My toes dig into the bottom of my torn shoes. I can feel every indent, peak, and strewn rubble of the concrete below. I dig my fingers into my stomach as it screams for food. I've been cutting back this past month to put everything I made into my debt, the rest going to savings. One loaf of stale bread from the clearance section has kept me from dying. 

I tried food banks. Begged on my knees for them to help me, but my father had me black listed on any local location. Not even churches could help me without fear of my father. So here I am, starving in the waiting lobby of a dingy office space. A very thin woman, only because of her personal addictions, steps out and greets me. Velma reads across her name tag, but two days before she was someone else, "Come on in kid, I don't got all day." 

"Yes ma'am." I barely get past my chattering teeth. Even with the summer sun beating through the room, with my lack of food I can't get my body temperature to warm up. Nothing helps, even piles of blankets that I've stolen from dumpsters, "I'm here about the apartment you have available?" 

"Quit chattering and sit down. I have the space heater rolling, but those bones would take a lava pool to quit moving." She offers a cigarette, one that I refuse. Velma gives a smile, multiple teeth missing. I attempt to keep myself together, but the chill settles racking through my body, "It's still available, but kid looking over your income... well there ain't none." 

"I work as a waitress, I included my deposits." I point to the green lines on my account statement she has laid out over her desk. Her eyes look up, then back down. 

"Not saying you're poor or anything, but this amount comes up less than the cheapest rent I'd be willing to offer. You really trying to pull one on me child?" The end of her cigarette burns bright red, smoke blown over the room. I choke on the smell coughing into my arm. The woman doesn't stop however, just keeps watching how I react until she drops her shoulders, "You look like you've been through it." 

"Just trying to get a place to live." I look over my shoulder, then back to her. The wall behind me is covered in a substance that I'm choosing not to ask about, "Life is life." I tug down the sleeve on my right arm. It covers the deep blues and yellows that scatter over my arm. 

"Let me make a call real quick. Sit there, and grab a menu or something. I'll buy you lunch." She grabs a handful of take out menus dropping them in my lap. They're all well used, some more than others. I grab one that's almost falling apart from all the folds in the paper. Her offer is nice, but I won't get my hopes up that she was being genuine. 

It was a few moments before she returned, her jaw set, and a fresh cigarette hanging from her lips, "Alright you got it." 

"What?" I snap my head to her. My hands drop the take out menu. I believe I've heard her wrong and she's actually telling me to run from this office as fast as my legs will take me, but that isn't the case. Velma pushes a piece of paper across the desk, a pen thrown over the top, "You're serious?" 

"Some goddess is watching over you child. Turns out I can drop the rent at just below affordable for you. It's a one time offer, child. Sign today, or you'll be back on the streets." 

"What's the deposit?" I go to grab my wallet, but the woman raises her hand to stop me. 

"You eat a full meal and be moved in my the end of the day. It isn't nice in the slightest, but it's warm. The last tenant left some furniture, so you'll at least have somewhere to put your head." She taps the take out menus, "You pick one yet?" 

Tears stream from my eyes, I can't handle it. I'm running around the table pulling her into a hug before she has the chance to shove me off. She only argued for a moment, but changed her stance to pat my arms while I cried into her hair, "Thank you so much." 

"Just promise me kid. Whoever done did this to you one day will pay." 

I drop to my knees with promise, "I'll make sure of it." 

I hadn't know at the time how much he'll break me, nor was I prepared for the pain he intended to give, but I was happy for that second. That moment that someone finally offered me a hand. It's humbling, you know. When you've been given everything, then it's all ripped away. I've never been so appreciative of a person, especially someone I would've stepped around if I saw them in public just a month before. 

. 

. 

. 

.