She clutched a small shopping bag and her purse in one hand, a wad of unopened envelopes in the other. Her apartment was on the ground floor, to the right of the filthy glass entrance doors. There were only six apartments in the building and four were empty. This is the sleazy side of town. Nobody would voluntarily live there but she had no choice. The rent was cheap and it didn't seem to matter whether she paid on time or not. The block had been built in the fifties and had been badly maintained, bricks crumbled from the façade every time it rained. The interiors were as filthy as the entrance, damp oozed from the ceilings. Peeled and chipped paint decorated the walls, the carpet was threadbare and curtains non-existent. The rancid odor of decay permeated the building. She dumped the bag onto the ground and rummaged in her purse for the key to the door. “Come on. I'm not in the fucking mood for this.” Avery had been searching for work for almost a week but, no-one in this town, or the next town over, would even grant her an interview.
