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and enjoy the shelter while it lasted.
    What was the point, anyway? Why work so damn much if it wasn’t going to be enough in the end? I might as well get as much rest as I can now, because I damn sure wouldn’t be getting it on the street and I didn’t have any friends or family to turn to.
    My legs and arms ached from the long shift last night. The first bit of grey light started to peak into my bedroom from between the two heavy curtains.
    The clock said six fourteen. Less than four hours ago I was counting out my till at the bar. It didn’t seem fair.
    Bang! Bang! Bang!
    Three loud knocks rattled the picture frames on my walls.
    What the hell? Who would be here just after six in the morning?
    I pulled the pillow over my face and cursed into it. If it was the property management people again, they were going to need some heavy artillery to get me out of here. I had four more days left and I was determined to be here for every last one of them.
    I waited for a follow up knock but it never came. The blankets were begging me to pull them up over my head and ignore the rest of the world. That’s exactly what I would have done if the curiosity hadn’t been clawing at me.
    My toes sunk into the plush bedroom carpet. Leaving the warmth of the bed was more difficult than I’d anticipated. I grabbed a hoodie off the floor and wrapped it around my waist. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked well enough to keep my legs warm. I’d worry about finding pants if someone were still at the door.
    A cool breeze from through the cracked kitchen window chilled my bare shoulders.
    I crept up next to the street-side window. I figured out shortly after moving in that it was easy to see whoever was at the door from the side. If you knew just the right angle, you could see through without having to move anything. It was a helpful little trick when Jared’s crazy ex-girlfriend decided she wanted to come by at all hours of the day and night.
    There was no one standing at the door. Could it have been a salesman? Not likely this early in the morning. Maybe it was an early rising Jehovah’s Witness. But that didn’t seem right either.
    Cautiously making my way toward the door, I wondered if it was even worth a second look. What if someone was out there? Maybe walking back to their car… if they saw the door open, I’d have to stay and talk to them.
    There was nothing to gain. I don’t know why, but I opened the door anyway. I peeked around the corner to see… nobody. What was I expecting?
    Just as I was about to let the door swing shut, something caught the corner of my eye. A brown paper bag, sitting square in the middle of the generic door mat that Jared bought for me when we moved in.
    I poked my head further outside and cast a suspicious glance in either direction. Not a soul was around.
    The paper bag was rolled tightly shut. On closer inspection, there appeared to be some kind of note taped to the outside.
    I’m not sure what was scaring me. It’s not like someone would leave a bomb outside my front door. And if so, this certainly wasn’t the type of delivery system you would expect.
    In one swift motion, I snatched it off the ground and pulled it inside. When the door pushed shut I snapped the deadbolt into place.
    It was lighter than I expected it to be. The note was on a small folded over piece of paper. It looked like it had been torn from a flyer, like one you might find stuck under your car’s windshield wiper.
    “Use this for whatever you need. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”
    It wasn’t signed, but it didn’t need to be. The note was scrawled in Jared’s unmistakable sloppy handwriting.
    My heart was beating in my throat.
    The bag tore down the middle under the tug of my fingers. A wad of rolled up cash tumbled out, falling at my feet.
    Whoa.
    I picked it up and bounced it in my open palm while I re-read the note.
    …Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.
    What did he mean by that? Was he in trouble?
    I