HOMELESS
588 Words
By the time I dragged myself home, my eyes were swollen from crying. My head pounded, my uniform clung to me in creases of sweat, and every step felt heavier than the last. The humiliation of being fired replayed in my head until it blurred into fresh tears.
I slipped through the gate, hoping to collapse into my room unnoticed. But the sounds that reached me stopped me dead in my tracks. Low moans, mixed with a man’s muffled grunts. My stomach twisted.
Not again.
I froze, bile rising in my throat. Mom’s voice rang out — breathless, needy, unashamed. I wanted to scream, to cover my ears, to vanish. Instead, I crept to the back door, desperate to avoid her parade of lovers.
It didn’t work.
“Annie!” she called out in a sing-song tone. She knew I was there. She always did.
My legs turned to stone, but I forced myself forward. And then I saw them.
Mom and her latest conquest sprawled on the couch, still unclothed, sheets barely covering their bodies. He was pot-bellied, sweating, his name already etched in my memory — Elbert Brown. One of many. Too many.
Heat of shame rushed to my cheeks. I lowered my eyes instantly, wishing the floor would swallow me whole.
“Mom…” My voice was barely a whisper.
She only giggled, curling against him as if I didn’t exist. “Annie, meet Elbert. He’ll be taking care of me now.”
The man smirked, pressing a sloppy kiss to her lips. My stomach turned.
Then her words shattered me.
“I’m leaving, baby. Elbert and I are starting fresh.”
My head snapped up. “Leaving? What do you mean? Are you going on a trip?”
Her laughter was cruel, sharp. “No, darling. The loan sharks came again. I told them to take this house and clear the debt. The properties? Already sold. I don’t need them—and neither does a useless daughter.”
The world tilted beneath me. “What? What about me? I just lost my job, Mom! Where am I supposed to stay?”
She waved a careless hand. “Oops. Not my problem.”
I staggered back, chest tightening. “No, Mom… you can’t just leave me like this.”
A car horn honked outside. Elbert was already fastening his shirt. “Come on, babe. We’re late.”
Mom rose, brushing him off with a laugh, then turned to me. Her eyes held no warmth, only irritation. “Vacate before nightfall, Annie. For your own good.”
“No, please—” I rushed forward, grabbing her arm, my tears blinding me.
The crack of her palm against my face echoed through the room. My cheek burned, the sting searing into my soul. She’d slapped me before, but never like this. Never with such finality.
Elbert muttered something about my “rudeness,” tugging her toward the door. She didn’t look back. Not once.
And just like that, they were gone. The woman who should have been my shelter abandoned me for a man with a pot belly and empty promises, leaving me with nothing.
No home.
No job.
No one.
- Writer
