Fate Will Have It

III

Kenzie Hope

Today was inspection day. Last night, me and the other neighbor women spent a good majority of the night deep cleaning each other's homes. Today, inspection day, was one of the most terrifying days most of us had ever gone through.

My apartment was small. It had two bedrooms and one bathroom with a kitchen that could only fit one person at a time and a family room that doubles as a dining room.

When dad died, I had painted the kitchen a cream color and the tiles were white. I didn't like the white tiles because they were impossible to keep clean, but I couldn't afford to replace them so we dealt with them. The kitchen had old appliances that were there when we moved in. The microwave stopped working last week and I needed to go to the used appliance store sometime soon.

I had also painted the living room a turquoise color. The wood was a light brown and we laid a matching turquoise rug, that was once my mom's, on the living room part of the room. We had a denim colored couch in the center of the room and the rug laid in front of it. In front of the rug was a dark wooded nightstand with a goodwill T.V. on top of it. Directly behind the couch was a white table with four mismatched chairs. On the table, Brady and I had put a picture frame, it was the kind that folded and had two pictures in it. One of the pictures of the two of us and the other was of our parents when they first met.

I looked around my small apartment one more time and I took the cookies I made earlier that morning out of the microwave, that was keeping them warm, and placed them on the counter. Along side them I placed a pitcher of ice water and a few crystal glasses, our nicest cups.

I had wanted a nice set of glasses for as long as I could remember. I spent half a year collecting all our extra money to buy them. Once I did, I was so proud of myself. It was almost pointless to buy them because I only brought them out during holidays and inspections. Other than that, we did not touch them.

A sharp knock on the door brought me out of my thoughts. I smoothed down my pink sundress and opened the door with a smile on my face. In response to my smile, the three men on the other side of the door grunted.

"Welcome to my home," I started the traditional speech. "This is the omega residence of the Hopes. I am McKenna Hope, 22, and my brother, Brady Hope, 16, is at school." I smiled again and I felt sweat gather on my top lip. I quickly wiped it before they could see and sat down on the single arm-chair. I crossed my legs and the man with a clipboard sat down on the loveseat to the left of me.

"McKenna and Brady Hope?" He confirmed as he scribbled on his paper.

"Yes sir." I nodded and he rolled his eyes at me.

"Anything we should know about before we find it?" He asked.

"No sir," I mumbled as I fumbled with my hands that sat in my lap.

"What was that?" He asked with a rising tone.

"No sir," I said louder and more confident. He, apparently, took this as a sign of disrespect. His calloused hand pulled me up by my elbow hard enough to bruise. His tall, muscled body towered over my average sized body. I kept looking down, not wanting to make him believe I was disrespecting him more.

"Look at me, girl," He spat and used his other hand to grip my chin, forcing me to look up at him.

"I'm sorry sir," I apologized quietly, "I did not mean to disrespect you."

"She's clean," One of the other men yelled as he walked into the room.

"Hm, I still think we should mark her down," The man who was still holding me murmured.