Chapter 10: You've gotta be kidding me...
I trudged up the cracked concrete steps to the main entrance, the familiar scent of mildew and industrial cleaner hitting my nose. I climbed the three flights of stairs, the carpet on them thin and stained.
Leaving the stairs, I turned the corner onto my floor's hallway, my head down, already mentally mapping the path to my bed.
But unfortunately, it seemed like fate had other plans.
'You've gotta be kidding me...' my eyes suddenly felt heavy all of a sudden, my face devoid of surprise, just a weary acknowledgment of the universe's persistent nature to try and screw me over.
Taped squarely at eye-level on the scarred, dark wood of my apartment door was a single, stark piece of bright yellow paper. Even from down the hall, the bold, black letters were unmistakable.
NOTICE OF EVICTION.
I didn't know whether to cry or laugh. A hollow, soundless chuckle escaped me. Of course. Why wouldn't this be the cherry on top of a day that started with brain-glitches and ended with me impersonating a criminal?
"It is what it is, son."
Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I heard a gravely familiar voice coming
from the shadows at the end of the hall, near the fire escape door.
I jumped, my heart giving a painful thud. Only for Mr. Henderson, my landlord, to step into the dim circle of light cast by the hallway's one working bulb.
He was an older man, thick around the middle, with squinty eyes and sparse hair on the top of his head.
'Has he been waiting there all this while?' My mouth twitched with a mixture of disbelief and resignation. Had he been lurking in the dark, watching the door, just to deliver this in person?
"Boy, don't look at me like that," he said, folding his arms over his stained sweater vest. "We both knew this would happen eventually. You've been owing me six months of rent." His voice wasn't cruel, but it was firm, the voice of a man who'd run out of patience if I ever saw one.
He flashed me a stern look, that broke no room for arguments.
I was aware that this day would come sooner or later, after all, life was built on consequences.
"I know that, but—" I started, trying to protest.
His claim wasn't a lie. I had been withholding rent, it was shameful I knew but if I hadn't done so I wouldn't have been able to follow through with my other bills.
Between community college tuition, which seemed to increase every semester, the cost of books that were more expensive than some computers, and just trying to keep myself fed, the rent had become the wobbling Jenga block I kept hoping wouldn't bring the whole tower down.
I'd been prioritizing survival now over shelter later, a gamble that had clearly expired.
But at least this time I finally had a chance.
' if I can just complete more of those missions I should be able to pay the rent in no time.' I thought to myself.
"No buts, Park!" He raised a thick hand, cutting me off. "I don't want to have this conversation with you in the hallway. It's already night out, and I don't want the both of us disrupting the neighbors with a back-and-forth." His tone was final.
He took a step closer, lowering his voice conspiratorially, though the hallway was empty. "Listen, kid. Besides the back rent issue, which is a mountain all by itself, there's another problem. The neighborhood… I'm afraid to say, things are changing around these parts."
He said the word with a meaningful raise of his eyebrows. "Due to a sudden… inflation… the price of real estate in the area has been going up quite a bit. New cafes. Young professionals. You know how it is. I've thought about it for a while now, and it's only reasonable I increase the rent to match the market. Starting next month."
He let that sink in, watching my face fall further. I knew I had some trust in the missions but I wasn't naive enough to believe that they would all be as easy as the one I did for Marian.
If she really had reacted differently, that lawsuit would've only added to my bills.
Mr Henderson stared at me for a moment before continuing. "You're already owing me six months of rent at the old level. Who's to say how deep the hole will be at the new one? You'll never climb out."
He sighed letting out a long wheezing sound. "Look. You're a good kid, Park. For one, your quiet and you don't throw parties. I know things haven't been easy for you as of late. So how about this."
" I'll waive the late fees this time. A clean slate on the penalties. You can pay me the back rent you owe whenever you can scrounge it together, no more pressure from me on that. But as for now…" He gestured with his thumb at the yellow notice on my door. "I'd like you to start looking seriously for a new place to stay. Alright? Give us both a fresh start."
He didn't wait for an answer. With a final nod that was definitely kind, he turned and walked down the hall towards the stairs, his heavy footsteps echoing in the quiet.
I stood frozen, listening to the sound fade, those footsteps the only thing my mind could focus on for awhile.
Then I turned back to stare at the eviction notice. But then I just sighed, letting out all my pent up stress in an attempt to clear my mind.
Like Mr Henderson said, it is what it is. Panic wouldn't help and tears sure wouldn't pay the rent.
Sure, I'd gotten some… something… from that strange mission today.
But that was all, who could guarantee if things would turn out alright if I rushed this rather than thinking each potential mission through in my attempt to e
arn a quick buck.
That was no different from a one-way ticket to even deeper shit.