Page 5 of Bloody Quarter

“No, I just can’t sleep. Sometimes, the ghosts speak too loud and keep me awake. Besides, your spot is safe. I asked Paula to watch your stuff.”

Maybe somebody else would’ve thought he was crazy for talking about ghosts, but I knew what he meant. I had too many of my own, and they all liked to take turns torturing my mind.

“Thanks, Rex. I don't know what I would do without you,” I said, laying my hand on his shoulder.

“Keep your head up. Big things are on the horizon for you. I can feel it.” His smile was warm and genuine, but I couldn’t bring myself to believe he was right. Nothing good ever happened to me without it being ripped away. Whether it was my fault or someone else’s didn’t matter. It always ended the same way.

“Maybe I’ll get that new house soon, and then you can move in, and you’ll owe me,” I said, making him laugh, but my smile turned to concern when he began to cough. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, stop fussing over me. It’s just a cold. You go on and head in. I’ll be along in a little while.”

I didn't want to leave him out here alone, but he turned his back on me and slowly walked away, effectively ending the conversation and telling me precisely what he thought of my worry.

Wandering across the road to the shelter, I opened the door and headed down the dimly lit hallway. A few of the people, like Rex and Paula, had become my family. Jerome was manning the counter, and I nodded to him as I walked through the doors to the sleeping and eating area. Almost everyone was curled up on their sides or their backs on the low cots. Belongings were either stowed beneath them or clutched to their chests. The few precious items that each of us had felt like pieces of gold. A new pair of socks, a stick of deodorant, or a protein bar didn’t mean much to me in the past, but living on the street humbled me more than even prison could.

I spotted a woman I didn’t recognize bent over my cot, rummaging through my bag. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Running up, I yanked my bag away and clutched it to my chest. “That’s mine. Give it back,” I said as I spotted the watch in her hand.

“It’s not yours now, I found it. Rules are rules. What you find, you get to keep. What’s left alone is no longer yours.”

“I’ve been here for a year, and I’ve never even seen you around. This is my spot. Paula was keeping an eye on my stuff for me.” I glared at the woman, furious that she’d violated my few belongings and the bit of privacy that I clung to.

“I don’t know who Paula is, and it doesn't matter how long you’ve been here. The rules of the street don’t change.” She went to put my sister’s watch in her pocket, and I grabbed her.

“You’re not taking that watch.”

She jerked on her arm, but I refused to let go. “Yes, I am. Let go of me.”

“No, not until you give me back my watch,” I commanded.

“Help, help, assault,” she yelled, waking everybody up. “Let go of me, you thief. Stop trying to steal my watch.”

“Your watch? It’s not your watch. It’s mine. Anyone who’s been here longer than the few minutes you have can tell you that.”

“What’s going on here,” Paula asked as she ran out from the back, wiping her hands on a dish towel.

“This thief is trying to steal my watch,” the woman said, pulling on her arm again. I wasn’t letting her go. She was liable to run for the door, and there was no way she was leaving this building with my sister’s watch in her dirty grasp.

Paula looked to me for an explanation. “I caught her rummaging through my things, and she has my sister’s watch. I'm not letting her leave this building with it.”

“You can’t prove where I got this watch,” she snarled.

“Wanna bet? Paula, take the watch and look at the back. There will be an inscription that says, Evie, Happy 13th B’day,” I said.

Walking over, Paula held out her hand. “No, I don’t need to prove anything,” the woman argued.

“Actually, you do. Inside these walls is a safe space for everyone who stays here, including yourself, but we do not condone stealing. If this watch is truly yours, then you have nothing to fear,” Paula said.

The unknown woman looked between the two of us and then around at all the eyes watching. “Whatever, it’s a broken piece of junk anyway. Take it.” She held the watch out to me, and I took it from her hand before I let her go. Flipping it over, I showed the inscription to her and Paula. “Whatever,” she said and turned to walk away.

“Jerome, please escort our new guest out,” Paula said. “You will not be allowed back here for seventy-two hours, and if you do something like this again, you will be banned for life.”

“Like I’d want to come back to this dump,” she snarled as Jerome grabbed her bag and walked the woman out the door. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’m so sorry, hun. I was taking advantage of everyone being asleep to get some breakfast meal prep done. I genuinely didn’t think that anyone in here would become a problem.”

“It’s okay, Paula, I understand. It’s just that this is the last thing that I have of my sister. I couldn’t let her take it.” I rubbed my thumb over the inscription on the back of the watch before turning it over to look at the cracked face. Sadness flowed through my body, and I had the strongest urge to break my sobriety. Then again, I always did when I thought about my sister.

Paula patted my shoulder. I watched her as she headed into the back and then sat down on my cot. Some days were just harder than others, and today was one of those days I would be happy when it was over. Closing my eyes, I tried to fall asleep, but the moment my lids shut, all I saw was the worst moment of my life all over again. There would be no sleep for me tonight.