Lever Loss

By Stephen

She pulled the lever again and again, each time coming up with the same result. But, she just couldn't stop. It was if her hand reached involuntarily into her pocket to pull out the next twenty, the machine eating her into poverty. And finally, she's out. No more. And by no more I don't mean no more in her pocket, I mean no more. Period. That was it, the entire paycheck. All the money she had in the bank.

The rent, the groceries. "When is this going to stop?" she asks herself. This is her third month of missed rent. She'll be ousted by the end of this week. But she can't help it, it's as if all these worries disappear when she first takes her seat on the cushioned chair in the beautiful casino world. Beautiful bright lights everywhere, drawing your eye to it from the street. Sucking you in. She may as well head to her apartment and start packing now, there's no use trying to prolong the inevitable. It isn't like she has much anyways, just her air mattress, a lamp ,and some books. She gets home about 3 a.m., thinks about packing but then falls asleep.

She awakens to a loud knocking on her door, it's the landlord. She's later than she thought, the rent was due two days ago. He wants her out by the end of the day. Well, it's good luck, she's already got the boxes, it's not the first time she's had to get her stuff out in less than a day. Takes her a few hours to pack up, only because she wants to stay in the heat long as she can.  It's cold outside, but she's got her sweater and her coat. She'll be fine. She only knows one shelter so that's where she heads right away, but they're all full up. They refer her to this hole in the wall down the street, but it's full too. Looks like a night in the park.

Takes her about five minutes to get to the park, and much to her dismay, there's only one open bench, and it's the one closes to the bad side of the park. But, she'll take it. Anywhere to get off her feet and get some sleep. It's about 2 in the morning when she's abruptly awakened by some man with crazy, empty eyes shaking her. He's speaking wildly, screaming about thoughts he can't seem to piece together. She gets up and walks the runs. She runs until she feels safe, as safe as you can be on the streets anyways. She walks the rest of the night through, looking for somewhere toget some shelter. It's around 11 later that mornin when a husband opens his door to find her on his stoop. He shakes her, nothing. He tries to talk in her ear, wake her up. Nothing.