Midnight Rain; Cordell Walker

ix. celisa

When Celisa finally arrives back home with a long yawn, her and Calli stop at the dog area before going through the buildings and to the staircase to her building. Her and Calli go up the stairs, but stop when they get to their floor.

Celisa stares confusedly at the paper taped to her front door. Her heart started beating erratically as she prayed that it wasn't what she thought it was.

Once she approached it, her heart sank to her feet. A white paper with black letters taped to her door for everyone to see.

TEXAS EVICTION NOTICE...

Celisa Martínez...

Calli nudges her snout against Celisa's leg, almost comforting her in her own way, but nothing about this is okay. Now she's gotta find a new place and she's only got three days to do it. At this rate, she's gonna lose everything and the entire life she built away from her mother is going to unravel and hit the floor and continue unraveling like a ball of yarn.

Her entire life, turning into a failure, just like her mother predicted.

She's fast to let Calli into the apartment and rips off the notice after she locks the door again, storming away from the apartment she'd been calling home since she was 23. She jogs back down the stairs and towards her asshole of a landlord's office where she knew the godforsaken man would be.

Once she arrived, she walked in unannounced and slammed the paper onto his desk. "What the hell is this?" She demanded as calmly as she could.

"You haven't paid your rent," he said in his stupid slimy voice. It didn't help that he had the worst combover known to man and an ill-fitted suit; his tie always being loose and askew. She immediately knew this was a lie. She paid on the first of every month, no matter her financial situation. If she had to go hungry a couple days, so be it.

"Bullshit," Celisa said through gritted teeth. "I pay on the first of every month at 7:30 on the dot because I pay on my way to work. So no, I refuse for that to be the reason of my eviction."

The landlord refused to look up from his work, only giving her smug silence as if he was glad that he was getting rid of her. It was taking everything in her willpower to not reach over the desk and strangle him with his tie. She was trembling with rage and angry tears brimmed her eyes.

"Every check was made to that slutty receptionist you have in the office, so either she's stealing my money or you're lying to me about the reason for my eviction."

The landlord's face went red as he looked up at her. Son of a bitch, he's sleeping with the receptionist. "Listen here, missy, this is not how you speak to me. I don't need you insulting my receptionist for me."

Aside from her phobia, if her anger was a snake, it would have sprung up and bit him in his stupid face. She was livid. She had been dealing with this guy for the past six years when he took over the apartment complex from his father and had it out for her since the first day he tried his advances towards her and she punched him.

Celisa scoffed, shaking her head. "Alright, no more talking about Raggedy Anne. So, why am I getting evicted?" She demands again, placing her palms flat down on the free space of his desk.

"Look, like I said, you haven't paid your rent. Not only that, your attitude isn't helping. I try to be nice to all the tenants, even if they act as if they have a broom shoved up their asses like you do." Celisa scoffs in disbelief. "So now I'm going to have to be the bad guy, especially because you like to throw around inappropriate names to receptionists."

"Check the records," Celisa said.

Her landlord blinked, looking at her as if she had grown another head. "What? No."