Fated to the Beast

Two sizeable black travel bags were tossed onto the paved road that had just finished raining. One of the bags rolled twice before stopping right in front of a girl's pair of legs.

The girl in the black knee-length coat standing in the middle of the street looked down and checked the bag in front of her feet.

"This is my bag, you bastard!" she growled. "Who dares to do this to my belongings?" she said, annoyed as she stood up again, staring at the open door of his apartment.

Some books, clothes, and other objects can be seen being thrown into the streets just like that. Swearing and swearing came from the girl's old apartment.

Annoyed that her personal belongings were dumped on the street, the girl immediately ran to check on the culprit. From inside her apartment appeared a fat woman who was angry and cursed while carrying the last thing that belonged to the girl.

"Mrs Puff? What are you doing in my house?" protested the girl annoyed.

"What am I doing, you say? Are your eyes blind? Obviously you saw I was cleaning this apartment to rent out to someone else!" shouted Puff with a pointing hand.

The girl had difficulty speaking because of the shock. "You have violated my privacy. You broke into my house without permission and destroyed my personal belongings!" she protested.

"You stupid girl! You've been in arrears on rent for six months straight and now you're complaining to me?"

"But, Mrs Puff, this is not how it should be! I will definitely pay the rent!" said the girl as she picked up the things back to avoid getting wet.

"Every day for the past month, you've been telling me the same thing! All your promises are fake! I've had enough of you, Little Pig! Better get rid of your disgusting things and get your feet out of here!"

Braak!

Slammed the door to the old apartment before the girl's eyes and locked it from the outside. The fat woman stomped away, leaving the girl alone with tears in her eyes.

"Rain?" scolds one of the girl's neighbours. "You are okay?" The young man who came on a bicycle helped pick up Rain's belongings scattered on the street.

Rain couldn't help but sob. "Yeah, I'm fine, Ben! Just ignore me," Rain said as she picked up her things and put them in her bag.

All the residents of the old apartment looked at Rain with dull eyes. Neither of them felt pity or stepped in to help the girl.

"You can stay at my place tonight," Ben offered.

"No, Ben, thanks. I've troubled you too much. Mrs Puff wouldn't like it if she still saw me hanging around here."

"She has no right to do that!" cried Ben. "I've already rented it. I'm free to take anyone there including you!"

"Yeah, that wouldn't be good for you, Ben. What will your lover say when suddenly she visits and sees me with all my things in your apartment?"

"Gosh, Rain, you know I don't have any girlfriends or women who will come to this dilapidated place! Come on, I'll help carry your things to my place!"

Ben stood up and picked up Rain's bag and belongings strewn across the street. Ben led her into his own apartment. The young man didn't care even though Rain refused and tried to prevent him from transporting the things to his apartment.

Rain just stood still in the middle of the road, staring at Ben, who was walking away. The young man trudged along with two large bags in his hands. In the sky, the clouds still lingered. The wind that contained water vapour blew very hard.

Rain cursed because her knee-length skirt was almost revealed. She held the hem of the dress with both hands. Her long, curly brown hair is also a mess.     

"Gosh, if it weren't for Ben, maybe tonight I'd be homeless and have to sleep on the storefront."

Some of the trash was rolled up in the wind. Rain stopped again when Rain tried to run after Ben to the apartment. An old newspaper swept away by the wind wrapped around her feet.

Rain picked up the newspaper and slipped it into her coat pocket. She thought I'll throw it away when I found the trash can.

Rain looked behind Ben's apartment door. The narrow room instantly became increasingly cramped with a pile of Rain's belongings.

"I promise to find a new place soon!" Rain said it with a tone of shyness and shyness to Ben.

"Oh come on, Rain. Are you dealing with strangers? We've been friends for a long time. I understand your predicament. You are free to stay here as long as you want."

Rain immediately raised her hand. "No, Ben, I won't bother you to that extent. If I may, I'll just leave some of my stuff here. If I have got a new place, I will definitely take it."

"Where will you be staying tonight?"

"Oh, that's easy. I can sleep at work. Tomorrow I have work in the morning. So tonight I can go back there and sleep."

"Are you sure?" Ben was distraught.

"Yes. Tomorrow I will definitely find a new place."

"Okay, I respect your decision. You must not have eaten, right? I'm down to buy some ingredients. I'll cook for us. You rest first."

"I borrowed your bathroom."

"Wear as you please."

Rain went into the bathroom and opened the tap. She breathed a sigh of relief until dew formed on the mirror's surface. She really didn't know where to go tonight. She was just small talk about staying over at work.

In fact, today, she had already been fired from work. Rain really had bad luck. Staying at Ben's place was also impossible for her to do. Ben is too kind. Rain didn't want to take advantage of the young man.

Rain emptied the coat pocket before opening it. It was a habit she always had. She took out a lump of paper from her pocket.

"Ah, the old newspaper earlier."

Rain was about to throw it in the trash when her sharp eyes caught something.

"Job vacancy? In the paper? In a year like this?" she frowned as she opened the wad of paper beside the sink.

Rain opened the piece of dull newspaper and read it carefully.

"Not too bad. I've had quite a bit of experience being a waitress."

She read again the address where the job was.

"This is too far. It's out of town. Seriously. I've never even been to that city. It's impossible to find a good, reasonable job through an old newspaper this year."

Rain was about to throw it away again but failed when she saw the row of salary figures offered by the job. Rain reread the old newspaper.

"What? 500 Coll per day? Did they put the numbers wrong here?" Rain laughed. "This is equivalent to my salary for two months. Per day? Maybe they wrote the numbers wrong."

Rain look at her reflection in the mirror in despair.

"But, wait, why don't I call the number here and ask directly? There might still be a chance for me even though the publication date of this paper was several months ago."

Rain grabbed her cell phone and called the job supervisor agency advertised in the newspaper. She also noted down the address. On the fifth ring, someone answered the call.

"Good night. The Dauntess are here. Can I help you?" said a female voice on the phone.

"Oh, sorry. Looks like I dialed the wrong number. Because the one who should answer the call is the supervisory work agent," said Rain, embarrassed by his stupidity.

"You are looking for a job, Miss…?"

"I'm Rain. Yes, is the job you offered still available? For the waitress position?" replied the original Rain.

"Yeah, we haven't found a suitable candidate yet. The job is still open to anyone."

"What about the salary? Didn't you write the numbers in the paper wrong?" Rain frowned.

"We write 500 Coll per day. If it's too low, you can negotiate with us."

Rain gaped in the mirror silently. "When can I do the interview?"

"How about tonight?"  

"What? But, the distance…."

"You can come tonight or tomorrow. Let me know when it's ready. I'll send someone to pick you up at Westlake station, Miss Rain."

She was so excited. Rain came out of the bathroom with the phone still to her ear. She forgot the newspaper in the sink.

Rain closed the bathroom door. The newspaper that was open next to the sink containing the job vacancies suddenly faded. Every letter and number written evaporated into black smoke. The old newspaper was blank and turned into a plain sheet of paper.