RED AND THE CEO

"Bad boys! Bad boys! What you gonna do? What you gonna do? What you gonna do when they come for you?" She sang at the top of her lungs with all her strength disrupting the peace of the prison.

Plus, her voice was terrible.

"You better shut it! You better shut your mouth!" A police officer screamed at her hitting the baton in her hand on the table.

Red smirked.

"I love it when you call me big poppa." She rapped this time, "Throw your hands in the air, if you is a true player."

"That's it." The police woman grunted.

She pushed her chair backwards making a screeching noise and matched over to the noise maker's cell.

"Look here young woman." She growled hitting the baton on the cell bars, "If you do not grant us some peace and quiet, I will detain you for two more weeks."

"Sorry ma'am." She apologised immediately.

Detained for two weeks? She shook her head at the thought.

She was only gonna spend a night here and that's it.

Red hated the place. There were mosquitoes and she kept slapping them away, to think that she once thought her beaten down apartment was the worse.

The cell was stuffy, there was heat and she was sweating all over.

Duhhh, Her subconscious rolled her eyes, Did you think you were gonna get air conditioning here?

She sighed regretting why she ventured in stealing an iPhone earlier that morning.

It's not like it was the first time she had stolen or the first time she had been caught. It was different now cause she had never ended up in a cell before and she was determined to make it the last time she did.

She figured that she had to be more sensible and alert.

Her stomach rumbled reminding her of her far forgotten hunger, causing her to groan.

She only had a granula bar through out the day. Of course, she didn't buy it. She stole it or in her own term 'borrowing it for permanent causes'.

As she sat thinking about her next move, an idea popped up in her mind.

She removed the rusted hair pin in her hair, stood up from the bench and tiptoed over to the cell bars.

She was gonna pick the locks and escape.

She put the hair pin into the keyhole, her total concentration set on it, with a tongue gliding over her upper lip. It was like she knew what she was doing.

"You know I am right in front of your cell and I can see you picking the lock right?" She looked up at the sound of the police woman's voice and frowned.

Mission failed.

"Get back to your position this instant!" The woman barked and Red sluggishly dragged herself back to the broken bench.

She threw herself on it and pulled her old coat over her body, wrapping her arms around herself, she managed to lay on the bench and fell into a light and uncomfortable slumber.

_______________

Morning came quickly and Red was finally in the process of being released.

"I do not want to see you back here again." A male police officer warned while he removed her handcuffs, "Is that clear?"

"Yes sir." She said sweetly nodding her head, "Can I have my bag please?"

"No, you can't." They both turned to find the intruding voice. It was the female police officer from last night and Red scoffed.

"Nothing in that bag is her." The woman further explained while taking her seat.

Her? Red was perplexed, "Excuse me ma'am, it's hers and not her."

"Are you correcting me?" The woman growled.

"Nope." She shook her head, "Just telling you my opinion and it's totally fine if you do not acknowledge it." Her words were rushed.

"So, as I was saying." The woman ignored her, "She stoles everything in that bag."

Red face palmed herself, really?

"Ma'am, it's stole not stoles." Red explained boldly, "Stop embarrassing yourself."

"I will deal with you when you come back here." The woman threatened.

"Oh, we won't be meeting again." She winked and strode out of the police station.

She was on the last set of steps when she heard someone scream, "Catch that thief!"

Surely, they had discovered that she had stolen the woman's purse and she laughed.

Heavy footsteps racing down the stairs sounded behind her. Several police men were after her, she waited till they were very close before laughing one more time and breaking into a run

The New York police department officers were after Red, hot on her heels. It was like a race, one which she would win as always.

____________

Red raised the window shield up before sliding her lean body through it. She was passing through the window to avoid being seen by the landlord in the hallway. She owed rent.

Red owed two years rent.

She jumped down into the room and let out a breath of relief.

Phew! That was a long chase.

She proceeded in emptying her pockets. The police woman's purse fell, two red apples, a can of pringles and a bottle of water.

She took the purse, unzipped it and dipped her fingers in to check for money. Her fingers met wads of dollar notes. She brought them out to count. The money was three hundred dollars in total and she could never have been happier, it was enough to last her for sometime.

Still in the cocoon of glee, she reached down and picked an apple, biting into it without washing, not as if there was any water to wash it with.

Red burped. She was full. She rubbed her hand over her stomach and looked out the window, the blue sky was bright. She could see a few birds flying across in the sky, chirping and flapping their wings happily.

She wished she was one of the birds and having nothing to worry about than fly and eat worms.

She glanced across the yellow coloured one room apartment and sighed.

The room was old, the paint was peeling fast, there were no furniture except for a broken piece of mirror nailed to the wall and a small shrunken cupboard. On the right side of the room next to the wall was a thin mattress and an old lamp.

She looked up at the yellow ceiling fan rotating slowly and she wanted to pull it down in anger. It caused nothing but more heat. But, she couldn't do that. She barely had money for rent no the less damages.

A bird fluttered past the window drawing her attention. It had dropped it's yellow poop on the glass.

