The Queen Imperial

Chapter 11

"Throw everything out! Don't leave a single thing inside, I don't care what it is just throw them all out!"

Anne-Marie hurried as fast as she could to the house. She could hear the crashing sounds followed by the loud yells coming from her house. She didn't need to take a second guess to know what was going on. It was Agatha lashing out again, her landlady but this time, she wasn't just yelling or throwing a fit like she usually did, she was evacuating her from her house.

She had totally forgotten, forgotten that her rent was long overdue and her landlady had let her off with a warning one time too many. Agatha wasn't exactly a patient lady neither was she nice enough or considerate. She was stern and when she needed her money, she made sure she always got it. She'd have if Keisha had not robbed Anne-Marie in broad daylight.

It had been a long morning for Anne-Marie and also a long night before since she had spend the entire night searching for Keisha. All she needed was to get her money back, for Abel's treatment and her rent. According to Keisha's mum, she didn't come home that night and she wasn't in any of the famous places she went to with her friends, she wasn't home or in school that morning too. Anne-Marie had searched everywhere she could think of. It was like she didn't exist anymore.

Reporting to the police was not even an option. She knew better than to do that. Keisha's father was in the force. He was a senior lieutenant and was probably not going do anything to indict his daughter especially when her reputation and his was at stake.

Being publicly identified as a thief could mean a lot to a lot of people, especially Keisha. It could mean she could have issues getting a job or getting into any college in Breton. In a world where those in power didn't step on the masses, in a world where people like her had the full protection of the law, where the law wasn't discriminatory to people like her, the really low class, maybe, just maybe she would have gone to the police for help. Anne-Marie knew she was on her own at this point. Finding Keisha was something she had to do on her own but first, first she needed to stop all those men from throwing all her and Abel's belongings outside, including their clothes.

Thank God Mickey had gotten the news on time and told her about it, but by the time she reached the house, it was too late. Half of everything she and Abel owned was already strewn across the front yard and the stairs. Their belongings—their lives—lay scattered in the dirt, for all the neighbors to see. It was humiliating. Pots and pans clanged together, Abel's small medicine cabinet and bedside table lay on their sides, the worn-out mattress that had cradled their exhausted bodies so many nights now looked pathetic and abandoned. Clothes were everywhere, spilling out of the battered suitcase Anne-Marie had painstakingly packed.

She bent down quickly, trying to shove the clothes back into the suitcase, her hands trembling as she tried to close it. But it was no use; the men kept tossing more and more onto the pile, burying her efforts under the weight of their careless hands.

"Throw them all out! Hurry!" Agatha's voice croaked like an angry frog, her command sharp and unyielding.

Anne-Marie couldn't take it anymore. She staggered to her feet and rushed over to Agatha, desperation clinging to her like a second skin.

"Madam Agatha," she began, her voice trembling but steady, trying to muster any ounce of dignity she had left. "Please, just one more month. That's all I ask, I promise I'll get your rent ready by then. Just please, give me one more month."

Agatha scoffed, not even bothering to look at her. Her arms folded behind her back, she kept her focus on the men doing her bidding.

"I need this house empty and clean, new tenants could be moving in any minute."