My car sounded like a strangled, dying animal. Instead of its normal soft, thrumming purr, the engine was creating a horrific grating, clanking, shrieking noise as if it were a metal tiger in pain. Terrified that my tiger car might die and leave me stranded and hopeless in this desolate area of nothing but empty fields that I was driving through, I turned east toward the ocean, hoping to find people and a mechanic in the small town of Harbor Shores that the car’s dated GPS informed me lay only another 10 miles away. After about half an hour and a lot more than half a handful of assistance imploring prayers, my car gave one last grating roar before giving up and rolling to a halt just within Harbor Shores’ borders. When I was unsuccessful at coaxing a few more meters out of my car’s seemingly deceased engine, I relented to walking to find a mechanic.

I guess I should have known the stupid old thing was going to break down soon. Everything I owned was old or secondhand. Either that or it was Luke’s. It had been like that since my parents died. Both of my parents were only children, and both sets of my grandparents had died within a couple months of each other a few years ago; one set in a car crash, the other in a house fire. A car crash had gotten my parents too, leaving me and my nine-year-old brother Jake all alone with no family whatsoever. I had only been a sophomore in high school, so both Jake and I would have been in government custody and taken to an orphanage, which was something I just wasn’t able to deal with. It would have been unlikely that I would have gotten adopted before I became an adult, but Jake probably would have. There was no way I was going to let them separate us, so I made the only decision I could think of. Jake and I went to live with Luke, who was my boyfriend at the time that my parents died. Luke was 19, with his own place and said he would help us, that we could live with him. It didn’t turn out exactly the way I had expected though.
Luke forced me to drop out of school and get a job so that I could ‘help him support us.’ since I didn’t have I high school diploma, nor was I going to be finishing one, no one would hire me. Not even McDonalds. I finally found a job, but I made dirt. In both the literal and the_______ sense. I worked at a plant making potting soil. Well, I didn’t actually get to make the soil. That was reserved for people who actually had high school diplomas. Instead, I got the honor of shoveling fertilizer from the cow field next to the plant into buckets and carrying them to the back door of the plant where someone would take them to be mixed in with the other ingredients to make the potting soil.
But since I had a job, Luke only gave me enough money to keep me and Jake fed and clothed. He said anything extra I would have to use my own earnings for. Which meant I could only buy an extra loaf of bread every couple of weeks because I didn’t even make minimum wage. Needless to say Jake and I barely scraped by. When we first started living with Luke, Jake would complain about it. Which would only make Luke furious and he would scream and yell about how we should be grateful for every little thing he gave us, and how he was the only reason we weren’t starving. Sometimes I used to try to cheer Jake up by telling him that one day I would get a better job, and we would leave and go live on our own. But one time Luke heard me say that, and I’ll never forget his reaction. He slapped me across the face and yelled worse than he ever had before. He said that I was never leaving him, that I was supposed to be like a wife to him, and that I would never leave the apartment. After that I had a curfew and he would check the odometer on the car every time I went somewhere.
It’s been almost a year now, and neither Jake nor I try to protest anymore. We don’t complain, we don’t say anything against Luke or even try to stand up for ourselves. We’ve been broken, he’s finally crushed our spirits and neither of us have the will to fight back any longer. I’d been on the way to meet Luke and Jake at Luke’s friend Jared’s place when I’d took a wrong turn and gotten lost and finally ended up here. Days at Jared’s place were never enjoyable; him and Luke drinking and smoking and watching football while forcing me to make 7 layers dip for them. And to make matters worse, this time we were staying overnight at Jared’s, so we would be there today and all of tomorrow. To top it all off, tomorrow was Jake’s birthday. The poor kid wasn’t going to get a proper birthday already without having to spend it at Jared’s. I didn’t have a present for him, not even a cake.
As far as presents go, Jake had been wanting a pair of soccer cleats for months; apparently all the other kids at his school who liked soccer played on the community league and had new fancy soccer cleats. Jake loved soccer, and was even really good at it, but we would never have the money to buy him cleats much less pay the fee for him to play on the community league. As sad as Jake’s birthday was going to turn out, I wanted to spend the least amount of time in Harbor Shores as possible so that Jake wouldn’t have to be alone with Luke and Jared until I got there. At least I had the emergency credit card Luke had given me so I would be able to pay a mechanic if I found one.
The sky when I stepped out of the car was dark and threatening, even though it was around lunchtime and light drops of rain swirled around me in the cold, gusty wind. I started to walk a little faster, hoping that I wouldn’t get poured on before I could find help. The first thing I came to was a sign. The town’s faded blue welcome sign read; “Harbor Shores; The Peaceful City,” in peeling gold letters. The town sure didn’t seem to live up to its sign though. It looked as if Harbor Shores and gone through a very un-peaceful, catastrophic event. There were hardly any buildings left standing, and all the other lots where other structures must have once stood were home only to large mountains of dusty rubble and debris. Twisted, warped metal supports, large chunks of gray cement and terracotta bricks, and shredded wood pieces filled nearly every lot, and broken pieces of glass and nails covered the main road that cut through the middle of the town.
