Chase walked down the street and thankfully, he didn't get lost. He saw his landmark and rushed into the street and up the stairs of the house, still taking the stairs gently at a time. "I'd already been killed once. I didn't want to make it two" he whispered to himself.
Immediately he got into the house, he sat on the sofa that looked like it was probably older than him and he tore open his food.
He dug into the food hungrily and moaned when he took the first bite. "As shabby as the place looked, their food isn't half as bad. Or maybe it's the hunger talking". He shurgged.
Either way, he ate the food and mid-chew, his eyes landed on the phone again.
He picked it up and went through the emails and regretted it immediately.
"What the fuck?!" He almost choked on the burger and he quickly slurped on his latte to clear his throat.
"What the fuck?!" He repeated, slower this time. "This dude owes student loan of about $5000". He all but screamed.
That wouldn't be a problem for Chase Andersons but that was a huge problem to Theo Ramirez. He kept going through the emails only to see more debts.
"I wouldn't survive in this body". He groaned.
He put more fries into his mouth and ate. "If I am going to get through this, I wouldn't want to die of starvation", he thought and ate as much as he could.
He set the phone down and focused on his food. After he was done eating, he looked around and decided that the place needed thorough cleaning.
He got to work, arranging the stack of books orderly. He took down the cringe-worthy posters on the wall and when he was done cleaning the room, he hopped on the bed and looked around.
"Well it is now…. Liveable". He said, feeling content with his work.
He lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling and it hit him that he didn't know where he was.
He picked up the phone again and turned on the GPS. The location said "Piliste." He groaned loudly. That was about 7 hours away from his old life.
"Well looking on the bright side, I guess it was for the best. I didn't want to ever see those traitors again. They deserved each other". He said.
The thought of his father's lost legacy made him sad. He'd worked hard for that restaurant for the last 4 years. His father died, leaving the restaurant at the brink of bankruptcy. He worked day and night to bring it out of the spoil and just when it seemed like everything was finally working his way, it gets snatched from him.
His pity party was abruptly interrupted by a loud banging on the door.
"Theo" the banging continued. The person on the other side of the door sounded angry and he contemplated whether to open the door or not.
"Open the damn door you dip shit. I know you're in there." The angry banging continued and he went with the former option, for fear that they might break down the door.
He pushed the door open and looked around, looking for the person that was knocking.
"Did you really think you could hide forever" the person said and I looked down. It was a small woman who stood about 5'1. She looked Chinese. Or was it Korean? He wasn't sure.
As he looked down at the woman, he gave it to Theo. He was quite tall at about 6'4.
"Uhmm…?" He asked looking confused. "Now who was this?" He thought.
She pushed him aside and stepped in. "Don't give me that dumb look. Where is my money?" For someone her size, she definitely had strength and a very loud voice. He thought to himself.
"Excuse me?" He said, still trying to make out which money she was talking about.
She squinted her eyes at him and the next thing he knew, she pulled him down by his ears. "Don't play with me" she screamed in his ear and he almost convulsed.
Nobody had ever done that to him.
She let go of his ear and cleared her throat, smoothing out her long, pleated skirt.
She turned to him and smiled sweetly.
"This woman is a psycho". He thought.
"Since you want me to spell it to you, I will." Her smile didn't leave her face. "You owe me four months rent in arrears" she said slowly, showing him four fingers like she was talking to a child.
"Now, the next time I come here, I'm throwing you to the streets where you belong" she said, her smile not faltering.
She turned to leave, leaving him stunned in the middle of the room.
Just as she was about to go, she stopped and turned again. "And by next time, I mean this weekend" she said and continued towards the door.
"Bye Theo" she said in a sing-song voice and left.
"What the fuck? Today was Tuesday". He ran his fingers through his hair.
"Owww" he groaned again, remembering the pain in his ear.
"Well done, Theo. Well fucking done". He said to no one in particular as he sat on the bed.
"Just how much debt are you in?" As hethought about it, he came to the conclusion that he needed a job. He didn't know how to go about it and he didn't even know what qualifications Theo had but what he knew was that he needed to stay afloat and to do that, he needed a job.
He decided to go around to for interviews the next day but for right then, he needed to sleep. The day had been very eventful and not in a good way. He just needed to sleep off the stress and one tiny part of him hoped that when he woke up, he'd puff out of that mess the way he puffed into it
Just as he was about to drift off to sleep, he heard a knock on the door.
He groaned loudly into the pillow and stayed that way, wishing that whoever was on the other side of the door would take the silence as a hint and disappear but of course, no such luck for him.
He slowly stood up and went to open the door.
