Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 1

Ivy

The cold wind brushed through my hair as I ran down the dark parking lot. All I could think about was the hell away from here as fast as possible. I tried to ignore the heavy footsteps behind me. They reminded me of when I was little, cowering inside my closet with my teddy clutched to my chest, listening to the heavy footsteps passing by. But I was not sitting in my closet, and I did not know the man that was chasing after me, the men chasing after me. I am not a child anymore. I grew up and I learned and I'm running as fast as I can. They were far behind me when I reached the subway station. Racing down the stairs, I could hear them yelling at each other behind me. As the track came into view, I saw the subway rolling in. Barely anyone was on it. It was 3am so that wasn't a big surprise. Not a single person got off, not a single person stood on the platform. I jumped in as the doors were closing again, seeing the men that were chasing after me entering the platform just as I doors closed completely, and the subway started moving. My heart was racing uncontrollably. I sat down and closed my eyes. There was no one here. I was alone. All I had were the clothes on my back and the 5 dollars in my pocket. I can't risk going back to my car. It might not even be there anymore. I know living in my car wasn't a great solution and it wasn't meant to be permanent, only for a week or two. But then everything got more and more difficult, and a week turned into a month and a month turned into 3 months. So here I am. I didn't plan on getting robbed and jumped by some creepy as man in the middle of the night, but I knew the dangers of living in my car in New York City. It's going to be fine. I'm going to figure it out. I caught my reflection in the window opposite me. My light brown hair was ruffled, and my cheek was bright read, probably bruising from where one of the creeps had struck me. It was also getting pretty cold. It was October already. My jacket was still laying in my car. All I had were some blue jeans and a black hoodie. I pulled the hood over my head and laid down on the seats, closing my eyes. This may not be the safest place to rest but I don't have many other choices right now.

The woke up to people bustling into the subway. I got off at whatever stop this was and watched the people dressed in their fancy suits and business attire crowd the platform and made my way up to the street. A quick glance at the clock told me it was almost 6am. Great. Not even 3 hours of rest. No money. No car. No nothing. And since I got fired from my job 2 weeks ago, I am officially fucked. I don't even know where to start. As if on cue my stomach started rumbling. I hadn't eaten since yesterday morning. I've been desperately trying to find a new job for the past 2 weeks, but nothing worked out so far. Mostly because if they ask for my address, I can usually never tell them anything because I don't have one and they apparently don't want homeless employees. So now I don't even have a phone anymore, that means it's even more difficult finding a job with no option of any type of contact. I walked for a bit, hoping I might stumble amongst a million dollars and all my problems would dissolve into thin air. The sun was rising. I sat down on a bench looking out at east river, looking out to Brooklyn. Joggers and dogwalkers passed me while the sky turned different shades of red, orange, and blue. It was beautiful. For a moment I forgot all about my car, my life, those heavy footsteps. I don't know how much time passed until I decided to get up and give into my desire for food. I walked down the busy morning streets of NYC to find a diner that I might be able to spend my last 5 dollars in. I found on the corner of 38th Street. As I entered my nose immediately filled with the smell of warm breakfast food and fresh coffee. I sat down at a booth in the far corner. Someone left their newspaper there. As I waited for the waiter, I skipped through it. There was small ad for a room to rent in Lenox Hill. It was only 286 dollars a month. That's an oddly specific amount of money. I had to reread it a couple of times until I was completely sure that's what it said. Maybe there was a number missing or the people putting the room up for rent were serial killers or maybe, just maybe this was the universe throwing me a crumb. I tore out the ad and put it in my pocket when the waiter came to my table. He had a nice smile and kind brown eyes. His blond hair was so bright it was almost white.