Prologue

Beatrice

The moment I step through the door, the stagnant reek of cold grease and tobacco settles into my skin like a second coat of clothes. but my bones are too heavy for me to summon any real resentment. The chipped paint on the walls, the hallway bulb that's been stuttering toward its grave for months, and the stubborn, rusted latch that fights my hand every time I come home. They're all part of the apartments charm, I guess.

I eased the door shut until the latch caught with a faint, metallic click, and I just stayed there, letting the wood take my full weight. It was one of those heavy, airless silences that rings in your ears the kind of quiet that feels less like peace and more like the world is laughing at me for dragging myself through another shift on nothing but sheer exhaustion.

The living room, slash dining room, slash everything room is as cramped and cluttered as ever. A pile of laundry that hasn't been touched in three days still sits on the old recliner, some clean, some not. Our small, two bedroom, one bathroom apartment isn't much. Hell, the walls are thin enough to hear our neighbors fighting or screwing, sometimes both, but it's a roof. It's somewhere to sleep. And in this part of town, you take what you can get.

With my shitty credit and barely-there savings, I'm still not sure how we got approved for this place. Most likely because the landlord didn't ask too many questions and cared more about filling the unit than who was actually living in it. Either way, I'm grateful. Sort of.

I kick off my shoes near the door, the soles sticky from hours of walking across diner tiles soaked in spilled coffee and grease. My feet throb in protest, my lower back pinches from standing too long. I toss my apron onto the kitchen chair and look in the refrigerator for something cold to drink, but of course, there's nothing.

My tips tonight were shit. Everyone either paid in card or left loose change like I was some fucking wishing well. I worked my ass off, smiled at every customer, and bit my tongue until I could taste blood. And for what? Fifteen bucks and a free sandwich? I sigh and rest my palms against the chipped countertop. My reflection stares back at me from the dark microwave door, eyes tired, hair frizzy, lips in a grim line. This isn't the life I imagined. But it's the one I've got.

My mom is passed out on the couch, looking like a corpse dumped there hours ago. Her head is tilted back, one arm dangles off the cushion, and in her slack grip hugs a half empty bottle of brandy. She doesn't use glasses anymore. That stopped a long time ago. Now she drinks straight from the bottle, as if it's the only thing that can dull whatever it is she's trying to forget.

The smell of booze wraps around the room, clinging to the walls, the furniture, everything. Including me. And of course, she's not alone.

Some guy, middle-aged and shirtless, is passed out next to her. He's snoring loud enough to rattle the coffee table, mouth wide open, chest rising and falling with each deep breath. His jeans are unbuttoned, belt half undone like he didn't quite make it to the finish line before passing out.

I don't recognize him. I stopped keeping track. They're all the same. Randoms who roll in with alcohol, cheap cologne, and empty promises, then disappear before the week's out. Her boyfriends are like smoke. Fleeting, choking, and always leaving a mess behind.

Despite everything; the drinking, the random men, the mess she's made of her life, I still care about my mom. I wish I didn't sometimes. It'd be easier to be angry, to hate her, to walk away without guilt. But I can't. I love her. Broken pieces and all.

She always tells me she hasn't been right since my dad left. I don't even remember him, just a blurry face in an old photo she keeps in a drawer she thinks I don't know about. He's a ghost, a shadow of a life she still mourns. Which means she's been drinking herself into oblivion for over two decades. Basically my whole life.

I'm twenty-two now. And I'm the one keeping this place from falling apart. The rent? Me. The bills? Me. Groceries, laundry, cleaning, making sure there's toilet paper in the damn bathroom? All me. I have to take care of what needs to be done, because if I don't, no one else will.

Sometimes I wonder what it'd be like if things were different. If she had gotten help. If I didn't have to grow up so fast. Maybe I could've had a normal life. Maybe I would've had friends. Maybe I'd be sitting in a college library right now, stressing over finals instead of rent.

Instead, I'm here, watching the woman who brought me into this world waste away one bottle at a time while some stranger snores on my couch. But I tuck it all away. Because I have work tomorrow. And the rent is due next week. And life doesn't wait for people like me to fall apart even though I want to.

I step inside my bedroom and close the door quietly. The second the lock clicks into place I breathe a little easier. I've had one too many scares with the men she brings home; creepy stares, inappropriate comments, footsteps outside my door in the middle of the night. I learned fast that locking the door isn't paranoia, it's survival.

I lean against my door, breathing heavy. My heart's racing even though there's nothing happening. But that's the thing with anxiety. It doesn't wait for danger. It just is.

I was diagnosed with a panic disorder and Agoraphobia when I was younger. The kind of fear that makes walking out the front door feel like stepping into a battlefield. Some days, even breathing at work feels like too much. I have the worst social anxiety known to man; tight chest, sweaty palms, the constant buzzing in the back of my mind that something terrible is going to happen.

But I don't have the luxury of falling apart. There's no time for therapy. No money for prescriptions. No one to lean on. So I put on my uniform. I plaster on a smile. I ask if customers want anything else with their meal while my insides twist and flip. I talk to people because I have to. I leave the house because I have to. Not because I'm brave but because if I don't, we lose the roof over our heads.

People think strength looks like confidence but sometimes it looks like dragging yourself out of bed, knowing you'll panic the second someone makes eye contact and doing it anyway. I wish I could be someone else. Someone who laughs without checking exits. Someone who can say "hi" without rehearsing it five times in their head.

I flop onto my bed face-first, the mattress letting out a loud squeak. The whole frame shakes beneath me, unsteady and old. One of the springs jabs me in the stomach, sharp enough to make me wince. I breathe into the worn, thin blanket, letting the tension slowly leak from my shoulders.

Eventually, I roll onto my side and reach for my laptop, the ancient beast that's been with me since high school. It's scratched up, heavy, and barely hanging on. The moment I open it, the screen flickers to life with a ghostly glow, and that whirrrr sound starts up, the tiny fan inside is fighting for its life. It already feels hot, as if it might burst into flames if I dare open more than two tabs.

I scroll through job postings. Same old shit. Retail. Fast food. Overnight shifts in sketchy warehouses. Minimum wage for maximum misery. My eyes glaze over the list, every post blending into the next. I'm exhausted, and I haven't even applied to anything yet. It's just an endless cycle of rejection and low pay.

"Housekeeper needed. Private estate. Excellent compensation. Room and board included."

Shit... room and board? I blink, rereading the words. It feels too good to be real. Like one of those fake listings designed to lure desperate people in with pretty promises and no follow-through. But then again, it'd be nice not waking up in a place where the air reeks of brandy and cigarettes. Where I'm not dodging half-naked strangers in my own living room.

God, I want to get the fuck out of here.

I would never leave my mom high and dry, no matter how much she makes me want to scream. But maybe... just maybe, I don't have to stay here. Not in the cramped apartment that feels more like a trap than a home.

There's no mention of customers. No register. No fake smiles. Just cleaning. Being quiet, invisible even. It's practically made for someone like me, someone with crippling anxiety. I wouldn't have to talk to people. Plus, I'd have my own room.

Silence. Privacy. Safety. That's the dream.