“We have to check on Paula,” Mom interjects, “She’s still our daughter and I want to meet Faith. Make amends, though I’m not sure how we can even go about doing that.”
No kidding!
15
NOT YOURS TO FIX
FAITH
When someone knocks on the motel room door, I don’t answer at first. I’m off the clock, curled up in bed, trying to remember what it feels like to be human.
I’m re-readingGiovanni’s Roomby James Baldwin. It fits my mood—guilt, emotional repression, the slow, aching search for identity. I borrowed it from the library, when I finally found my way back there.
Another knock. Louder this time.
I open the door and nearly slam it shut again.
It’s Bob, the landlord from my old apartment—the one who kicked me out, tossed my life in a trash bag, and probably pocketed my cashandstole my suitcase.
Next to him is Kyle Brewer. He looks like a boy who finally realized the fire he started burned down the whole damn town.
“Faith,” Kyle says, “I?—”
“Why are you here?”
I don’t have time for recriminations. I’m not interested. These people are the worst of humanity.
Bob steps forward.
“Here.” He holds out an envelope, thick and creased. He slides my suitcase, the one I bought so I could have my life packed with dignity and not in trash bags. “It was wrong what I did. I...didn’t know the whole story. Merry Christmas.”
I take the envelope. Inside is four hundred dollars. Money I thought I’d never see. Money I painstakingly saved while I worked at Ripley’s.
Kyle nudges him, and Bob nods, grimacing. “Ah…if you want to come back, the apartment…yeah, it’s available.”
“No, thank you.”
I’m about to shut the door when Kyle speaks again. “I’m really sorry, Faith.” He clears his throat. “It was Paula. And Melody. They framed you.”
I look him dead in the eye.
“Go fuck yourself, Kyle.”
He flinches.
Whatever!
I close the door.
I touch my suitcase and feel a sense of relief. Now, when I leave, or I’m kicked out, I can pack my things in a proper suitcase, not shove everything in a trash bag.
I’m not trash.
Tears fills my eyes.
Fall.
I swipe at them.
