The clock on the wall made its way past ten as I snuck in the door, wet from the rain. Following the bend of the hallway with my hand, I felt the ridges of the plaster wall. At the end of the hall was the only part of me that made sense. Him. We were in love. He proved it all in the end. He gave me the look that comes every night after work. I emptied my pockets- the cash spilling wildly to the floor. A nod of approval meant that I could go to bed. It was a half and hour before his shadow came into the bedroom doorway, as I had been expecting it to. "So, it wasn't a very good night for you?" he said. "It was alright." I replied in a shaky voice. He had obviously noticed the six hundred dollars that Mr. X drove away with as I got out of his car. Before I could finish my thought, Jack asked me. My mind raced to form an answer. I knew that if Jack found out that I had failed to get the money for the drugs from Mr. X, there would be trouble. "I must have dropped it", I said. It was all I could think of. Jack was displeased. "I already told you once, if a customer refuses to pay up, you call me right away to have it taken care of." I hated violence; besides, if Jack had found the fled customer, Mr. X would have probably told him about the money I had borrowed from him to support my own drug habit. I couldn't afford to have that happen. "You work for me", Jack said. "And if you can't do the job right, you will be out." I feared being "out" because he knew everything about me; everything was in his name, or a false name. I owned nothing. I also had a pretty nasty drug habit, and I have to go through him to get what I need. I decided to tell the truth. I apologized at his feet for the missing money. This happened once before. His method of repayment is torture. Last time, I had to hold my hands on the electric stove for thirty seconds. There was only a hundred and some odd dollars missing then. Six hundred?? I turned to avoid his eyes. A rush ...