At exactly 8:42 p.m., Kasha Hubert stood in the middle of her living room holding a cordless drill like it had personally offended her.
“Why do you have fifteen settings?” she muttered at it. “I only need one. Screw. In. Wall.”
The townhouse was quiet. Too quiet.
Forty-nine years old. Officially divorced for six months. And tonight, she was mounting her own curtain rods.
No husband. No asking. No “Let me handle that, Kasha.”
Just her. And a YouTube tutorial she had already rewound four times.
She wiped sweat from her forehead and looked around her half-decorated new townhouse.
Her townhouse.
“Look at you,” she whispered to herself. “Homeowner. Single. Dangerous.”
The drill jerked in her hand and the screw dropped to the floor.
“Okay, maybe slightly dangerous.”
Earlier That Day
At work, Kasha sat in a meeting at TechCore Solutions, trying not to roll her eyes so hard they detached.
Her supervisor, Darren — who had once called her “surprisingly articulate” was presenting her idea as his own.
“…and what we need is a streamlined data migration protocol,” Darren said confidently.
Kasha blinked slowly.
“That’s exactly what I submitted last Tuesday,” she said.
The room went silent.
Darren smiled like a man who thought smiling erased facts. “Yes, well, we refined it.”
Kasha folded her arms. “Refined it? You changed the font.”
A cough escaped from someone at the end of the table.
After the meeting, her phone buzzed.
Monica.
Best friend. Twenty years strong. Professional instigator.
Kasha answered immediately. “If this is about tequila, I’m listening.”
Monica didn’t miss a beat. “Girl, why do you sound like you’re two seconds away from a felony?”
“They stole my idea again.”
“Oh no. Not ‘again’ again.”
“Yes. Again again.”
Monica sighed. “Okay. That’s it. We are manifesting your exit. Remember that IT firm that called you back?”
Kasha leaned against the hallway wall.
Innovare Systems.
New firm. Bigger platform. Respectable leadership. And they wanted her.
“They said I’d lead my own team,” Kasha said quietly.
“Lead it,” Monica repeated. “Not ‘refine fonts.’”
Kasha felt something shift inside her. Fear… and excitement.
“I don’t know,” she said. “New job. New house. New car note coming soon”
“Wait,” Monica interrupted. “New car?”
Kasha hesitated.
“…I may have test-driven a silver Lexus.”
Monica screamed so loudly Kasha had to pull the phone away.
“YOU. DID. NOT.”
“Oh, I did.”
“Divorce looks good on you.”
Back to 8:47 p.m.
The drill finally cooperated. The curtain rod held.
Kasha stepped back slowly, admiring it like it was a piece of modern art.
“I did that,” she said.
Then the lights flickered.
She froze.
The drill fell from her hand.
The lights flickered again once… twice.
“Don’t do this,” she whispered to the house.
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
Her heart thudded. Slowly. Heavy.
She answered cautiously. “Hello?”
Silence.
Then a voice. Low. Male.
“You moved in fast.”
Kasha’s stomach dropped.
“Who is this?”
A soft chuckle.
“Just making sure you’re… settling in.”
The line went dead.
The lights steadied.
Kasha stood in the center of her living room, pulse pounding.
“Okay,” she whispered to herself. “We are not spiraling. We are not spiraling.”
She locked the front door. Checked the back door. Checked the windows. Then called Monica.
Monica answered on the first ring. “You bought the Lexus, didn’t you?”
“There’s a man breathing on my phone.”
Pause.
“Excuse me?”
Kasha explained quickly.
Monica was quiet for once.
“Do you think it’s him?” Monica asked carefully.
Kasha swallowed.
Her ex-husband had not taken the divorce well.
“I don’t know,” she said. “But somebody knows I moved in.”
She walked to the window and pulled the curtain shut.
And that’s when she saw it.
Across the street.
A car.
Silver.
Parked. Engine off. Lights out.
Watching.
Kasha’s reflection stared back at her in the glass.
Forty-nine. Divorced. Homeowner. And apparently in a suspense movie.
She squared her shoulders.
“Okay,” she said softly.
“You wanted new beginnings? Here we are.”
She picked up her phone again.
Not to call Monica.
To Google security systems.
And maybe just maybe
to accept that job offer at Innovare Systems.
Because if somebody thought she was going to be scared back into smallness?
They clearly didn’t know Kasha Hubert.
To be continued…
Simply Reesi 