Perfect obsession || book 2

II - house of cards

-House of cards-

Eira's pov

Life is like walking over eggshells. One wrong move and it is all gone. Or maybe a house of cards. One strong blow and it is shattered. You may think that I am wrong or maybe I am exaggerating. One strong blow can't just destroy everything. Shouldn't you have the remains of what you once had.

Believe me, after a blow you are left with nothing. You even lose the cards you used to build that house. The cards will blow out of window with the gust of wind. This is just how life is. Unpredictable? No.

Life is fragile but most of the times not predictable. You think you don't get signals of the storm? You are wrong. We do get signals, sometimes a silence before the storm and sometimes big bold caution sign. It is possible that it was you who didn't understand what was happening to you and your life.

Once even I was stupid enough to think that life is just unpredictable. But one day it sent a blow right into my face built with the blocks of my own life. I am today on the streets with my father and mother not because my life was unpredictable but because I was stupid enough to ignore the big bold warning signs.

My father had a habit of gambling. Most of our possessions were result of what he had won in his games not because he had worked hard. Our first car belonged to our neighbor with same habits. His son would always make sure to let me know that my father stole it.

Then it was our house. Then the bigger one we shifted into. I used to think maybe it is a good thing. All my childhood I had seen it as a good thing. But suddenly it began to change when we lost our first possession.

We lost the shares of company, my mother had insisted to buy. Then there were these small things, like gold jewelry, then it was diamond, eventually we sold our car. But he told us it would get better because it always did.

After all our whole life was built over it. Stupid of us to believe that it will get back. No stupid of us to think that anything built over mud was going to stay. Gambling was wrong and our lives shouldn't have based over it but they did and thus now we were reaping the consequences.

No matter how warm LA was, it was always cold towards those who weren't prepare for rainy days. We lost ourselves so no one was going to build us back. Walking through the streets knowing that we have nowhere to go back to clenched my heart. It had been four hours since we stepped out of our house only with one suitcase each.

We had nowhere to go except these streets and I was sure we were going to spend tonight on streets, somewhere in the dark alleys. Those same alleys I never preferred to take were going to my house.

"Eira you need to start working" his tone was harsh, as if it was my fault that they were here. However, I couldn't say anything to them

"I know, let's sit somewhere and from there I will go and find somewhere to work"

"No, you go now. I am going to talk to a friend of your mother's. I hope we will find some place to spend night" I nodded and walked off but I knew very well that it wasn't going to end well. I walked through the same market I had walked through many times and had read signs for jobs which were of no use to me. However now look me.

I walked into a department store, bustling with people buying whatever they needed for their daily routine. But I made beeline towards counter.

"Hey!" a guy with tattoos and blue dyed hair stood behind the counter. He wouldn't be elder than me, an undergrad student.

"Yo!" he waved towards me with his weird greetings.

"Um.. can I meet your manager"

"What do you want"