Landlord: Rent is due on the first, Sarah.
Sarah: I have half of it today, Mr. Vance.
Landlord: Half is not enough for this apartment.
Sarah stood in the tiny hallway of a rundown apartment building. The smell of old grease filled the dim corridor. Her boys slept inside on a thin mattress placed on the floor.
Sarah: I get paid from my cleaning job on Friday!
Landlord: You have until Friday morning or you are out.
Sarah closed the creaky apartment door and leaned her back against it. Tears pricked her tired eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She needed to stay strong for Toby and Leo.
She picked up a shift at a local diner downtown. She washed dirty dishes for eight hours straight. Her hands grew red and raw under the hot soapy water. Every dollar went toward cheap groceries and simple clothes for her children.
Manager: You missed a spot on that table, Sarah.
Sarah: I will wipe it again right away, sir.
Manager: Work faster or I will find someone else.
Sarah: Yes, sir. I understand.
She worked until her feet felt completely numb. Late at night, she sat at the small kitchen table. She opened an old notebook to list every unpaid bill. The numbers seemed totally impossible to pay off.
The bank was suing Mark's estate for outstanding personal loans. Since Sarah was his legal wife, bill collectors called her phone constantly. They demanded cash she simply did not possess.
Collector: You owe over fifty thousand dollars, Mrs. Miller.
Sarah: I didn't take those loans! Mark did!
Collector: You signed the joint mortgage papers years ago.
Sarah: He forged my signature on those recent papers!
Collector: That is for a judge to decide in court.
Sarah hung up the phone and buried her face in her bruised hands. She remembered Mark's final words in the quiet hospital room. He had whispered something about the old attic right before he died.
At the time, she thought it was just the delirium from his severe fever. But what if he had been trying to tell her something real? What if there was something hidden up in that old suburban house?
The foreclosed property was scheduled for a public auction in three days. The bank owned the structure, but Sarah still had her key. She decided she had to go back one last time before the auction.
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