The Deal Maker (Book I)

Chapter Four - Vampires

                                                                              Chapter Four

                                                                                 Vampires

Never in my life have I been as happy as I was now. Even scrubbing a man’s toilet with bleach was better than my entire childhood. I’m not going to lie, David and I have had our fights in the past three weeks of living together. We fought about pointless things such as expiration dates of foods—he kept milk two weeks after its expiration date—and about where I placed his stuff at when I cleaned. We were like siblings when it came to chores or meals. I would cook breakfast and he would tell me that he was craving something else and thus would fix himself whatever he wanted. After I would scrub the dishes, he’d pile his dirty dishes in the sink and not into the dishwasher. Yet, as frustrating as it was, I have never been happier.

My living arrangements were rather simple. I slept on the couch—he argued about it and tried to get me a bed—and I even have my own shelf in his cramped red bathroom. The smell of burnt toast was welcoming to me because it reminded me of home. This was my home. It may not be fancy or even desirable to live in, but I wouldn’t choose anywhere else. That’s why it pained me to begin my job search. David never pushed me about it, but I knew I had to earn an income to find my own place to live. Unfortunately, almost every job requires you to graduate high school. I didn’t. So that brought on a whole new list of issues, ending in yet another argument with David. He insisted I get my GED, I told him it was pointless and that I should just find jobs that don’t require them. He won the fight and signed me up for some online courses.

After all of this, I was still convinced that I could get a job without studying. After spending a very, very simple Christmas—consisting of Chinese food and movies, better than every one of my Christmases—I went into the city with only David’s old bicycle and a extremely short resume consisting of a fast food place I worked at for a few months back when I was sixteen. I knew my chances were slim, but I’d do anything to not have to study. I dropped out of high school because of it. Why go through that again? I went inside of a nice retail shop and filled out an application. Judging by the looks I got from a few of the employees, my chances were low. I should have a pantsuit or skirt for this, but I lacked in clothes or anything nice.

My evening ended with me filling out a total of five applications and riding the bicycle home. David informed me of his schedule—he works at night—and said to eat whenever. I liked eating whenever because it was an option I’ve never had before. I placed the bike into the small garage and went inside the dark and musky smelling house. My bag was tossed into the corner of the living room while I dug through the fridge until I found a meatloaf I made a few days back. Something I’ve learned after living in a house is that my cooking skills are just as horrible as David’s. I popped it into the microwave and then smothered it in ketchup.

For some strange reason I felt colder than usual. My body shook as I adjusted the thermostat up and waited for the heat to kick on. I placed my plate into the dishwasher and flipped on cartoons—pretty much the only thing I watch—as I cleaned up a bit for David.

“Joanna,” a voice spoke softly, causing me to drop a can of furniture polish.

“David? Jumping out and scaring me is a dumb idea! Remember the split lip I gave you last time!” I called harshly and sat the can onto the TV.

There wasn’t a reply, and this only made me angrier.

“David? I swear if you’re behind a door…” I suddenly froze in place, every hair stood on my body. Something was wrong.