Donika woke with a start in her bed, her head pounding. The events of the last twenty-four hours were a vague and distant memory. She looked across the room at her painting, leaning against the wall, her box of office supplies, and the plant from the office.

She rose from her bed on shaky, weak legs and looked out the window at the skyline of New York City. She had a well-appointed one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. She’d loved it when she’d first moved in. But this morning, it felt like a box in the sky, cold and hollow. She let out a long breath as she rested her palm against the window. Rubbing her temples with her hand, she tried to remember what had happened yesterday.

“I was fired,” she finally reminded herself. “Fuck my life.”

She staggered into her kitchen and made herself a cup of coffee with her expensive gourmet coffee maker. As it brewed, she stared at the black liquid dripping into her cup and tried to remember why she'd been fired.

Something had happened. She’d told her boss something he didn't like. But what? She couldn't remember. She must have had a blackout. She cursed herself for not seeing a doctor yet. But she’d believed she could just power through it, like everything else in her life.

That belief was what had brought her from Fate Valley, Missouri to graduate as valedictorian of her class at Harvard Law. It’s what had landed her a job the most renowned law firm in New York City. But now, all it was doing was making her sick.

As she picked up her coffee, she downed the brew in several long gulps, not caring that it nearly burned her tongue. She had lost a lot of weight in the last several years, and she knew that it had contributed to her health problems.

Hundred-hour work weeks and three hours of sleep a night couldn't be helping either. Even bad-ass, smart girls like her had to rest once in a while. But Donika never let herself rest. Not for a minute, not for years.

She made another cup of coffee and took it to sit at her table by the window. She gazed out at the rooftops of the city, feeling so isolated and alone. She had wanted this life. She'd wanted to be a success in the big city. She’d wanted her family to be proud of her for all that she’d accomplished. But it had just disconnected her from the people who really loved her.

It wasn't that her mother, grandmother, and sister weren't proud of her. She was sure they were. But she hadn't even seen them since she’d started working at the law firm two years ago.

She hadn’t even gone home for the holidays or birthdays or the birth of her last nephew. She'd sent her sister a thousand dollar gift card, but she knew that no matter how much money she threw at her family, all they really wanted was her. She let out a long sigh, feeling as if she were indeed a failure after all. She’d lost her job yesterday and couldn't even remember why.

The phone rang, and she picked it up.

“Hello,” she said to the unknown caller.

“Hello, Donika Devon,” a man said on the other end of the line. “This is David Schmidt, representing the law firm of Shyster and Shyster. I’m calling to let you know that you are being sued for the bodily injury of Stanley Shyster.”

“Sued?” she said groggily.

She’d had more sleep last night than usual, but still hadn't had enough coffee for the words “You’re being sued.”

“Why didn't he just press charges? Then we could get this whole vendetta thing out of the way.”

“You broke Mr. Shyster’s nose,” David Schmidt said.

Donika knew David as one of her associates at the law firm. She could see that Mr. Shyster was now having him do the dirty work.

“I didn't know I had the strength,” she teased.

“This is no laughing matter Ms. Devon,” Mr. Schmidt said. “Because of your flagrant aggression, and disregard for the safety of the entire firm, we are utilizing the full force of the law. Your assets are being seized. Your apartment complex has been informed.”

“You can't do that,” she sputtered.

“Oh, yes we can. You can fight it, but I doubt you will win. You forget the power of Shyster and Shyster,” he said.

“Why are you doing this? Why can't you just sue me for damages or have me arrested? You don't have to destroy my entire life.”

“Mr. Shyster wants to send a message,” he said.

“You can consider his message received.”

“Remember, Ms. Devon. Shyster and Shyster doesn't mess around. We protect our clients’ interests. Now that you are not with us, you are against us.”

The phone clicked, and she was left in silence. She turned off her phone and set it on the table. How could they freeze her assets? That wasn’t even legal.

