Chapter two
1535 Words
Scarlett woke up abruptly to someone banging on the door. Opening her eyes welcomed a terrible headache. For a moment she forgot that she’d been camping in her now empty house for the past week, and walked almost robotically to the bathroom to rummage through the medicine cabinet for aspirin. It was when she opened the doors to an empty cabinet that she remembered that she’d moved out of the house. She decided to ignore the person trying to tear down the front door with violent raps; it was probably a government official, they’d come the previous morning to vacate her from the premises but she’d lied that she had forgotten a box of her things and had only come to collect it.
She sighed and turned on the faucet—cool water on her face might help ease the pain a little— only, water wasn’t coming out. She tried again, slower, this time, but the water still didn’t flow.
“shit... shit... shit... they cut the water. Bastards” she cussed through her teeth, frustrated. She looked at her reflection and her auburn hair was all over the place, like someone who’d survived the electric chair. The pallor of her skin was frightening and her eyes were quite swollen. She ran two fingers around her eyelids repeatedly as if it would reduce the puffiness, and pinched around her face to enhance blood flow. She quickly released her hair from the band that held it together in a ponytail, ran her fingers through and styled it into a low bun.
If anything, her overall outlook had improved a little bit. So she dashed down the stairs, picked up her bag and booked a ride. By the time she was out on the porch, the person knocking was fuming.
“Ma’am you can’t be here” the spare official from the day before spat upon seeing her. His forehead creased in a frown.
“I was just leaving. I—”
“...let me guess you forgot yet another box? A label maker, perhaps” he cut in, evidently crossed.
“I...I... just came to say goodbye...” She improvised, her countenance solemn. He sighed in disgust.
“Ma’am, do you realize how misleading it is to state that the keys you handed over to us were the only keys to the house when in fact you withheld a spare? Even worse that you insisted that the back door had been left open when we had our little chat yesterday?”
“I realize how that might seem misleading but I swear I forgot about the spare.” She lied, her voice low and her face bent.
He stared at her until her gaze met with his, he then peered into her eyes, passing a message with his, that he saw through the bullshit and knew she was lying. The part of the man that seemed to understand her predicament came to bear, his gaze softened a little and he sighed, resigned.
“Alright, off you go miss. You are advised to desist from any further acts of trespass on this property and its environs. This property belongs to the State of New York and legal actions will be taken if acts of trespass persist” He said curtly, his eyes looking straight into hers. She bobbed her head.
“Keys?” He demanded, his hands outstretched. She handed it over to him. She was about to thank him when her phone beeped and indicated that her ride had arrived.
“If you’ll excuse me. That’s my ride” She cleared her throat.
“Right. Have a nice day, ma’am.”
“Likewise.”
***
Aliyah Jeong, plopped shopping bags on the kitchen counter.
“Lettie, honey” She called out. Lettie grunted in response from the sofa, her eyes trained on the show that was playing.
“I brought Chinese.”
“Thanks, babes, but I’m eating.” She replied, mouth full.
Aliyah walked to the sofa, yanked the Cheetos out of her hands and grabbed the ice cream tub from the tabletop.
“Hey! I’m eating that!” Lettie protested, getting up and following Aliyah to the kitchen area.
“Cheetos is not food” She absentmindedly tossed the empty bag into the recycling bin and placed the ice cream tub back in the fridge.
“Duh, it's digestible and has calories and nutrients. If that’s not food I don’t know what is and that doesn’t go into the recycling bin” She retorted and pointed at the Cheetos bag.
“You know what I mean...” Aliyah started, rolling her eyes, “Plus, you cannot continue living like this. Look at you, you’re a shadow of yourself. You’ve not showered in nearly four days, and haven’t left the couch unless to pee and sleep. You’ve been on a Cheetos, ice-cream diet, and all in that horrendous t-shirt. Where did you get that? Did you rob it off a hobo?” She finished with a grimace and placed the trash in the proper bin.
“Ugh... you’re such a mom” Lettie grumbled.
“No, I’m your best friend. And I’m worried about you.” Lettie sighed softly, and let Aliyah lead her back to the sofa.
“I’ll be fine, I promise. It’s just hard, you know. Going through the motions, over and over again” She said softly, her head now on Aliyah’s shoulders.
“I know. And I’m proud of you for letting yourself feel but I don’t want you to stay down forever. I want to see you win. You’re so smart and beautiful. You mustn’t give up. Promise me you won’t.”
“I promise.” Her voice was thick with emotions. Aliyah patted her back softly and pecked her head.
“Okay, Lettie. Let’s scout for some jobs after eating?”
“You mean to say some more jobs. I already applied to several companies, remember? I just haven’t heard back from any.” She sat up and grabbed the remote.
“Have you checked your email today?”
“Yeah, but in the morning and nothing.” She turned up the volume a little bit.
“So? Check again. You’ve got to keep checking! Girl, give me your phone” Aliyah demanded, hands stretched forth. Lettie dropped the phone in her hands, a little smile etched on her face.
“Spam, Newsletter, Newsletter, another Newsletter.... girl, how many newsletters are you subscribed to?” She gave Lettie a look that made her giggle.
“Can’t believe the amount of junk mail that is in here.” She muttered to herself, continued scrolling until she came across a subject from Vortex, a subsidiary of Galanis Holdings.
Aliyah screamed. Lettie shot up and snatched the phone from her in a bid to see what had warranted that maniacal scream.
“What the f**k Lee! A little louder and you’d have surpassed the permitted decibel level for residential areas” Her gaze was fixed on the mail.
“Shut up! Galanis Holdings sent you an email yesterday. Girl that’s a big deal, probably the biggest deal in all of New York.” She all but screamed again.
“And we know this Galanis Holdings you speak of?” she asked innocently. Aliyah gaped at her in disbelief.
“Unbelievable! Patrick much?” Aliyah responded, shock replacing excitement on her face. Lettie looked confused at first then realization hit.
“I get it. Patrick because he lives under the rock. So, a half-assed metonymy.” She tapped her temple smiling sheepishly.
“No s**t. But, for real, are you telling me that you have never heard of Galanis Holdings or Leon Galanis? He inherited his father’s business empire about 5 years ago or something. He’s a freaking billionaire, and incredibly handsome.” She just couldn’t believe Lettie had never heard of him.
“Again, no, I haven’t. Don’t blame me, it has never been my job description to know the tea about rich and famous people.” Lettie’s excitement started building. If she could nail this interview 99% of her problems would be solved.
“Well, Leon Galanis is very low key so I don’t blame you. Well, what are the details?”
“The interview is tomorrow. Damn, that was a close call. Thank you, Lee. I would have missed this one.” Aliyah embraced her tightly and whispered “Anytime” before letting her breathe again.
“The office is in Manhattan if I remember correctly.”
“Yeah, the address is written here. Broadway precisely. I hope the interview goes smoothly because the universe knows I need this. Is there any need to contact the company?”
“No, I don’t think so. But you can contact them to be on the safe side. Plus, you’ll do amazingly, you’re smart.”
“I sure hope so. I don’t know the first thing about being someone’s assistant. Hell, I can’t even assist myself.” Aliyah chuckled.
“You’ll be fine. But for now we need to get you a suitable outfit. Right after we eat. The Kung Pao chicken must have gone cold. And I’m starving”.
- Writer
