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ONE
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Tina woke up with a start at her father yelling on the telephone. She had been doing math homework in her bed and woke up to find papers crinkled, a pencil broken and letters smudged by a little bit of sleeping drool. Tina wiped her face, embarrassed and laughing but then jumped out of her bed at hearing a loud bang and left her room to see what had happened.

Tina couldn't remember a time when her father wasn't angry. He was always upset about something. And though she often failed, she tried desperately to keep her father happy. Her older brother was also the same way. He was like a second father but not in a good protective way.

"Dad, what's wrong?" Tina asked approaching him quietly and placing her hand on his shoulder.

"You can't do this! My wife just died, I just lost my job. Give me some time!—I know we didn't pay last month—But—Yes I know Bill, just give me a couple weeks. Please!"

Tina's jaw dropped. "W-What, mom?"

"Tina, go away! I'm busy!"

"No! What happened to mom? You just said she died! She had gone to see grandma I thought—" Tina's sentence was cut short by a cold slap. She held her head down a moment but couldn't just let this pass. "Dad!" She insisted. Usually one strike and she would retreat but she couldn't this time. As she objected, her father's large hand gripped the chains around her neck and shoved her against the wall.

"Shut up Tina!" And he threw her into her older brother Gordon's arms as he entered their small apartment.

"What's going on Dad?" He asked catching her then just dropping her to the ground. Behind Gordon came Harmony her 6 year old sister. Gordon had picked up Harmony from school after his work and gone to get food, and liquor.

"Shut up Gordon. Get off of me Harmony!" He said kicking her off him as she hugged his leg.

"No, Mr. Chang! You pay me now! It's been two months and you haven't paid!" Tina heard Bill, their landlord yelling through the phone as her father held the phone from his face. "I don't care what happened to your wife to you or to your kids! It's too late, I'm kicking you out!"

"No Bill. Please no… No." Her father repeated when Bill hung up the phone. Mr. Chang fell to his knees.

"Dad what's going on?" Tina said concerned. She knew that her family was struggling financially for a long time but they had only just recently lost their home and had to move into a little 2 bedroom apartment.

Tina Gordon and Harmony all surrounded their father who had broke down. He was actually shedding tears. Something none of the children had seen since Harmony's twin sister Alana died. "We've already lost everything we own. We have no money. We're getting kicked out. Yeah, your mother's not coming back. She got in a car accident on the way home. I don't know where we're gonna go. I'm gonna move us out East I think, to your grandparents."

"We can't move." Said Tina. Everything had just gotten good in her life. The past week, though difficult, had been the best week of her life. And now, everything had fallen apart in one phone call. As she sat crying on the floor, numb from everything, the past week flashed back through her mind.

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