The Cages You Build

Chapter Seven~Eviction

Despite the rain, Mia had a warm feeling surrounding her when she stepped out of David's car. She shut the door and bent to look through the window at him.

"Thanks for tonight, David."

"Don't run away before I see you again."

She gave a soft laugh. "I won't. Goodnight."

"Call me when you get home. See you later."

She stepped onto the curb as he drove away. She waited until his car was out of sight before turning to the left. She had only a few blocks to walk before reaching her house. The exertion was worth it, if it meant concealing her location from David. She didn't want to see the shock on his face when he saw where she was living.

She walked briskly through the pouring rain, wishing she had stuck to her original plan of taking a taxi instead of giving in to David's offer of a ride. She could have gotten home dry.

She had just turned into her street when she noticed something wasn't right. Her house was the third on the street and there seemed to be some commotion going on at the front door. She squinted and picked up her pace, trying to convince herself she was wrong about what she was seeing.

Oh no, no, no.

She ran and reached the front door just as a suitcase was flung out the door and landed in a puddle of water on the street. She gasped and tried to get inside by stepping over the pile of belongings strewn haphazardly along the sidewalk. It was dark downstairs so she stumbled to the staircase and put her hand along the wall to aid her ascent.

A flashlight was on and three men were in her apartment, messing with her things. Her shock was quickly replaced by anger, anger so hot she forgot to feel afraid of the fact that there were strangers in her house.

"Hey! What's going on? What are you doing?" One of the men brushed past her with her mattress in his arms, heading to the staircase. "Stop!"

No one listened to her. Someone stepped into the light and she recognized Jen Cooper.

"Mr. Cooper! What in the world is going on? Why are you throwing out my things?"

His face was mottled red. "That's what's done to people who refuse to pay their rent."

"You gave me two weeks!"

"Which ended today!"

A wave of panic hit her. "No, no, you don't understand! I was going to pay today but I couldn't get to the bank before they closed!"

"Nice story." He walked past her and into the bedroom. She followed him, shouting for him to stop.

"I have the money! I can show it to you."

He stopped. "Oh yeah? Show it to me."

She dug a hand into her purse. "It's...it's a check and you can take it to the bank and confirm..."

He gave a cynical laugh. "You won't succeed in wasting my time, Miss Taylor."

"I'm not lying!"

Inside the bedroom, a third man was ripping clothes off the rack in her closet and flinging them to the ground. "Stop it! Please!" By then, she was in tears. She knelt and tried to gather her clothes but the other man returned, gathered them in his arms and began to head out. She ran after him.

"Give me my clothes! Don't throw them in the rain."

He didn't stop or say anything and she caught up to him just as he chucked her clothes out into the street. She covered her mouth with her hand and gave a choked scream. A car sped by, running over her clothes and splashing dirty water on her.