Author’s note: This is a story from Briar’s previous lifetime.

(actually, I'm going through a similar situation right now, which hasn't been resolved. Please pray for me.)

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Briar heard the doorbell ring twice and put down the bokken she was training with, hurrying to the door. As expected, it was the Aoki’s pizza that she had ordered out.

Loaded with mushrooms, spinach, seaweed, and beef- Briar’s acquaintances always said that she had rather weird taste, but Briar would not compromise.

“Why do you say that?” She would reply. “It has a good blend of carbohydrates and protein, and the seaweed has a good amount of vitamin A, C, and iron. It also tastes good, if you’d like to try it.”

She was always met with a resounding ‘no thanks’. Briar always wondered about this, because they never chided her for any of her other food choices, but eventually she simply shrugged. That others did not like it simply meant that there was more for her to eat.

It was rather chilly outside, since it was the middle of January. After paying the delivery guy, she was about to hurriedly close the door when she heard someone yell “Wait!”

Pausing a moment, to see who had shouted, she realized the person had already slipped in through the door.

It was a woman of rather average appearance, if they were in America. Mouse-brown hair, blue eyes, hefty appearance: she looked like the average out of shape woman that could be found anywhere.

What on earth could this woman want? Briar wondered.

“Hi! You don’t really know me that well, but we talked at the food market a few weeks ago.” She said.

Did something like that happen? Well, probably. She does look a bit familiar. Briar frowned, trying to remember her name.

“I also used to live here! My mother rented this place way back in the day, and the landlord knows me as well.” The woman cheerily chatted.

Well, if the landlord knows, then it’s probably okay… Briar assumed. To be honest, she just wanted to eat her pizza before it went cold.

“So, what do you want?” Briar asked, still frowning as she tried to remember what the person’s name was.

“Ah! That’s right! I need your help, actually. Do you think you could lend me some money?” The girl asked.

Briar’s mind blanked. Money?

“What for?”

“Well, my room-mate suddenly started throwing things out of the house today and I’ve got no place to stay, so I know it seems a bit sudden, but could you lend me some money to rent a room at a hotel? Just for one night, please! I need a place for me and my children to stay until I can find another apartment!” She bowed, holding her folded hands out in front of her.

Briar blew air out of her nose, perplexed. She agreed that it wasn’t nice for the woman’s roommate to suddenly do such a thing, and it was the middle of winter. It would be bad if the children caught a cold.

Briar sighed. “All right. How much do you need?” She reached for her coat, as she didn’t have any extra cash after paying for the pizza. The pizza would just have to be warmed in the microwave that night.

“Just ten thousand yen! I’ll pay you back, I promise!” The woman said.

“All right, but we’ll need to go to an ATM so I can withdraw the money.” Briar replied.

“Okay!” The woman brightened up visibly.

On the walk to the ATM, she chatted with Briar about things that had happened. When they arrived at the ATM, the woman suddenly blustered.

“A-actually, could you lend me twenty thousand-no thirty thousand yen! I need to buy food for the children.”

Briar scratched her head…it really was a bad thing not to have food after all…Then she made the worst decision ever.

“…All right. But no more than that.” It would have to be cup ramen for the rest of the week then. Briar was secretly weeping inside. I won’t be able to get Aoki’s pizza for a while…

Handing over the money to the woman, she flashed a smile. “Thank you so much! I’ll return it as soon as I get my paycheck, I promise!” She said, before rushing off.

Briar did not realize the hell that she had just signed herself up for.

….

A week later:

“I’m sorry, but could you lend some money to me for gas! I had left my kids with my mother while I went to the store to buy groceries, but my mother drove out to Hokkaido with a friend who had lost their licence, got pulled over and caught by the police, and now I need to post bail to get my kids out! I promise I’ll return you the money!”

Briar lent the money to her. This time, the woman once more asked for more money as soon as they arrived at the ATM.

…

Another week later:

“Can I borrow your cell phone, oh, and this speaker thing? I need to call the hospital, since my child fell and broke his arm, but my phone is also broken, since he fell right on top of it, while slipping down the stairs. Also, can you lend me some more money for groceries? I promise I’ll return you the money!”

Briar was feeling rather annoyed, but kept it to herself. Certainly, next week the woman would pay her back, right?

…

Another week later:

“Can you give me some more money to pay for the hotel? We haven’t found a place yet, and the hotel is adamant that I pay them today, even though I get paid tomorrow! I promise I’ll pay everything back tomorrow.”

…This woman...is she even intending to pay me back!? Briar began to wonder to herself. But, in the spirit of forgiveness, she decided to be more lenient in their family’s hard time. Once more, the lady asked for twice as much once they reached the ATM.

…Do I even know her name?...

…

Another week later:

“Can you lend me some more money! I know I’ve not been able to pay for a while, now, but we’ve finally got our own place, and the landlady had asked for a deposit tonight! I’ll pay you back tomorrow, I promise!”

What is your name! I need to know what to put on your tombstone! Briar thought angrily. This time, the woman had cut so badly into Briar’s living expenses, that once all the bills were paid off, she wouldn’t have any food money.

I guess I can pay the student loans back next payment… She thought to herself.

