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Short Story - Bearer of Bad News

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I was awoken out of my reverie by my doorbell chiming. Who could it be, it’s near night? I got up and went to look through the peep hole of my door. A gentleman in a suit coat and tie was patiently waiting there. Looks like one of the guys at the bank. I unbolted and opened the door. “Hello, what can I do for you?” The gentleman looked up with a sad look on his face, and answered, “I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I’ve been sent to tell you that your house has been foreclosed.” “Whoa, wait a minute I’ve been paying all my bills and everything. How can this happen?” I thought about how my divorce had gone and how much money my, now, ex-wife had gotten out of it. “There were some huge withdrawals a few months back that were never paid off. If you would like I can come in and go over your expenses with you,” the gentleman said. “Unless this is a bad time,” he added seeing my anxious look. Who could’ve gotten anything out of my account? I haven’t needed large sums since we figured out the divorce money. All passwords and key codes were changed so neither of us could use each other’s money. “Sir?” I blinked and his face came into focus. “What is it?” “Would you like me to come back another time to go through your finances with you?” “I, uh, no come in, come in.” The gentleman came in and sat down at the space I had cleared for him. He set a briefcase I hadn’t noticed before, on the table. It had a shiny brass latch in the middle, which he opened with the turn of a key he pulled out of his suit pocket. Inside the gentleman had multiple papers, these I couldn’t see because he shut the briefcase after getting out a tablet of paper. “All right, it says here you had taken out $2,695.97 for the payment of a couple things. Let’s see, for rent for the house, a bike, and down payment for a barely used car.” I watched him look down lists of lists wondering if he was just being p

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