"Home" - Chapter VI

VI.

The next morning I dropped Micah off at daycare and called my manager.

“I am going to be a little late this morning. I am having an issue with the electric company and have to stop by their office to clear it up. They won’t do it over the phone.”

“Ok. What time will you be in?”

“I am hoping it won’t take more than an hour.”
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As I pulled up to the front of the 3-floor, yet somehow squat, tan-brick office building, my mind was racing. I was angry. I had checked our bank account, and the electric company had received the electronic transfers I had set up.

I walked through the main doors, located the suite number for the electric company, and headed to the elevators.

I punched the 3 button on the elevator, and stood fuming as the elevator slowly brought me upward.

Suddenly, the elevator jolted to a stop. It had just beeped for the second floor, so I knew I was somewhere between the second and third floors.

I pushed the 3 button again. Nothing happened. Pushed the button to try to open the doors. Still nothing. Pulled the emergency button. Nothing. Looked for an emergency phone. No phone.

My phone! I pulled my phone out of my purse, but there was no signal in the elevator shaft.

“Hey!” I yelled, “I’m stuck in the elevator!”

I stood there yelling for what seemed like forever when suddenly the elevator started upward again.

As it started moving, I thought I heard what sounded like a snicker, but told myself it was a sound coming from the elevator mechanics.

The doors opened onto the third floor corridor. I could have been yelling for hours and no one would have heard me. There were no doors in the vicinity of the elevator.

I looked around and located a sign pointing to the left noting “Suite 301 - VADP”.

I walked down the hallway for a ways and then around a corner. Another long hallway met my eyes. Down that hallway. Around a second corner, and finally Suite 301.
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I walked through the door marked 301 and up to the front desk.

There was no one at the front desk, but a bell was available. I pushed the bell and sat down on one of the chairs to wait.

After a few minutes a young woman walked up to the front desk. Her name badge said “Audrey”.

“Hi Audrey. I believe I spoke to you on the phone yesterday about my account? You told me to come in and speak to one of your auditors?”

“Mrs. Colby?”

“Yes.”

“Please have a seat.”

As she walked away, I could see her face wrinkle up in disgust.

“What is her deal?” I asked myself.
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I waited for twenty minutes.

A middle-aged man came to the front of the office.

“Mrs. Colby?”

“Yes.”

I couldn’t even begin to disguise the frustration and impatience in my voice. I could see my tone register in his expression, which turned from patronizing and slightly amused to anger.

“Mrs. Colby, please follow me.”

He turned and walked angrily toward the door from which he had emerged earlier.

I followed him into a small office crowded by an over-sized executive desk covered in folders and paperwork.

“Please sit.”

I sat.

“My name is Eric Green,” He said as he sat behind the desk. “I have been looking at your account for the past few hours. It has been flagged for abuse.”

“For what!? “

“You have been letting other homes tap into your lines illegally!”

“I don’t know what the hell you are talking about!” I said angrily. “We have only lived in this damn house for the last few months, I don’t know anyone that lives around me, and even if I did, I sure as hell wouldn’t let them use our lines! I didn’t even know that could be done! If someone is doing something illegal, you all need to figure out who the hell it is instead of creating problems on my account and throwing around nonsense accusations!”

I could tell he was taken aback by my outburst, but I didn’t regret it. This was the most ridiculous allegation I could fathom. The whole thing made no sense. I had heard of people hacking or sharing cable lines, or internet lines or various other installed data lines, but sharing an electricity account made no sense to me at all.

“Well, Mrs. Colby, I will tell you something. The line that was diverted is in the basement of your home. It was discovered when our meter reader went out and discovered that your meter had been tampered with to slow the usage transfer down. When the tampering device was removed, your usage tripled, and back-charges were applied to your account, as well as fees and late charges. In further looking into the tampering, we contacted your land lord, and he allowed us to look in your basement.”

“That basement has a separate entrance, and is only being rented by us to use as storage space. Where was the line run? Whose house is it going to?”

I had a bad feeling. I knew the answer before it came out of Eric’s mouth.

“The address is 1200 William Street, it’s the house behind yours.”

“Then you all need to investigate the man that lives there. His name is Eli. And you need to leave our account open, and you need to fix all of the charges on there. This is ridiculous.”

“Ma’am, we are not going to allow any changes to your account until this is resolved. You still owe for the electricity used, and the late charges, and any fees. IF it turns out that this man has been stealing from you, you will need to get recompense in court. If you want your electricity to remain on, I need you to provide payment to Audrey at the front desk before you leave.”
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I paid the full amount to snotty-Audrey and made sure I got a full list of charges and explanations, and slowly made my way back to the elevator.

Distracted as I was by everything that just happened, I still was cognizant enough to realize it was a stupid idea to take the elevator again. I hunted around for a bit and finally found a staircase to take me down to the first floor.

I opened the door and stepped onto the third floor landing.

Just as I started toward the first step, I caught the flash of something coming at me out of the corner of my eye. I turned, just as someone grabbed my face from behind. I felt the cloth cover my nose and mouth and I stopped sucking in air. I tried to drop down into a crouch to throw the assailant off balance, but they had one hand over my face and the other was wrapped around my waist. I could tell it was someone very large. I couldn’t get away, and I couldn’t hold my breath. My mind became numb just before everything went dark.