the memory of my dad’s best friend. I can still remember exactly how he looked in his uniform at my dad’s funeral.
“You can always count on me, Ruby,” he whispered as he took my hand and gazed into my eyes. “I’ll always be here for you.”
He’s all the way in Montana. The Greene Mountains if I recall correctly from the back of the Christmas card he sent me three years ago.
He might not even be there anymore.
He’s probably forgotten all about me.
“No,” I whisper as I look at my eyes in the rearview mirror. “There’s no one to run to. You’re on your own. You’ll get through this like you get through everything. Dad’s death. Mom’s suicide. If you can get through that, then you can get through this.”
I take a deep breath, drive around for a while, and then park behind a Costco and sleep in my backseat.
The next morning, I park across the street from my apartment building and scope it out. I already called in sick to the diner even though I can’t afford to, but what else can I do? My uniform is upstairs.
I don’t know what I’m hoping to see, but I’ll know it when I see it. Crenshaw, the two guys from last night who dragged the body back into the apartment, and two other guys come strutting out of the building around noon. I lower my head and peek over the steering wheel as I watch them get into a car and drive away.
When I’m sure they’re gone, I quickly drive over and run into the building. I have to get my stuff.
I manage to not be noticed by anyone as I run up the stairs and down the hallway, but just as I get to my door, Crenshaw’s girlfriend walks out of their place.
“Oh fuck!” I gasp when she sees me.
She comes rushing over.
“Get away from me!” I shout as I raise my fists and stare her down. “I’ll crack you right in the nose, bitch!”
She shakes her head, looking panicked. “What are you doing here? You have to get out of here. He’s looking for you!”
I lower my fists when it’s clear she’s not looking for a fight.
“What’s going to happen if he finds me?” I ask, not really wanting to know the answer to that.
“He’s going to do the same thing to you that he did to that guy last night.”
“He’s going to kill me?”
I swallow hard as she nods. “He’s psychotic. You have to leave. They went out for breakfast, so you got about an hour.”
“Where I’m supposed to go? I live here!”
“Not anymore.”
This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. My hands are shaking as I stare at her in disbelief.
“Is there any place you can go?”
Jack’s warm smile pops into my head.
“Anywhere?”
My mouth opens. “Maybe… uh…”
“Then go there,” she says as she grabs my shoulders, turns me around, and shoves me. “Now!”
“I just need to grab some… stuff.” My stomach sinks when I see my door. Crenshaw kicked it in. The door is open a crack and the doorframe is a mess of splinters and broken shards of wood.
“No,” I whisper as I push it in and walk inside.
My apartment is in tatters. It’s been ransacked. Everything is gone.
“No!” I gasp when I remember my expensive sticker equipment. I run into my spare room and my stomach drops when I see that everything is gone. Everything.
I walk around feeling dead inside as I see the life I’ve built—meager as it was—in shambles. They took it all. They even took my shower curtain. My plant. Even my fridge is gone.
“Crenshaw kicked the door in,” the girl says with an apologetic look on her face. “I tried to close the door for you after, but it was all busted up. Half the building took turns robbing you. It was a free-for-all.”
“I hate this building.”
“You’re really going to hate it if you’re still here when Crenshaw returns. It’s time to go.”
I grab a plastic bag off the floor that everyone so generously left me and head over to my bedroom. My dresser is gone but there are a few dirty clothes in my hamper that haven’t been touched. I stuff them all into the bag and then hurry into the bathroom. They even took my toothbrush holder. Freaking animals!
