Business Girl

Place To Stay

"It starts with a breath. The first breath you take when you leave your mother's womb. That's when it begins. The fight to survive in the world. A world that destroys people everyday. You fight and sometimes you ask yourself a few questions. All of them have a similar meaning. Why? Why am I doing this? Why am I fighting? What am I fighting for? I asked myself that a lot as a teenager. Looking back I never thought that I would be where I am today.

  Hi I'm Ontari Winter and I never thought I would be telling this story...

   I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Growing up my life had a strict routine. Go to school, come home, do homework, eat the dinner my mom would make us, what I did in my spare time varied. Saturdays I worked at my father's bar until six as a waitress. At six my father would leave the bar in the hands of the manager and would take me to the pool that closed at eight. So for two hours I would train. Sunday my father would make all of us do different exercises and workout routines for our sports. Mine was swim. I grew up in a highly complicated family. We didn't have a lot of money and didn't really all get along well. I have three brothers. We always found a way to fight about anything and everything or I should say I picked fights with them. Looking back I didn't know why and if anyone asked me I said that I just didnt like them simple as that. The truth was that I was jealous. First my oldest brother Jeremy was everything at school. He was the popular guy who was never wrong not to mention he had really good grades. He played football like my dad in highschool which as you can imagine made him very popular in my father's eyes. My parents also thought that he could get a full scholarship on it. Next Michael. Michael was the genius even more than the rest of us. He had the best grades which made my parents think that he could really go to college and be someone in the world. Last was Jake. Jake was like the rest of us with really good grades. He was on the basketball team and popular just Jeremy with football. I was the youngest out of all of us so I was always being compared to them. I was three years younger than Jake. My father was a man who accepted exellence and nothing lower than that. Whether it was academic or athletic. He ran a bar and went by the idea that women should stay home and take care of the house and kids which meant my mother didn't work except for when she helped out at the bar. That also meant he never expected me to go anywhere which meant I wasn't as important as my brothers. I had just as good of grades and was just as good of an athlete as my brothers but it didn't matter to him. In his eyes I wasn't going anywhere in life. At the age of thirteen I started saving money to get out. At sixteen I got a second job that I didn't tell anyone except my best friend about. I had a plan. I would save up money then get out of Pittsburgh and go to college for business. Then I would start my own company. Everything changed a couple months before my eighteenth birthday. My friend and I had gotten into a fight and she told my dad about my plans to leave and about the money then left and I never saw her again. That night he came into my room and searched it. He found the money and took it all after calling me an ungrateful bitch and yelling at me. The next couple of weeks were weird. No one talked about it and me and my father just didn't talk at all. The day of my birthday I said goodbye to my mother then left. I had a little bit of money my mother had managed to take. I got on plane to L.A. When I arrived the first thing I did was look for an apartment and that's where this starts..."

I knocked on the door of the apartment. I heard someone say, "coming" and footsteps coming towards the door. The girl who opened the door had dark skin and had black hair that was wavy. She had a smile on her face as she began to talk to me.

"Hi, I'm Astrid. You must be Ontari." She said in her British accent.

"Yeah that's me. I'm here to see the apartment." I said. You see I needed a place to stay that didn't cost a lot and considering I didn't have any friends in L.A I didn't have much of a choice except to look for a place to stay. I had never had a roommate before but the apartment looked good in the pictures and didn't cost a lot. I had been staying at a cheap motel since I arrived. I had also gotten a job at a club. That's where I found out about the apartment. My creepy boss said one of the girls working there was looking for a roommate.

"Yeah come on in." She said and stepped out of the way. "I've been looking for someone else to stay here for awhile. There's rooms down the hall. Mine is on the left so if yours is on the right. The bathroom is at the end of the hall. Everything else you can pretty much see." She was right since it was open I could see the kitchen, living room, and the dining table. I could also see the hall way leading towards the rooms.

"Thanks for this by the way. I mean letting me stay here." I said looking at her.

"No worries. Like I said I've been looking for someone to stay here for awhile anyways. My old roommate moved away then the next one never helped pay rent so that didn't work out." She explained leaning against the back of the small couch.

"Well I promise I'll help pay the rent." I said smiling at her. She seemed nice and I know what you're thinking. You're thinking Ontari you barely know her how can you know if she's nice or not but in this moment I didn't have anything or anyone else so I really didn't care.

"Great. So I have a shift at the club soon so I have to leave in time to get ready there. Is there anything else you need?" She asked standing straight.

"No I think I'm good I'm just gonna unpack and lay down." I said looking around then back at her.

"Ok great so I'll see you later." She said smiling then walking towards the door. She stopped at the coat rack to get her jacket.

"Thanks again for letting me stay here." I said turning around to look at her.

"No worries, love. Like I said your helping me to." She said smiling brightly at me. "Bye." She said opening the door. I gave her a small wave goodbye before she shut the door and locked it. I spun around on my heels and looked around again. I took a deep breath in through my bose and let it out through my mouth. I grabbed my small black duffel bag I had set on the floor and walked to my new room. I walked in. It was a plain room with gray walls, a queen sized bed, a night table that had a gray lamp on it, and closet door which led to the closet, and last but not least a small wooden chair on the side of the bed the night table wasn't on. I closed to door behind me and walked to the wooden chair. I set my duffel bag down then took my shoes off beside the bed then later down. I closed my eyes and just breathed for a few seconds. When opened my eyes I untucked the sheets to the bed and got under them. I plugged my phone in and then closed my eyes again. This time I fell asleep.