Ughhhh! She groaned as there was no water to clean it.

Red was about to get up to use the bathroom when she heard banging on the door.

It's must be the landlord, Her thoughts made her heartbeat quicken.

The banging increased.

She didn't bother asking who was there as it will give a presence away.

So, she laid on the fall noiselessly and staying mute.

"Red! Red!" The man screamed, "I know you are in there."

He banged continuously wishing he could break the door down.

She was right after all, it was the landlord.

"Open the door!" He screamed, "I just wanna talk."

That talking included screaming and dragging her out with her scanty belongings.

"No, thank you." She muttered.

"I know you are in there and you can hear me."

Silence.

"Red! Don't aggravate my anger!"

Still silence.

"I will reported you to the cops."

"Come on landlord, it's report not reported." She whined and immediately slapped her hand over her mouth knowing her mistake.

"So you have been in there, aye?" He banged on the door with more force, "Open this door now!"

Red stood up and walked to the door. She swallowed before releasing the bolt.

The door opened and she faced the landlord squarely.

She accessed his features. His brows were furrowed and his nose turned up. His face was all red and sweaty.

"Hey!" She smiled sweetly, "My favorite landlord." She bumped his shoulder with her fist, "What do you have for me today?"

"Wh...at? What do I have for you?" He barked getting angrier at her audacity.

"No need to go all tiger on me." She frowned, "What do you want?"

"I need my rent."

"Is that so?" She rolled her eyes.

"I am not surprised you are playing all cool." He palmed his face, "Nothing bothers you for goodness sake."

"Are you disturbing me cause of common rent?"

"You call it common rent?" He so wanted to pick her up and toss her out.

"Yea, it is."

"Pay me my two years rent!" He demanded.

"I do not have the money."

"You aren't ready to have roof above your head."

Red didn't know what to do. She wasn't ready to move out and she needed to evade the man.

"Dear landlord."

"What the hell is it?"

"Is that Ms. Connor?" She smiled craning her head above his shoulder in the pretence of seeing someone.

The landlord turned abruptly, "Where is she?"

Red seized the opportunity and ran back into her room. She bolted the door and moved the small cupboard in front of it.

The landlord realised he had been fooled and taken advantage of by his crush on the woman, he turned angrily and began pounding on the door.

"Pray I do not catch you Red!" He screamed.

Red was long gone, she had slid out through the window and into the streets to get food with the money she just picked from the landlord.

_______________

She walked through the streets dipping her hand in the pack of popcorn and in people's pockets.

She munched away happily the fact that she had to go back home and face the landlord not bothering her.

Red had that peculiar personality. Not having to worry, not letting anything bother her, not having to take responsibility for anything.

Even not knowing who her parents were wasn't a bother to her.

She grew up in the streets. It was all she could remember. She never stayed put in foster homes. She always ran from them. She never liked them and each time she was caught, she ran again.

She stopped by a shop that sold mirrors and peered into the a mirror to examine her frame.

Wild and unruly red hair ran down her back. The beanie she wore did no job in keeping some of it in place. She had bright blue eyes and a fairly pointed nose with freckles scattered around it an her cheeks, rosy colored thin lips. The only thing she didn't like about her face were the acne marks and new developing acne scattered all over it. They never went away and it's not like she cared enough or they bothered her. She just didn't like them.

She wasn't exactly small. She stood at a height of 5'6 and she was moderately slim but the oversized coat and boyfriend jeans made her look really smallish.

She gave a cracked cheerful smile at her reflection, adjusted her beanie and skipped away while thinking of the next move to evade the landlord.

Red got the paint and placed it next to the broken pieces of wood she had found in the alley.

She picked up the nail and the hammer and got to constructing a very badly made signboard.

She was done soon. She looked at her piece of work and smiled in satisfaction and then she got to painting on it.

The landlord rushed to Red on seeing her placing a placard in front of the building and hammering on it into the ground.

"There she is!" He exclaimed on getting to her, "What are you doing Red and where is my rent?"

"Hey landlord." She smiled at him and stood straight, "Just wait some more and I will pay you your money."

"I should wait?" He asked, "And how exactly are you gonna pay me?"

"Uggh! Be patient." She rolled her eyes and got to completing her task.

"Red! What in God's name is this?" He fumed after seeing what was writing on the sign.

"I am selling your house." She said confidently.

"And why is that?" He wasn't sure he could control his anger anymore.

"I am selling your house to pay rent."

"I do not get it."

"Let me explain this the way a 6 years old would understand." She said calmly, "I am selling your house so I can give you the money to pay up what I owe you."

"RED!!" He screamed.

"Why are you screaming? Isn't it for me to pay you, you are after?"

"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!!!"

It was night when he finally and successfully threw her out.

Red stood there in front of the house. Her head hung low and her belongings crutched under her shoulder in an old bag.

She didn't know what to do next and she wasn't even bothered.

She looked up at the sky and felt rain drops on her face and then it began pour down.

She sighed.

Red, the carefree thief was penniless, homeless and now cold.