Oak's mute

Eviction

I breath in and out listening to the music on my phone. I stop the treadmill and hop off grabbing my bottle of water. I make sure my hair is tied back in its place as I do I notice a few men staring at me but I ignore them and get my stuff together. My names Lyra by the way I'm Egyptian and black, I have light creamy skin and long black straight hair. I feel a someone's hands on my butt and I jump away "hey baby girl what's your name?" My dad is from Egypt and my mom is from here, the big Apple. "What can't speak I asked you your name beautiful" this happens to me all the time so I'm used to it but the only problem is..."she's probably overwhelmed by all of this the blonde one said motioning his body. He looks like he's been on steroids I roll my eyes at him and look at the other guy with black hair "she has good taste" I'm not thinking about any of you guys. Disgusting pigs all they care about is our body, the black haired boy grabs my wrist and lays it on his chest "feel that baby? That's all for you" I pull away in disgust and slap him. He raises his hand up to hit me but the impact didn't come, I open my eyes to see a nicely built bulky dark skinned man grab his wrist. "I think you three should leave" the three men walked away and the dark skinned man smiled "are you alright?" I blush "my names Oak, what's your name?" He looks at me confused so I try to speak but nothing comes out and I think he started to understand because then he set down his bag and pulled out a pen and paper. "Here you can write your name down on here" I take the pen and write my name "Lyra, that's a lovely name" I nod my head in thanks "don't you use sign language" I shake my head no. 'My parents can't afford a private teacher to teach me' I write on the paper "I can teach you for free" 'I don't want to waste your time, besides this is much easier for me' he chuckles "ok but can I at least teach a little of it?" I nod my head yes "great! Is it ok if I put my number in your phone?" I hand him my phone and he adds his number then I add mine to his phone. "Great! Are going home already?" I nod my head 'I walk home it's not far from here' I write on the note pad "ok I will walk you home then" that's nice of him but I still have to be careful. We walk together to my apartment where I live alone "how old are you?" I text him '19' when we get to my apartment door I blush "I'm guessing you haven't paid your rent?" 'its hard for me to get a job or keep one for that matter since I don't speak' "hello Lyra, I warned you if you don't pay your rent on time that I have to kick out. get what you need and go" Ellie the land lord looked Oak up and down "who's is this handsome man" Ellie is a 58 year old women "my name is Okieriete but everyone calls me Oak ma'am, I'm a friend, well it was nice meeting you" he cuts the conversation short "you can stay with me if you like, I always wanted a roommate plus you can't live like this without any help since you can't talk" he's right I can't I'm going to need a lot of help if I'm going to survive out here.