Life in Ruins
A delivery app notification: account suspended. The warehouse where he worked part-time also contacted him: “No shifts for the time being.” Calls from friends stopped, while notifications piled up on his phone. On social media, his name was exposed as “the cause of the fire” and an “environmental terrorist,” and his address was easily identified. Nate could only close the front door and listen intently to the commotion outside.
A few days later, a thick envelope arrived in the mailbox. It contained a claim for damages from the facility and the victim, Victor. Medical expenses, lost wages, property damage. The sheer number of zeros robbed it of any sense of reality. Contacting the insurance company only resulted in refusal to pay, citing “near gross negligence.” The lawyer’s estimate was too high to afford. He piled the envelope on his desk, opened the refrigerator, but found only a few cheap cans of beer left inside.
