Asa shuffles down her street, the buildings are high and tightly built together. The road is pot hole ridden and the side walk has cracks so big to the point where you could trip in them.
There were a few scraggily trees desperately trying to stand upright in various corners, and flickering street lamps overhead, rusty cars, broken cars, junk cars, lined both edges of the street, either stripped or waiting to be. People were poor here, unheard of people. They're hiding and squeezing together for survival at the least.
But this county wouldn't understand that. The poor and the weak, sick, and helpless are criminals here. So they hide in hopes for a better life someday - but really... how could life get better if you're constantly afraid if you'll be able to keep yours for much longer?
Asa coughs against the thick fumes of exhaust as she rounds a dark corner and makes her way around garbage strewn alleyway to climb a rusted fire escape. A siren wails somewhere; she hears a gun shot. Typical night around here. She climbs with deft limbs, despite the aches in her side, to the third floor. She pushes open the window and slides into the cold threadbare room.
The wall paint is peeling, the door is tilted off one hinge and the floorboards creak dangerously. It's not much, it's not anything really, and the air's condition was horrendous. But it was what they could manage.
"Grandpa? Grandpa you ok?" She calls, voice raspy from the dust as she walks into a tiny storage closet where her grandfather sleeps. His bed a cot on the floor, tucked against the cleanest, least moldy wall she could put him near.
He's laying still and for a horrible moment Asa's terrified he's died while she was working.
Then he lets out a soft wheeze and open his eyes, his scraggily beard doing little to hide his pale sweating face. It's a bad day then.
"Oh Grandpa - why didn't you tell me you were feeling badly." She sighs, fear prickling her heart as she leans down and pulls out a bowl of soup and medicine she managed to buy for her grandfather. Those three hundred dollars had gone to these few items.
"Drink." She holds two pills, helps sit him up and gives him the medicine with a glass of water.
He gulps it down forcefully, then coughs hard. His thin wiry body, shaking with the effort and Asa bites her lip to keep tears away as she tries to settle her grandfather in a relatively comfortable position so he can breathe easier and eat his soup.
"Where did you go today?" Grandpa asks, after he catches his breath, voice creaky and shaking.
"Working. A nice man - uh - he hired me to babysit his daughters. It pays well." She lies. She always lies, she doesn't want her grandfather to know about the shady undertakings she does to afford to care for him.
"That's nice." He says and sips his soup.
Asa helps him clean up before settling him to sleep. "Good night Grandpa."
"Night sweetheart."
Asa waits until he falls asleep. The medicine works decently enough. But she fears him becoming immune. They don't know what's wrong with him, they can't afford the hospitals. But a cheap consultation said he had feeble lungs.
Whatever that means.
Then he prescribed she steal this type of medicine. She got angry at the insinuation and forced the jerk out. Then did something almost as bad as stealing.
Putting herself for hire on the black market.
She sighs and crawls to her corner of the room, she peels off her tee shirt and looks in the cracked mirror they had, a nice old lady that died recently gave it to them. Her torso looked disgusting as always. The thick wide scars that crisscrossed her side and around her ribs where hideous.
Asa frowns and touches one running under her breast. That one hurt the most. She flinches. They healed, in a twisted gnarled way, but they still ached, the soreness was deep under her skin. It would likely be like that until she dies. She shudders and pulls on her only tank top. It had a hole in one side but it was the best she could do for now.
"Good night Grandpa." She whispers again even though he's snoring weakly in his closet.
~~~~~
A loud beeping in her ears wakes her up with a start. Asa fumbles for her patchwork phone with closed eyes, face buries in the stack of clothes she uses as a pillow, she groans until her fingers land on the thick set object of her search.
"Yes?" She yawns out tiredly, cracking one eye open, the sun was just barely peeking out from the buildings.
Too early.
"Where are you? I texted you five hours ago!" A sharp voice cuts into her sleep addled brain.
"Five - "Asa pulls the phone back and looks at the time. It was eight o clock. Five hours ago would have been - "Four in the morning? Are you nuts?" She scowls and sits up, crisscrossing her legs and rubbing at her mussed boy cut hair.
"Hello - business doesn't wait for sleep. Or did you get paid enough on the last job?" The voice snaps, clearly hopped up on caffeine and probably zero sleep.
"Wyly, what are you talking about right now?" Asa's brain was still being rude and waking up too slowly.
"A big one Asa. A real big fish. Hank knows this guy who knows this guy's friend who needs some sort of help with some kind of job."
Asa stands up, her back popping, she winces and looks over to the closet where her grandfather was sleeping, "That doesn't sound like a job, that sounds like a trap for enslavement." She hisses, tucking the phone between her face and shoulder so she can finger her puffy hair down.
"Ok, I admit it sounds fishy - but then, most stuff we get on GearGrinder is, but hey - I have it in good confidence, according to Hank, this guy is flaky but reliable in the money department." Wyly's smile is evident through her voice.
"I don't think so Wyly. Sorry I - "
"Eighty thousand."
Asa stumbles, her shirt stuck over her head. "What?"
"Eighty thousand when the job is done." Wyly clarifies. The smugness in her voice is obvious.
Asa pulls the phone away from her era and squints at it. This can't be right. Had someone actually heard her prayers and answered them or was this just some elaborate joke... maybe it's a dream?
"Say that one more time?"
"Eay - tee - thou - sand!"
Holly crap.
"You're kidding right? You know what that money could do for me Wyly . . .this joke isn't funny. It's cruel, even for you - it's -"
"True."
"How!"
"I checked the background. This guy's legit. He seems in desperate need for someone with your - er - skill set. He's willing to pay for it anyway. Soooo- I should just give it to Charlie then? Or Hank -though he didn't seem to need it right now - "
"Wait, wait, wait, wait. I gotta think for a second." Asa takes a deep breath, glances at her grandfather one more time and tip toes out of the room, closing the door softly behind her. "Ok - um - lemme... maybe meet with the employer first? Before I agree to any contracts or whatever. I - " She stops. It sinks in. "That's a lot of money."
"I know!"
"Tha - that's a lot of Money Wyly."
"Yes I Know, Asa – are you -"
"That could pay for - for everything I need, for everything Grandpa needs..." He voicer cracks at the thought.
"Asa?"
The girl stops speaking and forces her emptions under her mask of indifference. Ok - ok we're good. She clears her throat. "Let's see what I make of this guy. There's no need to get excited just yet." There, burst you own bubble before someone else does.
"Great, I'll set you up for a meeting at say - five?" Wyly offers helpfully.
"Yah - five is good." It's not too soon, she'll be able to get herself calm by then. "Thanks Wyly."
"No Prob - oh and Hank says to give you one warning though."
The words make Asa cringe, she shouldn't have thought there wasn't a catch. "Yah?"
"You might need to kick his ass a bit in the beginning - just in case."
"Wha - "
"Ok bye!"
Asa flinches and stares at her blank phone in her hand... kick his - what?
Something uncomfortable settles in her gut.
Eighty thousand dollars - was she really going to do this . .. for -
Oh, who was she kidding.