"I don't like this house," Jamie said. He stood in the doorway, not even stepping all the way inside.
"Me neither," Soren replied. He was already turning around, done with the place.
We were currently house hunting. After we got back from the mall, the next day Liv had sent Soren a list of available houses I could live in. She said these houses were ready to move in immediately.
Soren and Jamie had suggested they come with me. They called it "House Haunting," which made Jamie giggle every time he said it. I didn't really mind. I was ready to live anywhere, as long as it had a roof over my head and a door that locked. But if they said no to a place, that was it. We moved on.
We were sent a total of twenty houses to consider. Right before we started ten of them were cancelled off the list.
Five were cancelled by Soren right away. He looked at the pictures on his phone and shook his head. "These are old settlements," he said. "The buildings are from before the big renovations. They probably have mold in the walls. The pipes are bad. You don't want that." Just like that, five houses were gone.
Another five were cancelled by Jamie. "These are way too far," he said, pointing at the map on the screen. "They're on the other side of the territory. The shuttle bus doesn't even go out there every day. You'd be stuck." Another five houses, gone.
I was given a certain amount of money for rent. It was a pack stipend, to be used as my budget until next month when I would finally get paid by a job.
I don't have a job yet, but I will soon. I've got interviews to go to. I couldn't get a job to take care of people's pups, which was what I wanted. The placement office said I was too new in the pack, and no one trusted me with their kids yet. It's okay. I understood. Trust has to be earned.
Right now, we were at the fourth house for the day. Jamie and Soren had been rejecting houses like it was nothing since we started this "house haunting."
"It's too much of a family house," Soren said. He walked into the middle of the empty living room. His voice echoed.
"Right? Too many rooms," Jamie added, coming out of a hallway.
"They are just three rooms," the relator said. Her name was Mara. She had been with us all day, and she was probably tired. I could hear it in her voice.
"And what does he need three rooms for?" Soren asked, looking at me.
It wasn't a lie. I didn't need three rooms. I was a single person. One room to sleep in was enough. More than enough. Big spaces just meant more to clean, more emptiness to feel.
"Then I think we should cancel any house that is too big?" Mara asked. She was holding her tablet tightly.
"Yes, please," they both replied.
"Then that drops us down to two houses," she said. She sounded a little defeated.
When we arrived at the next house, it wasn't a house. It wasan apartment building. A really tall building with lots of windows. There were a lot of flowers in the garden out front. There was a little garden at the entrance and another one in the middle of the courtyard.
"Oh, this is nice," Jamie smiled.
We took an elevator up. The apartment was on the third floor. The door clicked open.
I walked in.
It was spacious. It had everything.
The sitting room had two couches in it. They were a plain grey color. I didn't really like the style but I could do with that. They were just couches.
The kitchen was also perfect. It was right there, open to the living room. It wasn't too big and wasn't too small. It was the perfect size for one person. And there was a balcony. A glass door led out to it.
"Wow," I whispered as I stepped onto the balcony.
It was small, just enough space for one person to stand. But the view… I could see everything from up here. Other buildings, trees, the neat streets below. It was quiet. Peaceful.
The bathroom was also big. It had a shower with a glass door. And it had a bathtub.
A bathtub.
Isn't this too much? My heart sank. Isn't this going to be expensive? The kitchen came with a fridge and cabinets. Everything looked new and clean.
Then there was the bedroom. It was only one room. It had a bed, simple and low to the ground. There were cupboards built into the wall beside it. And there was another door.
"It's a walk-in closet," Soren said, smiling. He opened the door.
"A what?" I asked.
"A walk-in closet," he replied. "A closet that you can walk into."
I peered inside. It was a tiny room, just big enough to stand in. It had shelves and rods for clothes.
"Oh," I said. I kind of understood, but this place was screaming expensive. Every part of it felt like a luxury I hadn't asked for.
"There's also cupboards by the bed. This place is perfect," Soren said, looking around with a satisfied nod.
"Perfect?" I asked, confused. How could it be perfect? Perfect meant unaffordable.
"Yes," Soren replied, like it was obvious.
"Soren, I don't—" I started.
"I think you should take this one," Jamie said, walking into the room from the balcony. "The ventilation is perfect. They've got a garden downstairs, and I think you could plant flowers on your balcony. Little ones in pots."
"I don't—" I tried again.
"Wait," Jamie cut me off. "Is that a walk-in closet? Oh, perfect. You have to take this one."
"I'm not sure I can afford this," I said, finally getting the words out. They both turned to look at me.
"What do you mean?" they asked at the same time.
"This place looks pretty expensive. I mean, look at it." I waved my hand around. "A bathtub? A walk-in closet? A balcony? I just know the rent is going to be a mind-blowing number."
"But you're going to pay it monthly," Soren said patiently. "And the pack helped you with funds to cover you until your job pays you next month."
"And what if my job doesn't pay enough?" I replied. The fear was cold in my stomach. This was how it started. Something beautiful offered, then the crushing reality of a price you could never meet.
"Oh, it will," Jamie said, but he sounded less sure.
"I don't…" I shook my head.
"I'm going to ask her how much the apartment is," Jamie said, and then he left the room to find Mara.
"It can't be that expensive," Soren said, looking around again, as if trying to see it through my worried eyes.
A minute later, Jamie walked back in. He was smiling. "She said it costs Q350 per month."
Soren turned to me, excited too. "I told you it wasn't that expensive!"
Q350. I turned the number over in my head. It wasn't as high as I'd feared. But it wasn't nothing. What if my job didn't pay that much? How could I possibly afford this place, plus food, plus everything else?
They both saw the hesitation on my face.
"You would be paid hourly," Jamie said, stepping closer.
"The minimum wage here is Q30 an hour," Soren added gently.
"Four hours of work is about Q120," Jamie calculated quickly.
They were practically begging me at this point. I mean, I liked the house. I really did. I could picture myself here. Making food in that little kitchen. Standing on that balcony at night. But the fear was a heavy stone in my chest.
"And that's just the minimum wage," Soren said, his voice soft. "No one said you would be paid that amount. It could be more."
"It could be more," Jamie echoed, nodding. "You might get a job that pays Q40 an hour. Or Q50!"
I thought about it. If I worked twenty hours a week at minimum wage… I could pay the rent. I could afford groceries and a few clothes. I could make it work. It would be tight, but I had lived on less. I had lived on nothing.
This was a chance. A real chance to have something that was mine. A clean, safe, quiet place.
I looked at Soren's hopeful face. I looked at Jamie's eager smile. I looked past them, at the sunlight coming through the balcony door, painting a warm square on the floor.
"Okay," I said. The word felt foreign. "Okay, fine."
"Yay!" they screamed happily, and Jamie actually jumped a little.