Chapter 2
Frustration churned inside Adam. It was a hot sick feeling in his stomach.
He walked away from the hotel without a destination. The grand building with its polished doors was behind him now. It was a place he could never enter again.
The job was gone. The best job was gone.
He was left with his other two positions. One was stocking shelves at a grocery store late at night. That paid $400 a month. The other was cleaning an office building on the weekends.
That paid $500. It was a combined income of $900. It was not enough. The thought was a simple cold fact.
The numbers did not add up. His rent for the small apartment was $750. That left $150 for everything else. Food. Electricity. The bus.
It was impossible. He walked down the street. The anger and the panic felt like a physical weight on his shoulders.
On top of his monthly shortfall there was the debt. A weight of $22,000 pressed down on him.
The number was so large it felt unreal. It was a sum he had to repay. It was from the hospital. The bills had started coming after his mother died.
His life had not always been like this. He had once lived with his parents in a small house with a yard.