Read PS01 - Tall, Dark & Lonely for Free Online Page B

later
    that night in matching outfits. If her grandmother hadn’t stepped in she would have pressed charges.
    This was probably why her grandmother made the statement about her money in the living room. Madison asked her
    grandmother without giving too many details to open an account for her at the local bank. She did and thankfully set up online
    access for the account. Grandma thought of everything. Now she just had to make sure that Jill and Candy didn’t get their hands
    on her new debit card or account information.
    It was still midmorning by the time she was done bringing her things up. She liked having her own entrance. She didn’t have to
    haul her meager possessions through the house and up the stairs and down the hall like everyone else.
    She took another look around her room. Not surprising that it was dusty since no one had used this room in two years. Their
    small hallway could use a bit of a cleanup as well, she decided. Both areas smelled dusty. Her neighbor as she liked to think of
    him asked Grandma not to allow anyone in this part of the house. Her Grandmother readily agreed. She felt a man should have
    his privacy. Well, a police detective should at least. Madison had a feeling that Grandma didn’t feel the same way about her
    other renters. There were five in total counting her neighbor, two women and three men.
    “Damn it.” She forgot to find out her neighbor’s name. She had no plans of bothering him. He wanted to be left alone and she
    wanted to feel alone. She sighed on the next breath. “Oh well.” She got over things easily. It was the only way to tolerate
    Candy and raise two children.
    “Now let’s see, she said the vacuum cleaner was in the closet.” She opened her closet and nodded. Sure enough it was there.
    “And the cleaning supplies are in the bathroom.” It still felt weird that she was sharing a bathroom with a strange man, but
    beggars couldn’t be choosy. It was a new experience, she told herself.
    She opened the bathroom door and gagged. It was a new experience all right. The bathroom looked as though it hadn’t been
    cleaned in years, two probably. She pulled the top of her shirt over her mouth so that she could breathe while she made her
    way to the window above the toilet. She yanked it open, desperate for fresh air.
    With that done she slowly turned around and took in the horror. This was a massacre on hygiene. The room smelled of mold,
    mildew, body odor, dirty clothes, public toilet and dozens of stale cardboard air car fresheners. The combined odor was vomit
    inducing. She looked around the room. Hanging off every available surface was an air freshener. Some looked pale and old
    while others looked bright green. That explained the car smell.
    In the corner a large pile of damp mold covered towels took up residence. The pile came up to her hips. This would not do at
    all. She kicked the pile and gagged when the top of the pile dumped over onto the ground, leaving a rotten pile of black slimy
    fabric. This was the perfect setting for a horror movie.
    She moved her attention to the toilet and quickly away. The rings in the toilet were a dark red tint, strange. The toilet was
    covered with grime and smelled bad. The sink was covered in hard soap scum, dirt, and upon closer inspection she discovered
    beard trimmings were trapped against the counter in some weird street grunge mosaic. Old rusty razors covered the counter
    with other discarded trash. Madison looked down at the trash can and laughed. The small trash can was brand new. Well, it
    had a small layer of dust, but other than that it was the cleanest thing in the bathroom.
    She dreaded turning around and seeing the tub. She already knew the floor needed scrubbing, desperately. The tub as she
    dreaded was an equal match for the sink. There was no trash here. Instead there were several high piles of discarded soap bits.
    It was scary. She would have nightmares for years after this experience.
    Her grandmother said