Prologue
Eileen had just finished getting her master’s degree in communications at her private prestigious university last August, and was graced with opportunity to a 9 to 5 at some corporation in the city. She was a young black woman who didn’t come from a wealthy background, and struggled to find an apartment in the big city that didn’t cost $3,000 and matched what they had in the pictures. Her dream at 25 of having her own house, seemed to be impossible with the increase of inflation. There were times, when she would regularly scour the internet, on her computer hoping that there would be some house that wouldn’t cost well over 8 figures.
One Friday night after a taxing day Eileen sat against the cushion on the window sill of her bedroom. Curling up in her blue nightgown and silk night cap, she was gazing at the night sky when all of sudden she spotted a shooting star. As she watched the burning ball of gas move rapidly across the starry night sky Eileen let out a sigh, whilst bringing her knees to her chest. Her voice was so quiet it was barely above a whisper, as she uttered the next words like a little prayer. “To my benevolent ancestors, please help me find a good house that’s affordable and won’t have a commute that’s far away from my job.” A couple weeks had gone by since she made that plea, and Eileen was just absentmindedly watching the first season of a show with extraterrestrials in her living room on her couch.
”For so long I’ve dreamed of having my own house, all throughout university it was one of many motivations I had for graduating. I have a good paying job, credit score is over 750, good amount of savings, and yet none of it matters because the housing market is so expensive nowadays. All I want is place to call own, that is permanent and can decorate freely, get a couple of pets without having to worry about a landlord charging me a bunch ridiculous fees for it!”After a couple of streaming she ran her soft medium brown hands over her chestnut faux locs, before turning off the TV to just lay back against the soft cushion. As her hazel eyes stared up at the ceiling in complete silence, all of sudden Eileen heard a ding noise coming from her smartphone in the left pocket of her sweatpants. “I wonder what that could be?”She pondered, her tone laced with confusion.” Could have sworn I put my phone on do not disturb, but I guess I just probably forgot about it.” Eileen let a brief yawn, and stretched a bit her body communicating the late hour in the evening. “Oh man, can’t believe it’s already 10 pm” She said tiredly, the exhaustion from her long week at the office setting in. “Well, might as well check it to see what’s going on before I crash on my bed.”
