One.

ISHTAR.

"I hate it so much when those billionaire families come on TV to shove their wealth in our faces!" I spat, tying my hair by the mirror while the static sound of the television filled the room.

"Right?" Abby quizzed, darting her gaze toward it. "What kind of name is Kincaid anyway, and why must we be aware that he's taking over PRIDES conglomerate?"

"Like it even is my business," I groaned, rolling my eyes. "Let's sell the television, Abby. You're leaving anyway. I'd search for a job immediately after."

Abby stood up, walked to the TV, and slapped the top of it. It made a violent, roaring noise. The impact resounded through the walls of the room. "This thing? Sell this thing?"

I shrugged. "For a few bucks? I mean, it has to be worth something, right? We're out of everything edible." I rubbed my belly. "I could eat you right now, Abby…but you probably taste like cobwebs and mint."

Abby's brow furrowed, and she contemplated giving me a response for a while. Next to her was her bag, basically everything she owned, and it was ready to go, probably forever.

Abby glanced at the TV once more, then at me. She shook her head. "Nah, this shit is worth nothing. It'd crumble the moment you tried to lift it."

"I'd sell the good parts of it, then."

"There are no good parts of it," Abby responded again. "You stole this off the roadside." She mouthed as if I didn't remember.

"Took, not stole," I corrected as I settled on the wooden bench— that was also my bed. My legs were on the armrest, and I flashed Abby a smug grin. "Thanks to me, we can watch news about billionaires."

"Show off," She scoffed. This time she tried to lift the TV that weighed no less than a carton of cotton candy.

The moment her hands were firm around the frame and she attempted to pull it up, it departed from the rest of the body and made a loud, banging sound.

I snickered. "Well, that's quite the response."

Abby burst into a peal of laughter, pushing her wild locs away from her face as she sat next to me. The chair creaked the moment she settled, and I moved to the right edge of it.

Two people couldn't be seated in the middle, or it'd crumble— we've managed for two years, nothing we couldn't handle.

"Woah, don't ruin it completely!"

"It won't be of much use anyways. We have to move out today, Ishtar. It doesn't seem like Chick would listen to us this time."

I sighed frustratedly. "My plan is to get the job," I responded briskly because I didn't want her to hear the doubt in my voice.

There was no assurance that I was going to get 'the' job, or a job, at all. That never worked out because of my lack of qualifications. I'd known that for two years of trying.

"When is your interview supposed to be?"

It was morning. I glanced at the wall clock, and it said afternoon. It was broken again.

"The clock, ah! Even after I got new batteries!"

"You stole the batteries from an old biker's radio," Abby said, laughing.

"Which makes it new for our buddy here!" I pointed to the clock. I fluttered my eyes shut and sighed again. Opening them, I said, "Wild guess? In about an hour or two?"

"In about an hour or two," she mouthed, "Same amount of time I have to catch the train," she steadied herself against the chair and tilted her body till she was fully turned to me. "Do you want to come with me?"

I expected this question and have tried to avoid it since the owner of the room we stayed in gave us an ultimatum that ended today.

I've known Abby for two years. She was the first person I'd met when I walked out of the orphanage at eighteen. Since then, we've sailed through thick and thin together.

Now, life was prying us apart— I wouldn't say that was a new thing. Abby was headed back to her hometown. She ran away from home at sixteen. Now she was running back there. How ironic.

I shook my head. "No, Abby…I know I'd find something. I don't know how, but I will."

"Do you want to sleep on the streets then?"

"Would it be the first time? We spent two months in paper blankets. Don't you dare forget that," I teased, and we both laughed at the horrible memory.

"...but— what if you don't get the job? It's just being a sales rep at a convenience store. You're not qualified; hell, you didn't even finish high school!"

"Oh my! I didn't? Remind me," I teased again.

Abby scowled. "Take this seriously. I won't be at peace leaving you all by yourself. I'd wait for you to go for the interview. If you don't get it, I will stay, and we can keep suffering here."

