I GOTTA PACKAGE for Tonya Morris?” the UPS delivery man stated, as Tender opened the door. “Miss, are you Tonya Morris? …”

Tender shot him a peculiar look before answering. She hadn’t heard her real name called in a while. “Yeah, dat’s me … What iz dis? … I ain’t order nuttin’ …”

“I just deliver it. I didn’t send it,” he remarked sarcastically. “The name’s on the box … Now, would you sign right here for me.”

Tender grabbed what appeared to be, to her, an electronic clipboard, and scribbled her name in the designated area. Then the man handed her a small, rectangular, plain brown box. It looked like a book. Tender closed the door and opened the box. She was curious to see who the package was from and what was inside.

The owner of the rooming house had discovered Goldie’s body, along with a suicide note, when she came to collect her weekly rent.

The homicide unit had been called to the scene of the crime. They found no signs of foul play. The county medical examiner established the cause of death as suicide. Goldie’s body sat unclaimed in the morgue for a few days before she was buried in a Potter’s Field. Her final resting place was among the nameless and faceless society, the homeless.

A chill slithered up Tender’s spine. Sitting on her bed, she opened up the diary. As she began to read, the pages seemed to come to life. In her mind she could hear Goldie’s voice narrating the events of her life.

… I don’t believe I jus kilt my mother??? … I didn’t mean to. It wuz a accident I swear ta God … Musta accidentally hit da stove and turned on the gas runnin’ tryin ta get away from her … She wuz beatin’ da hell out of me … Jus wanted ta get away … Ta let her cool off … I neva seen her like dis before. And all cause of Angel. She found one a his old letters he had written me from jail. I knew I shoulda ripped ’em up and thrown ’em away. But I jus like readin’ ’em over and over again … I’m so stupid! If only I had … listened ta her. None a dis would neva have happened …

This was the first entry in the diary, the date had not been recorded. Her writing was messy and bunched together, the letters sometimes went over the boundaries of the line.

Tender skipped through the pages.