She quickly called her bank, a growing sense of dread rising in her chest. After several minutes of speaking to customer service representatives, she learned that her bank account had, in fact, been frozen.

“This isn’t legal,” she shouted. “I demand due process.”

“All appropriate channels have been utilized. If you have a complaint, then you need to call our complaints department at 1-800-555-2222,” the customer service person said.

Donika hung up on the idiot and put her phone down on the table, growling. She rubbed her temples, confused and disoriented. Grabbing her coffee cup, she went to the kitchen and made another cup. She was going to need a lot more caffeine for this.

Before her third cup of coffee had even finished brewing, her doorbell rang. She pulled on her bathrobe and went to the door. On the other side stood one of the building managers.

“Donika Devon,” the building manager said. “This is your twenty-four-hour notice to vacate the property.”

“Twenty-four-hour notice?” she said with a gasp. “You've got to be kidding me. I pay my rent on time every month. I have a twenty-four-month lease on this place.”

“Your bank accounts have been frozen, and you are now unable to pay. We don't take things like this lightly. You will need to be out and have all your things removed in twenty-four hours. If you are unable to do so, you will be arrested, and your property will be seized.”

“I've been a good tenant,” she protested. “How could you do this to me?”

“Consider this your final warning,” the man said, shoving the eviction notice at her.

She took the paper he’d pressed to her chest and slammed the door in his face. Her head was spinning and her heart beat uncontrollably. How could they do this? This wasn't legal. She was a lawyer. She knew that this was unheard of. She would have to go down to the courthouse to fight it. But she knew the power of Shyster and Shyster. They had dozens of the most brilliant lawyers behind them, and all the money and power in the world. She was just one person. A person who couldn't remember what had happened yesterday.

She picked up her third cup of coffee and sat down at her table, trying to get her thoughts in order. What could she do? Where could she go? In a flash of insight, Donika realized the best place for her would be home, in Fate Valley.

She grabbed some of her plastic organizing boxes from the closet and began to pack up her most important things. She packed all her clothes, including her favorite suit she’d worn the day before.

She withdrew the contents of her safe, which included several thousand dollars in cash, her collectible silver and gold coins, and her pistol. She stacked everything up and sat at the edge of her bed. The tears that she wanted to shed clung to the corners of her eyes.

She called her credit card companies and found that they had all been frozen. She breathed a sigh of relief knowing that her SUV was at least paid off. It was the one thing they couldn't take from her. Before they got the chance to take that too, she crammed everything in the elevator and took it down to the basement parking lot.

Still wearing her bathrobe and underwear, she loaded her car with her valuables, all her personal items and documents, and everything that she cared about from her apartment. Her painting by her favorite artist and the potted plant she had at the office were stowed in the back with her hot pink stapler.

With one last sigh of confusion and disbelief, Donika pulled out of the parking lot just as a tow truck was pulling in. She drove out of her apartment building’ parking lot. Rounding the corner, she sped away as fast as was legally possible.

She knew that tow truck was meant for her car. All that was left in her apartment was the shell of who she was.

She knew Mr. Shyster could find her in Fate Valley, but at least the distance would give her some measure of safety from his wrath. She wished she could remember what had caused her to punch him. But no matter how much she strained, she could not.

All Donika could do was speed through the streets, out onto the highway, and away from Manhattan. She looked at the city as she crossed the bridge into New Jersey, thinking that it may be the last time she saw her new home. She looked out the front window onto the highway headed south. It would be a two-day drive to get to Fate Valley. She knew she would be safe there. She had to believe it. It was the only thing that kept her going.

As she pulled onto the New Jersey Turnpike, she flipped on the radio to her favorite station. Pop music played, and it matched the beat of her heart. She smiled, thinking about her hometown. The smell of barbecue in summer. Boats drifting on the lake. She couldn't wait to get home. It had been so long, and she had almost forgotten who she was. A small-town girl from the Midwest with a family and a history and a home.