I sighed once again. Sighing was becoming one of the things I was best at, asides from taking things that people carelessly left. Not stealing, don't call it stealing.

"I won't let you do that, okay? First, we go to the train station and get you in that vehicle. The rest of the world can wait, Abby. Today is all about you!"

"It's not. It really isn't. I'm concerned. If you don't get the job, you lose the house, too. Chick wants us out by tonight. We've not paid him for the last year and a half. What are you going to do?" Abby's voice was genuinely laced with concern.

I hated to see her that way or to be one that made her that way. The poor thing has had her share of the world's misfortune.

"I will get the job," I affirmed. "I know I will."

"You're sure they'd let you stay after getting it, right?"

"Yeah, accommodation was mentioned on the flier. I'd definitely get the job."

"When you do, don't steal candy, okay?"

"Can't promise you nothing." I grinned.

"Take something more valuable. As long as no one gets hurt."

"You sly thing!" I rubbed her cheeks. "As long as no one gets hurt!"

"I'm going to miss you, Ishtar. I'm going to miss you so much," Abby cooed, her big, brown eyes boring into the hazel of mine.

I pulled her into a side hug that caused me to be in the middle of the bench, and it came crumbling down into two pieces.

Our butts hit the ground hard, and we laughed till tears spilled from our eyes.

"Your dress is ripped, Ishtar," Abby said, and I looked at it.

The torn part gave it a daring slit by the side, which could pass for a design.

"It's a new style now," I pulled the edge. "See?"

"You cheapskate! Go change!"

"You adore me!" I chimed.

"You bet I do. You bet I do."

It was in the bad memories; the good ones were. I'd miss her too, so badly, and I didn't know what the next chapter of my life would hold.

Or if I even had a life.

#

You called it. I didn't get the job— and I expected that much. What I didn't expect was for the owner to be rude fuck who suggested using other 'means' to replace my lack of qualification.

I wouldn't fuck the old hag if he had the last dick on earth. It was evening already, and the environment was dipped in the golden hue of the setting sun.

A few more hours and Chick would have my things out— this wouldn't be the first time, but it was certainly the last.

The closer I was to the apartment, the faster my heart thudded. I had seen Abby off to the train station. She was gone.

I didn't cry. Yet.

I tore open the chocolate bar I'd ripped off a high schooler by the railway and stuffed my mouth with it. The chocolate bar would be the first thing I tasted today that wasn't my saliva.

Fuck, I was hungry. I didn't need much. Just a house, a job, and unlimited money. That seemed a bit far-fetched. I didn't even care to be happy or sad. As long as I survived this day, I was good to go.

As anticipated. Chick was waiting for me at the front of the apartment, a cigar in his mouth. I stared at his tall frame and saw the school bag in his hands.

It was mine— the only thing I owned. This was it. I inhaled sharply and walked to him, the floor seeming wobbly with every step I took.

"Here, get out," Chick said as he threw the bag at me. "Y'all don wrecked me already. Got a new tenant, and she willin' n rich as fuck!"

I eyed him. "It's sad that someone would let you put your thing in them, you brute."

"People dying for this dick. I don't know why you not taking it. I smash, and you don't pay, ain't it simple, Isitar?"

"Ishtar." I corrected him. " And you're disgusting. Keep your half a sausage in your fucking pants."

"All your panties have holes. I packed them good!" He pointed to the bag that I was rummaging through.

I said nothing, just satisfied that my items were complete. I walked about three feet away from him and turned. "Hey, Chick? Lend me two dollars?"

"Get the hell out of here, bitch!" He barked at me, and I snickered. Life was so fucked up sometimes. "Leave me the fuck alone!"

"Like your mom did?" I retorted and stuck out my tongue at him before running off the block.

My stomach had already begun to digest itself. I might have to visit that convenience store to 'take' things.

Just this once.