"Babe" the lady said and rushed into the house, holding his cheeks as her frantic eyes searched all over his body. "I thought I'd lost you" she said and walked into the room, dragging his hands along. "Let's never have a nasty fight like that again okay? I love you babe" she said and stood on her tippy toes to kiss him. When she saw he wasn't responding, she pulled away, as hurt flashed through her eyes. She was a very attractive woman. She had brown hair which stopped on the swell of her breasts and they had golden tips which she probably bleached. She was very beautiful and her blue eyes looked like they were holding back tears. "Did you really block me? I tried calling you several times but it wasn't reachable. I had to drive all the way here to make sure you were okay" she said looking up at him through her long lashes and her lips quivered when she finished and a single tear dropped from her eyes. Chase lifted up his hands instinctively and wiped off the tears from her cheek
He made his way to the now familiar road leading to the café to get breakfast. He didn't know where to start from but breakfast was a very good start. He walked into the café and this time, it wasn't as crowded as the last. He walked straight to the barista and she still very much looked like a doll, while chewing her signature gum. "Look who it is. I almost didn't recognize you. You look bad" she said and he mentally rolled his eyes but stopped. "What do you mean I look bad?" He asked, feeling a tinge of sadness. That was literally the best outfit in that wardrobe and if the lady who had zero fashion sense said it looked bad, then he could only wonder what other people would think. "Well," she started, waving her manicured fingers in his general direction. "You looked horrible the other time so today, you just look bad," she finished and laughed at her own joke. "Whatever. I'll have a large chicken burger with fries. I'd prefer the chicken undercooked with extra mustard and a la
The next three places he tried were even worse. He wasn't even allowed entrance from the security. They all treated him like the dirt under the sole of their shoes. "Get out of here, you homeless beggar." "This place isn't for people like you." Those were some of the harsh words that were thrown at him and he flinched each time a security guard or reception said it with disgust evident in their eyes. "I'm not one to give up" he muttered under his breath as he stood in front of the last place on his list. He wasn't expecting anything different from what he'd already seen but he wanted to be satisfied with himself that he tried his best. 'Gab and Gabe's'. The letters were boldly carved in front of the building. The whole building was painted in white and gold outlines. He had heard of them before. Gab and Gabe's was a chain of high-end hotel. They had branches all over the world. They sat royally in the top 5 businesses in the state and they held the position for over 10 years. Th
"I don't….." he began but his sentence was cut in his throat when a punch was landed on his eye. "Fuck" he screamed in pain as he felt his eyes throbbing violently. Huncho pulled out a knife and he began breathing heavily. He traced the tip along Chase's cheeks and stopped on his neck. "This is just a warning. I won't be merciful next time" he said and applied a little pressure on his hold and Chase felt blood trickling down his neck. "Let's go" he said and they left. Chase watched their retreating backs, his vision on his right eye almost shut. He managed to get back to the house and he rushed to the empty fridge and pulled out a pack of ice. He placed it on his right eye and he felt hot tears rolling down from his good eye. "Just what kind of life did this guy live?" He asked myself as the tears continued falling. He was tired. He was frustrated. He was hungry. I He was in pain. He left the pack of ice on his eye till it became numb. He couldn't feel anything but at the s
Chase felt like a kid in Christmas as he boarded the bus, making a mental note to stop by the café on his way back from work to properly thank Mia for her help the other day. The black eye he suffered from the hands of Huncho had almost completely cleared off by now and he was very grateful he didn't have to go in for his first day at work looking like a hoodlum. He stood in the bus, a grin plastered on his face. He didn't even know why he was so happy but he believed it had to do with the fact that he was picked for the job instead of the other brazen men. A couple of high-schoolers snickered and pointed at his ratty shoes but he paid them no mind. He wasn't going to let anything dampen his mood. He had brought out the best pair of white shirt he could find in Theo's wardrobe and after ironing it out for what felt like hours, it finally looked wearable. He paired it with a black slack that had more holes that a basket. It was either that or a pair of ratty jeans. He stood outside
"Boy, go to the restaurant on the other side of the road and get me chicken taco salad and a large latte with extra whip." Patrick ordered from the head of the round conference table. Before Chase could reply and go to him, he threw a 20 dollar bill at his feet and went back to his work on his laptop.There were six other well-suited men and women and they all began placing their orders and flinging money at his face and feet.With clenched teeth, Chase bent down and picked everything and just as he was about to go and get their lunch order, a boisterous voice stopped him. "Here's some money. You can get a steamed bun for yourself or something. You look hungry," Paul said and threw a one-dollar bill at his feet."Thank you, I don't want it," Chase gritted out."Don't be arrogant, boy, he's doing you a favor and you better not steal my change or something. Make sure you come back with the correct invoice of each item you buy or you're fired," Patrick boomed and the other people in th
The day slowly but surely came to an end and the longer Chase worked, he realized what monsters they were."Were all rich people that way? Was he that way to his employees?" He kept asking himself, even as he stood outside and the torrents of rain poured heavily. The weather forecasters had mentioned a little cloud today and if that was what a little cloud looked like, he didn't want to know what a sunny day would be like to them.He stood just outside the lobby, under a little shade as he contemplated going under the rain or waiting for it to stop. He fished out his phone from his pocket and the time was long after 6. He looked up at the sky and when he didn't see any sign of the rain letting up anytime soon, he braced himself to enter the rain.He pushed himself forward and walked on the sidelines. He held his hands across his chest to relieve himself of the biting cold that stung him with each droplet of rain. He kept going, holding on to the promise of a warm shower when he got ho
"I'm not going back there," Chase kept repeating to himself as the hot water from the shower hit his skin, loosening his tensed muscles, driving out the cold and probably wash off his shame.He had come to the conclusion that although the pay was in no way small, it wasn't worth the insult and the constant trampling upon his ego.He finished taking his bath and looked at his ruined shirt, saying a silent goodbye to it because he knew no amount of washing would take off the mud and coffee stain that now turned the white shirt to a dirty brown color.After dressing down for the night in pajamas pants that had slacked from excessive wearing and washing, he pulled a long-sleeved top over his head and walked to the living area which also doubled as his room.He walked to the fridge and after scanning the near-empty space, he came to the conclusion that he was going to sleep hungry because the only thing that stood in the fridge was a can of sardine that expired four months back."I'll cont