The Tenant

by Freida McFadden

God knows we need the money. If she can pay us the first month’s rent and security in advance, that will give us some breathing room.

Except… Why does this voice in the back of my head keep telling me to get rid of her right now, while I still can?

But even if we become the best of friends, soon I’m going to find a job that’s even better than the one I lost, and then we’ll show her the door.

“When I want something, I never let anything get in my way.”

As much as I hate

the idea of needing a roommate, I don’t entirely dislike Whitney Cross. In fact, I sort of like her.

“You barely sleep. You’re always ranting and raving about something, including noises during the night that nobody can hear but you. And you are so weirdly paranoid about Whitney. I mean, Whitney seems perfectly nice to me.”

She’s acting like I’ve become unhinged lately, and that’s not true. Given that I lost my job and I’ve been sleeping like shit (in no small part thanks to yet another thumping episode), I think I’m holding up pretty damn well.

You are acting a bit strange sir lol

I glare at Whitney. You killed our fish, you bitch.

“All right, enough of this horseshit,” I blurt out. “I know you were the one who killed Goldy, Whitney.”

Whitney turns to look at me, and the smile on her face makes me want to do to her what she did to my fish. I wish I could bury her in the ground.

“I don’t know. Maybe.” She lowers her eyes. “Honestly, I wouldn’t put anything past you at this point. After all, you stole from your own company.”

I don’t want her to leave. For a split second, a thought occurs to me: I’m a lot bigger and stronger than Krista. And it’s not like she has a weapon. She might not want to stay, but I could make her stay. Make her see.

He was dating Whitney for about a year. And then, apparently, he cheated on her with another girl—you know how boys are. It was the usual high school drama you see a million times. They broke up, and Whitney made it her mission in life to destroy him.”

“She tormented him,” she whispers into the phone. “I remember seeing him a couple of days before he killed himself, and he looked terrible. Like there was a ghost haunting him.”

That poor kid, Jordan Gallo. He committed one sin against Whitney Cross, and she made him pay the ultimate price.

It’s not rotten fruit. I wish it were rotten fruit. That would be so much better. It’s fingers.

“I thought she might be dead. I should have known better.” It’s shocking to hear a woman comment so cavalierly on the death of her own daughter. But now that I know Whitney, it’s not all that surprising.

“So you have to understand, Mr. Porter,” she says, “if you have done something to Whitney, she will never let it go. Not a year later—not ten years later. No matter how long it takes, she will make sure you pay the price.”

But if the two of us are going to be married, if we’re starting a whole new life together, there should be no secrets between us. What is mine is his and what’s his is mine.

Goldy was a symbol of the life we were starting together. It only makes sense that now that our future is going down the toilet, she should be the first to go.

Yea I’m team Blake idc idc!!!

Little did I know she had found out and was making plans to burn it all to the ground.

So you see, when I stabbed Krista that night, I wasn’t saving Blake’s life. I was saving my own. I bet you five bucks Krista never saw that coming.