Dodging as much of the broken glass and nails as I could, I made my way down the main road, hoping that I wouldn’t find the Auto Shop reduced to a pile of junk like most of the rest of the town had been. My prospects didn’t seem too bright though, seeing as so far the only buildings that I had found still intact were the sturdier, more recent structures such as a freshly painted, new attorneys’ office and, mercifully for the town’s residents, the hospital. Seeing a small building still standing on the upcoming corner, I jogged towards it, hoping to find someone who could at least tell me if the town’s mechanic shop had made it through whatever had happened here. When I got to it and saw that it was actually the mechanic’s shop, and not some other store, I was nearly jumping for joy. Relieved, I pushed through the big glass doors and entered the shop.


A guy in his 20’s with light skin and dark, black hair appeared from the back and walked towards me. He had oil and grease all over his hands and even some smeared on his face, and a mischievous smile that told me he would be the kind who would sneak up behind you and rub some all in your hair if you weren’t paying attention, nothing like Luke. “Hi, I’m Eric,” he greeted me. “Anything I can help you with?” “Uh, hi, I’m Trish,” I replied. Then I explained to him what had happened with my car, but that it was down the road quite a ways. “No problem, I’ll just have a couple of my guys go get it and we’ll start on it right away,” he answered. “It might take awhile though,” he added. “Oh, in that case, is there anywhere I can go to get a bite to eat? I’m starving,” I asked. Eric motioned over his shoulder out the window behind him.
I looked to where he was pointing.”That’s where the only cafe in town used to be, but it was blown away in a terrible tornado about a month ago,” he informed me. “It took out the whole rest of the town too, and most people didn’t get out in time. And the ones who did survive lost everything. They’re still trying to put their lives back together,’ he added sympathetically. Oh, so that’s what happened to this place, I thought to myself, all the wrecked buildings making sense now. Somewhat intrigued by the ruined cafe, I decided to go check it out while my car was being fixed.


I crossed the street and walked over to where the cafe must have been. The concrete foundation was still in place, and there wasn’t much else save for debris; pieces of wood beams, roofing tiles, chunks of carpet, sheet rock and stucco still lay strewn around in piles that had yet to be fully cleared away. “Wow, nothing left, nothing left, not a thing save for junk,” I thought to myself. I started kicking the debris aside to clear a nice little spot to sit myself down in while I waited for my car to be repaired. But then, all of a sudden it wasn’t just junk anymore, there was something, something barely showing through the pile of debris…… Finally after clearing away a pile of bricks and a big sheet of stucco, I could make out what it was; a trapdoor.
It surprisingly had survived the tornado and was still in the ground, with even a few nails still stuck in it from where they must have nailed carpet down. The trapdoor was a dark, soggy, wood covered with a thick brown layer of mud caked on top. Peeking out of the mud like the groundhog peeks out of his burrow on Groundhog Day was an old, rusty, red metal handle, corroded by the sweeping, pounding rains that must have come through here over the weeks since the tornado. “It’s probably an old cellar for storing food,” I decided. I was about to sit back down, but my curiosity got the better of me. Sinking my fingers into the cool, gooey, muck, I grasped the handle and yanked. It didn’t budge. I tried again, pulling with all my might, still nothing. I looked around me, hoping to find any kind of tool that could assist me in my laborious endeavor. Finally, I picked up a brick, held it high over my head, and let it smash through the old wood, like the Hulk smashes a car into the ground, creating an opening big enough for me to slide through.
Smiling at my success, I skillfully maneuvered my way down into the cellar, and using my phone for a flashlight, began to take in my surroundings. There wasn’t much to see, just a few wooden barrels and crates. I sat down on one of the crates with a tired sigh. At least down here it was nice and cool and I would be sheltered if it really started to rain. I put my feet up on a square metal box and made myself comfortable and settled in for the long haul of waiting for the hours it would probably take for my car’s repair to be finished. That’s when I noticed that the metal box was pretty out of place among these crates and barrels that were all made of wood. “Hmm, what is this thing?” I wondered aloud. As I examined it more carefully, I discovered its old rusting, metal lock, surrounded by dust, dirt and cobwebs. “A safe!” I exclaimed. Quickly, I climbed back outside and retrieved my brick. Using it, I successfully broke the lock of, and the rusty hinges on the safe’s door squealed as I pulled it open.

Inside was a jackpot. Green glory. Wads of cash stacked on top of each other, filling the safe to the brim- and all of the bills were 100’s. There was tons of cash here, hundreds of thousands of dollars. A burst of greed suddenly overtook me, ideas and possibilities flooded my mind. I could finally give Jake a pair of soccer cleats for his birthday; we could finally get away from our awful trapped lives under Luke’s control. We could start new; we could go anywhere we wanted. Jake could actually have a real childhood now, and have fun like kids were supposed to. This was it, this was our big break, and I felt ecstatic that something was finally working out for us for once. I picked up the safe and hauled it out of the cellar. Leaving it alone on the concrete in the middle of all the debris, I walked back across the street, having decided to check on my car.
