Out Tonight

One

"They cut our power-" A voice dripping with panic said from Daya's phone. "Because of everyone's rent being behind-"

The tall girl froze in her spot on the sidewalk, her eyes wide as pennies were tossed into the open guitar case in front of her. "What do you mean they cut our power, Camden?-"

"I mean the light switch? Yeah not doing anything." Camden flipped the switch up and down as she spoke. "Not just our apartment. It's the entire building."

So maybe they were a few months behind on rent. They had been paying as much as they could though. But with the prices raising again, it was so hard to keep up. And not just for them, but for the whole building.

They should've known better. At the end of the day, the landlords were the people with the money. And because of that, they could do whatever they pleased because they knew the people they rented to couldn't afford anywhere else. This was definitely their way of showing the power they had over them.

Daya just groaned and rubbed her head. "I'll be there soon." She mumbled. "Maybe it's all just a misunderstanding..."

She didn't believe her own words. She placed her guitar into its case to head home for the day, slipping her gloves on. They did little to keep her hands warm, but it was something. With the case now slung over her shoulders, she started her walk home.

This isn't the life Daya had wanted for herself. She was supposed to have gotten so far already. She had been writing music for years and was so excited to present her work to a professional in the business.

Being laughed at and turned down wasn't the plan. Having to live in a bad part of the city wasn't on it either. Neither was hardly being able to pay her rent. She was supposed to be playing music for crowds, not on the side of the street to earn tips. And bartending only to be jealous of the small bands she saw playing at the bar wasn't ideal.

Yet here she was. The dreams had been tossed away and now she was back to reality. The hard, cold reality.

The apartment building was definitely colder than when she had left it this morning, and there were a lot of angry people talking amongst themselves. She found the hallway lights were off on her way up to Camden, dread sinking in. This wasn't going to be good at all.

Camden was in the apartment already stacking blankets onto their ragged couch when Daya stepped through the door. The smaller girl looked up at her friend with tired eyes. "It's going to be a long night." She mumbled. "And this is only night one. Who knows how long this is going to go on."

"Well...go off. In this case." Daya said, just making Camden narrow her eyes. It was hard to lighten the mood at the moment. "Are you sure it's the whole apartment building?"

"Positive. Didn't you hear everyone?" Camden rubbed her head, her tone strained. Daya couldn't blame her.

They had only been living here for about six months now, but Daya had been living in New York for almost a year at this point. When the rent in her first place was raised and she was unable to pay it, she was out.

Her dreams were already pretty much crushed. She was called untalented and not creative. She was told that the career she wanted wasn't obtainable for her. It sucked. But she was stuck here now. This situation was just the icing on the cake.

"Is everyone really that far behind on rent...?" Daya thought out loud, setting her guitar down as Camden tried to find her portable charger.

"Not surprising. Not after they raised it last month." Camden sighed. "We're behind a few payments but I thought the landlord agreed to work with us and have us pay little bits at a time until we're all caught up."