Wait…she didn’t return my phone!!

…

Three months later:

Briar was fed up with that woman, who had borrowed more and more over the weeks until she had taken an entire month’s worth of paycheck money. She determined to get both her money and her cell phone back.

…

Two weeks later, and thirty thousand yen shorter, Briar came to a realization. The woman had had no intention of paying her back all along. The damned B**** had taken her along on ‘trips to pay back the money’ which turned into extorting more money from Briar with the promise to pay everything back ‘once her husband returned with the paycheck.’

By now, she didn’t even want to see her face anymore, but her phone was being held hostage. Her cell phone had all her contact numbers stored away on it. She could let go of the phone, but the contacts were the important part.

The worst part was when she was let waiting outside in the freezing cold, while her ‘friend’ went inside ‘just to grab her purse’. Briar was waiting for an entire hour before she came outside and said that she was ‘waiting on a text.’

Briar’s fury grew to the point where one Saturday, she simply sat at her computer, typing messages to her cell phone to make it ring without pause and annoy them enough to give it back to her. “Return it! Return it!” “Return my phone!” “You said you would pay me back weeks ago, do your promises and words mean nothing!” “Return my money!”

She was sick of the woman’s loose-ness with her hard-earned cash. In order to pay her bills, Briar taught at a Kendo dojo, and was paid about once every two weeks. The woman’s frequent visits had even cut into her electric bills.

During this time, Briar found out that the woman’s name was Coreen.

But that didn’t make her like the woman any more. Briar had even once seen Coreen go into a drug store one time and buy flavored lubricant right after Briar had given her money for ‘food’. At that point, something inside Briar snapped.

Briar was disgusted with the woman. But she needed to get her phone back! So, Briar came up with an elaborate plan…

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“I’m sorry, but could you—“

“Lend you some money? Sure!” Briar smiled cheerfully. And reached into her bag. Then she made a face. “Oh! Darn it! Where is it?” She frowned and looked through her gym bag moving things around.

“It’s not here! Oh No!” Briar said panicking.

“What! Are you sure? Look again!” Coreen said, now starting to worry a bit.

“...AH! Now that I think about it, I might have left it at the dojo!” Briar smacked her head.

Then she glanced worriedly at her wristwatch. “And it’s almost 5pm. Michael will be locking up in ten minutes! I need to call him to make sure that he doesn’t lock up before I get back there!”

The woman took out a different cell phone that Briar’s. Briar knew this because the woman had a touch screen I-phone, whereas Briar had a black flip-phone.

“Here! Don’t you know his number?!” She asked.

“Well…not exactly…” Briar groaned. “I had saved in onto my cell phone, so that I didn’t have to type it in every time, and now I can’t remember! If only I had my cell phone, I could call him!”

“Hang on! I’ll call my husband! He should have it on him.”

Seriously!!!!? YOU GAVE THE CELL PHONE I LENT YOU TO YOUR FRIGGIN HUSBAND!!!!

Briar clenched her fist, but continued acting, seeming worried. If they caught onto the act, then it might not “Do you think he’ll get here in time?”

“No worries, he lives right around the corner!”

Within five minutes, a car pulled up to the sidewalk, and a thin, boyish man got out of the driver’s seat, and handed Briar the phone, who grinned.

That’s one part down! She thought to herself. She ‘called’ Michael, and told him to leave the door unlocked, pocketing the phone. Then they hopped inside and drove to the dojo.

The lights were all off. Briar went into the building herself, leaving he two waiting outside. “You two wait out here. It shouldn’t be a minute.”

Briar had gone in one side of the building, but exited out the other side.

That night, she changed apartments, and left no way of contacting her with the landlord.

The rest she entrusted to an honest scammer who was rather adept at these sort of things. This particular scammer only scammed money out of people who did things like borrowing with no intention of repaying.

By the end of a month, Briar had received every last cent back.

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“Hey, Thera! Can you lend me some money?” Laura asked Thera.

Thera shuddered upon hearing those words. “Money? Why can’t you ask your mom? She probably has loads of money.”

“Mama said that I can’t have anymore allowance for this week. I only need to borrow a few hundred silvers!”

Thera shuddered again.

“Ah, sorry. I don’t have any more. I spent it all, too.” Thera lied. Actually, she had been slowly saving up for her future weapons, so she had no intention of making that pile go down that quickly.

“Rats! We’re so poor it isn’t funny!” Laura sighed.

Thera sighed too, remembering that awful day, with another shudder.

“On a side note, are you feeling a bit cold? You’ve been shivering for a while now. Let me check your temperature!” Laura said, trying to pretend to be a doctor.

Thera raised her hands up, fending off Laura’s question. “I’m fine, but it does feel a bit chilly, doesn’t it? Why don’t we head inside for today? The sun’s almost setting, after all, so mama will want to leave soon.”

“Double rats! I’ll have to wait a whole week to see you again. We’ve got to fix this system. Maybe if we pester them, our mothers will let us see each other twice a week!”

“For a five year old, you sure are a schemer.” Thera observed.

“What was that?” Laura asked, not having heard Thera.

“Nothing.”

The two girls ended their mini picnic under a tree in the Murlough estate, and walked back to the mansion.