Hiring a Broken Heart

Chapter 2: Broke and Broken

The sounds of printers, scanners, and fax machines echo at the back of my head as I keep reminding myself why I'm at the bank. I just found out that "I" haven't been paying the rent for four months. I look down to find a small purple gorilla dangling from my bag. I continuously stare at it's pursed lips and wide blank eyes.

My chest starts to grow heavy. I can't really complain. It's not like things will go exactly my way every time. The only thing I despise the most about this situation is I lost both my childhood friend and my best friend. If they had a relationship, why didn't she stop me? Did she find it stupid? Pathetic? Amusing? To be honest, I feel like I've known for awhile. Every time, Ryan stormed out of the apartment. I guess the person I hate the most is me for not realizing it sooner and not doing anything about it. Dumbass.

I walk up to the counter as it is finally my turn. As soon as I handed everything needed for the withdrawal, she gives me a surprised look. "Excuse me, Miss, but you're account is completely empty." She says. What? "That's impossible, are you sure?!" My hands start to sweat as I am given the terrible news. How can my account be empty?! That's--

"Did a guy come in last week to pick up money from my account?" I ask as soon as the possibility arose. "Let me check." Her fingers move as fast as they can on the keyboard and with one last click, she gave me her answer. "Yes, last Tuesday at 11:45 in the morning."

Ryan.

"How much did he take?!" I ask trying not to raise my voice. "All of it, Miss."

Fuck.

***

I sit there. Waiting. For something. Anything.

Have you ever noticed that when one thing goes wrong, it's followed by a whole series of bad events that fuck you up. I don't have a place to live. I don't have any money. I pushed all my friends away. I have nowhere else to go.

So what now?

Three hours have passed and I've been sitting in the same spot the whole time. And to be totally honest, my ass hurts. The empty cup of coffee surprisingly contains a dollar and 20 cents now. That's progress, I guess. The sky's already a pretty shade of orange and I don't suppose my landlady would let me back in the apartment unless all my stuff is already destroyed or thrown away. But it's worth a shot. I hope.

*

"You have the guts to show your face?! Don't ever come back unless you pay your rent! No! Don't come back even if you pay me worth a year's rent! I've had it with you and pretty boy! Get out and never EVER come back!" With every word she yelled, she thew some of my clothes or an object at me.

I knew it was a good idea to come here.

She gave me one last look and slammed the door. Right. At least I have most of my stuff with me. Cause I'll definitely need a whisk, a bouquet of plastic flowers, and all these papers. "Can I at least get all of my stuff? Or even just my clothes?" I asked, hoping. There was a silent pause. I give up and let out a sigh and make way to leave when the door opened. "15 minutes."

The landlady is kind. Ish. Well, she's not the worst human being on the world. I've explained why I haven't paid my rent and she accepted my apology, even though I barely said the word sorry. The only thing is, she really can't afford to let me stay knowing that I have no job. Which I understood. Kinda. Maybe. Eh.

She let me stay the night but I have to leave first thing in the morning. This thought kept bothering me. Where am I supposed to go with 50 dollars and the dollar and 20 cents I got from earlier. I doubt it could afford a shed especially in the big city of Los Angeles. I remember the first time Ryan and I stepped into this city. The daunting feeling in my stomach, dreams as high as they could get, and my hand which I thought would always be held by him. That was exactly 7 years ago. Now, that daunting feeling just makes me sick, and my dreams, I don't even remember what they were anymore. So this is what it's like to have no one to rely on.

I don't like it.

***

The sun bathed the room in blinding light. At this point, I'm surprised the landlady hasn't thrown me out yet. As soon as my eyes adjusted to the light, I stared at the ceiling. I don't feel pleasant at all. I could feel my eyes fluttering shut when a loud pounding at the door has come to wake me up. Well.

I approached the door knowing who will be behind it. I held the door knob when the person on the other side pounded the door again. "Okay, okay!" I yanked the door open and there stood the guy in "Men in Black," and I'm not talking about Will Smith. I stare at him for a whole second when he hands me a yellow envelope. I look to check who it's from but there's nothing on it besides a seal and on it were two big letters. E and S.

"Uh, who's this from?" I asked. He nodded and urged for me to open the envelope. Okay. I open the envelope carefully and inside was a very fancy, elegant card. Written in it in a classic calligraphy font, was an invitation to a "ball"

I look up at the guy. He continued to just stand there. I just look at him.

"Is this a joke?"

"Are you broke?" He spoke with an unexpectedly high pitched voice that sounds like it would crack at any moment. I really don't know which one I was more shocked about; his voice or that he knows I'm broke.

"If you are, come. If not, still come. If you are but do not believe it, still come." He said and his voice actually did crack at the last bit. "Do I have a choice?"

"No,"

I shoved the envelope and card on his chest and closed the door. I leaned my aching head against the door and he slipped the invitation in the gap between the floor and the door. "Come, you will be paid."

And those words, even though suspicious, made me come to a decision.