Chapter 1
Cherry sights her mother sitting by the wooden table, with her arms folded losely on the surface of the white silk cloth that serves as a tablecloth. It was no where close to fancy but it served it's purposes in a one bedroom apartment.
Cherry runs to her mother and lands a knee to the ground and asks.
“Mom, are you okay at all? What happened? Did someone hurt you, tell me, I would kick a butt if I have to—”
“No honey, no!” her mother sniffles and slowly turns to her pale daughter, she helps her to her feet as Cherry drops on the only available wooden chair. Cherry stares at her mother intently and wonders if she had lost the job or could have happened before now.
“It's... it's my boss, he says that we are over staffed and needs to relief us off our duties. He says—”
“f**k what he says Mom, f**k it! He has to let you work there...” Cherry springs up defiantly, shrieking, tears fills her eyes. It hurts her to see the middle aged woman suffer and get threatened at a job that has lasted for only two years. She feels helpless.
“Cherry... stop yelling calm down—”
Mom yells back at Cherry who is pacing from side to side. She stops to face her mother.
“Is he paying you off?” she asks but her mother's lips part to speak, however she has nothing to say to her angry daughter. “Is he offsetting you?”
“No huh?”
Cherry turns around to leave, she is on the brink of killing her to mother ‘s boss. Even if the man was older with twenty years or had a group of men to protect him, her fiery exuberance could rip the old man apart.
“Cherry stop right there,” her mother calls out in a broken voice. Cherry fingers curls into fists and indignantly turns around to face her mother. “Juat let it go, there's no point. In no time, I’d find another job—”
“It took years for you to get this ONE and now he is disengaging you because of over staffing? I don't believe it's a reason!” Cherry says to her mother and walks over to her. She throws herself around her and pulls away gently, she uses her palms to wipe the lingering tears in her mother’s eyes.
“I got a loaf, please eat!”
Cherry adds one last time and finally walks into the room they both shared. She could hear her mother asking how she had gotten the bread knowing fully that Cherry had no money or jobs at the moment but Cherry remained silent. It was better for her to steal bread for her mother than war h her die of hunger.
Cherry stripped out of her clothes that had been in her possession for over two years, she stared at the pile of clothes and burned in anger. She believed that she was better than those outfits or better than where she had been for the past twenty five years of her life.
She gaped directly at the evenly broken mirror on the wall, she assured herself that there was a better way to climb out of poverty. She took a twoep from the drawer and walked into the washroom. She turned on the rain shower, she entered the tub that had begun to scrape off of its initial color, it was now rusty and old. She rested her head on the surface as her eyes closed.
If only her d**k of a father had remained with her mother, then he could have gotten a better place in her life but no, he left when she was barely thirteen, she was only twelve precisely. She had hatred for him—for men entirely, she was convinced that there wasn't a good man on earth and in any world they existed if possible.
She begins to think deeply about her next step, she had to quit business school because she couldn't afford tuition, not even her mother could afford the huge amount of money and no one was willing to help or lend some. It was her major hindrance to graduating the school.
She squints at the ceiling bulb above her head, her thoughts are spinning around a sphere, it goes round and round, there is no end, neither are there answers to her questions. There has got to be something, she reminds herself one more time.
The door creaks open, snapping her out of her detering thoughts as she looks over to the door abruptly.
“Mom, you startled me!” She says in a cold tone while her mother stares at her for disappointedly. “What?!”
“For the thousandth time honey, the thousandth time. Why did you have to—”
“I'm sorry okay? I had to do it, we needed something to eat—you need it. You need something before taking down pills. I'm sorry!” Cherry explained. She could go off on her mother, but rather she explained. Every food mother would ask about stolen properties, wouldn't they?
“Stealing? Stealing from that same store? Cherry you don't understand, we are—i am indebted to—”
“Mom chill, I'll get the money to pay off. Just relax. I promise. I'm trying to get my bath done and it feels super weird having you around, so please, leave?!”
“Cherry, you don't even have a job and so how would you pay?”
“I got it. I will pay, just go!”
She watches her mother slam the door behind her before goes beneath the water for some seconds, it's somewhere she would rather be at for a couple of hours before facing her cruel reality.
She gets on her feet and dusts off the particles off her floral mini dress and walks away, she renders more curses on the man as she walks further.
Thinking of the possible way to pay of her debt of five hundred dollars, she looks both sides and stays planted on the spot.
A black Peugeot splatters a pile of dirt on her as she screams at the vehicle.
“You piece of work!”
The car revved back to her spot and the tinted window winds down and Cherry peaks at the man seated with a steady grimace on his face.
“I apologize young lady, my driver is a bit careless on weekends but I was hoping that we can talk. Shall we?”
“Thanks for apologizing but what sort of a man are you that wants to talk on the same —”
“Dear Cherry, no long discussions please, I have an offer for you. It would help with the FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS you have unpaid in your name. Can we talk? Get in! I'd compensate you the little discomfort we caused you!” he says to her, she is holding the edge of her dress.
Shocked as if stung by an electric eel. He knows her too well, and who is this man anyways? She says herself. How could he underrate her in such a manner, with so ego he speaks to her and now he's instructing her to come into his car, that's not happening. She reeasoned.
“I won't... I won't come with you...”
“You don't have a choice, lady, if I remember clearly, I was told that you stole a loaf of bread from my store, yes? You do know the implications, don't you? Shall I see you in court what os the way forward, Cherry?!” he is snickering at her, he had just hit the nail on the head.
“Darn it!”
She curses under her breath, no way of escaping what she feared the most, being indebted, especially to her man. She covers a little and enter the car as they drive away
