Page 4 of Ghost

Give him nothing, Rae.

“You bitch!” he shouted, spitting blood.

“Consider that your notice, asshole. I quit.” It felt good to finally stand up for myself.

“Quit?” he sputtered, wiping at the mark I left on his face.

Good luck explaining that away, buddy. I might be a girl, but I sure as shit didn’t hit like one.

“You think you're walking away from this? Wrong, babe.” He scoffed. “You're fired, Rae! Don't show your face around here again or I'll make sure you never work in this town again, you fucking cunt.”

Shit.

Cassie was going to flip her damn lid when she found out I was fired from another job. She had warned me time and again, that one day my temper was going to get me into more trouble than I could handle.

A heavy weight settled in my chest as I left the park and headed toward the subway.

As I jogged down the steps into the tunnels, I made a mental list of the things I had at the apartment that I could sell for quick cash.

I had my guitar and my momma’s pearls.

Between the cash I had stuffed in my sock drawer and what I could get for the Gibson and pearls, it would hopefully be enough to tide me over until I could find another job.

Stepping off the train in slightly better spirits, I raced up the steps and across the road to the rundown building Cassie and I called home.

“Hey, Bob,” I said to the man who’d been a permanent fixture on the steps of our building since the day I’d moved in.

“Hey, girl. You’re home early.”

“Uh, yeah.” I forced a smile, not wanting to get into it.

“Where’d your friend go to?” I tipped my head, not sure what he meant.

“I’m not sure. I better get up there and see if she left me a note.” Blowing him off was a shit thing to do, but I was on a mission and trying to figure out what he was talking about would only hold me up.

Evading his question, I quickly pushed through the doors and jogged up the steps. As soon as I rounded the corner Bob’s comment about where Cassie went made more sense.

Taped right in the center of the door was a blaring red eviction notice.

“What the hell?” My heart sank as I scanned over all the legal jargon. “You’ve gotta be shitting me,” I whispered.

They wanted us out immediately.

Do not pass go, do not collect $200, just get the hell out.

As I slipped my key in the lock, I tried to stay calm myself.

It’s fine, Rae. You and Cassie will figure this out.

Only when I stepped inside our apartment, I realized everything was not going to be fine.

In fact, everything was worse than I could have ever imagined.

“No, no, no,” I cried out, rushing through the empty apartment.

“NO!” I screamed when I got to my bedroom door and found it just as bare as the rest of the place. My hands shook as I yanked out my phone, and pressed call on Cassie’s number.

“We’re sorry. You have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service.”

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