Free

Chapter 1: Fine

"Kat.....Kat.....oh Kitty Kat......kitty....KAT!" A loud voice screamed in Katherine's ear as she shot up in bed. Her roommate Nicole was standing over her, bleached hair piled in a messy bun on her head as she glared down at her.
Katherine glanced at her watch. Groaning when she saw the glowing red digits that told her it was just past ten o'clock in the morning. She's only been asleep for a few hours before Nicole had woken her.
"What do you want, Nikki?" She rolled over onto her stomach, burying her head into the pillow, praying that she'd be able to nod off again when her room mate left her alone.
"I ran into Andrew on the way in. He wants the rent now. And I mean now, so please tell me you have it." Katherine could hear the slight undertone of panic in her voice. It wasn't hard to guess way. André was the apartment owner and had the power to throw them out. He had  already done it before, tossing them out with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a twenty dollar note between them. He only agreed to let them back in if the came up with double the monthly rent in cash. It had been hard and the worst night of Katherine's life. They were ready to give up when they were both spotted by a group of college boys. All dressed in varsity jackets, no doubt belonging to some team at whatever prissy college their daddies had payed for. The night had been awful, Nikki and Katherine not leaving the cheap motel room until the early hours of the morning. Bruised and sore from hands that gripped to hard and movements that were far to rough to even be considered pleasurable. But they had done it. They were able to get their cheap little one bedroom apartment back. And once again had a roof over their heads when the night was done.
Bringing herself back from the thoughts that played out in her mind, Katherine grabbed the handful of fifties from her nightstand, along with another wad from the faded blue jeans at the end of the bed. She handed the cash to Nikki, not missing the relief on her friends face as she grabbed it and darted back out the door.
Katherine sighed in defeat as she swung her feet over the side of the bed and threw on the large and ratty sweatshirt that had been tossed onto the floor the day before. The shirt had always been her favorite and she had swiped the shirt from her older brother before she 'left' home. She grabbed her packet of Marlboros from the dresser before making her way over to the fire escape to smoke.

Vegas was beautiful in the morning. The sounds and smells all blurred together and created a comforting feeling that katherine had grown accustomed to. People always talked about how incredible Vegas was at night. She scoffed. She saw the nights from a different point of view that the rich tourists that flocked there to blow money they could afford to loose in the casinos. Her night view was mainly drunk married men who payed to cheat, along with rough end drug dealers supplying to underage kids and then beating them when they couldn't afford to pay. But the day time was a whole other world. It was peaceful. All the rough and evil creeping back under their rocks, until the next nightfall at least.

Katherine inhaled deeply from her cigarette before holding the smoke in her lungs, craving the burn it left in it wake before she slowly released a cloud of nicotine into the air.

"They'll kill you you know." Nikki's voice spoke from behind her. Katherine turned so her back was leaning against the railing, enabling her to look at her room mate whilst she spoke.

"Gonna die some day anyway." She shrugged in reply, flicking the excess ash from the end. "Did Andrew get the money?"

Nikki nodded. "Yeah. Gave him the rent and he's happy now he's got it."

Katherine scoffed. "Andrew is never happy. Unless he's high." She laughed gently, Nikki joining in with a few quiet giggles of her own.

"How'd your night go?" Nikki asked her friend.

Katherine shrugged. "Same old. You?"

"Just the one guy. Made a few fifties so we're good for cash for a while. I was thinking we could go and get breakfast this morning. Thought it would make a change to stale lucky charms." She laughed quietly.