I won’t even need to use Luke’s emergency card anymore, I thought, laughing out loud to myself as I crossed the street.
“We’ll never need him again!” I cheered and tossed the emergency card over my shoulder.
When I entered the mechanic’s shop, I found Eric talking to a short little man with graying hair probably in his 50’s. “Oh, hey Trish you’re back. By the way, your car’s repair is finished.” said Eric. “This is Phil, the man who owned the cafe that used to be across the street that I was telling you about.” he added. Phil seemed like a friendly old fellow, with a kind smile that made his dark tan skin crinkle around his eyes like an old piece of paper that had been slowly worn and creased over time by years of laughs and happy times. Although, with his cafe having been destroyed, I doubted that he’d been having many happy times of late. “Hi Phil.” I said. “Hello, little miss,” Phil replied. He breathed a long heavy sigh, and then continued. “Well it’s like Eric here said, I lost my cafe, the same one that’s been in my family for generations,” Phil said sadly. “I lost my house too, and I can’t get a job yet, and don’t have any real place to stay, so I’ve been staying with the neighbors. Right kind of them to take me in like this, but I can’t keep burdening that poor family like this,” he said. Suddenly, I felt guilty about my plans to steal the safe. I felt greedy and selfish. Phil was no different from Jake and me; poor and desperate and hurting. Still stunned and reeling from what Phil had just said, I quickly backed out of the mechanic shop. “Uh, I’ll be right back guys, I have to, um, do something.” I stammered.
I crossed back across the street to the cafe lot and looked down at the safe. Obviously the money should go to Phil; it was in his cellar anyways. But as soon as that thought crossed my mind, I could see all my triumphant plans fading away. Jake and I’s new live turned to smoke, and the image of Jake’s laughing, glowing face I had pictured earlier faded back into the expression of sadness and hopelessness that he always wore. I screamed in rage and frustration. Jake deserved better than how Luke treated us, and it killed me to take this away from him. I’d had it in the bag, the chance to make things right. But I guess this wasn’t the way to do it. No matter how bad our lives with Luke were, I wouldn’t let desperation turn me into a lowly thief who stole from poor old men.
Having finally made up my mind, I sighed and grabbed the safe. Straining and using all my muscle power, I slowly hauled it back across the street and into the shop. Panting, I set it down with a loud thunk on the check-out counter by the door and motioned for Eric and Phil to join me. When the two men saw the safe’s contents, they both and similar reactions. Eric’s eyes grew wide like a little kid with candy, and Phil just stared, open mouthed at it. After a few seconds, he spoke. “No, no, what are you doing, I can’t take anything like that from you!” he exclaimed. I groaned inwardly. Would you just take the stupid safe before I change my mind? I growled. Using all my patience, I took a deep breath and tried to explain. “It’s your money, I found it in your cellar,” I said. Phil took it slowly, smiling. He suddenly became excited. “Why thank-you little Miss!” he exclaimed. “This changes everything! I can put my life back together now!” I attempted to smile weakly back at him as he left the shop.
As soon as he was out of sight, I flopped down into one of the blue plastic chairs that lined one wall of the shop and put my face in my hands. I’m glad all of his problems got solved, I thought bitterly. What am I going to do? I hadn’t felt so hopeless in months. I heard footsteps approaching, thump, thump, thump, and then a voice.
“Trish, are you OK?” Eric asked.
“Not really,” I moaned in reply.
“What’s wrong?” he prompted. I sighed and relented to telling him the whole story; my parents, Luke, me, Jake, Phil and how close I’d come to having a better life just to have to give it up. When I was finished, Eric said
“Well, my grandfather just passed away last month. He and my grandmother had a summer cottage here that they would spend some time in back when my grandmother was alive. But now that my grandfather is dead too, they left me the cottage. I’ve been trying to rent it out, but so far no one has wanted to rent it. I’d be happy to rent it out to you so you and Jake can have a place to stay if you want,” he finished.
“Thanks, but I’d have to quit my job to come live here, and I would have no way to pay you rent,” I explained.
“Well,” Eric said, “Phil owes you for finding that safe. When he rebuilds his cafe, I’m sure he’d be happy to hire you as a waitress.” slowly I started to put it all together in my head. This might actually work. I started to smile.
“Really? You think he would hire me?” I asked.
“I know he would,” Eric, smiling back. “Go on Trish, go get your brother and you guys can move in as soon as you get back.”
I turned and jogged around the back of the shop where my car was waiting for me and hopped in. Turning the key in the ignition, I was greeted by the pleasant normal purring sound of my cars engine. Grinning for the first time in months, I revved the engine and sped away, catching a glimpse in my rearview mirror of Eric on the front steps of the Auto Shop waving as I sped away.
Half an hour later, I’d picked up Jake from school and we were speeding along the highway back towards Harbor Shores. I’d explained to Jake that I had found a new place for us and a new job and that we were finally on our way to a better life. After a few minutes, Jake asked “Trish, where’s the town? I don’t see it; I thought you said we were close.” Smiling, I pointed through the windshield and answered him, “Look to the horizon. You might not be able to see clearly yet, but if you keep looking, soon you’ll see it.”