Trying to Breathe Underwater
The end is near, I can feel it coming. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and am hoping with fingers crossed that its not the headlight of the oncoming train rushing towards me to crush my bones to powder.

The end of the sublet nightmare is at hand. Its concurrent with some sad news about my landlady but the good news is that I can see it coming to a close. Due in no small part to the negotiations undertaken by the property manager to ease the transition from house populated with irresponsible boys in men's bodies (not all of them but half are definitely in that category).

But first, let me qualify that last statement with some evidence of the utter stupidity of these guys.
The property manager came over to give them a chance to talk things over with him so that an equitable solution might be reached for all involved. Everyone in the house knew about it and it was scheduled at a time that should have been easy for them to get to. And since they'd been talking about how much they had to talk about with him, I was pretty sure they'd be there.

When we did get together, it was the one guy who's been busting his ass to make this work, me and the property manager. One of the guys was there, in the shower, but when he came out said he had to go to a chiropractor's appointment and couldn't stay. A lame excuse and really evidence of just how narrow minded and, well, stupidly they were handling this whole process. He could have cancelled, he could have rescheduled, he could have called to say he'd be late but no, he had to go.

The other one has been at the house every single time I've come over and is sitting in his chair by 5:30 everyday, save yesterday when he was not around and, surprise, surprise, he wasn't answering his cell phone either. He didn't call in, didn't say he was detained somewhere, just didn't show up like a little boy who doesn't want to get his punishment for misbehaving.

Anyway, we hashed out a workable solution. The one guy who'd made the effort to get his deal set up straight will be cleared and get his security deposit back as soon as he's out of his room and I've verified its clean. My pal who moved out at the end of last month will be getting his deposit back as well.

But the other two guys can still fuck up the whole process by continuing to sit on their asses and doing nothing. They can now stay in the house until the end of the month if they want, they have to pay rent for it but they can stay. Which had been their number one bitch about the eviction. And when they walk out, all they have to do is leave. Take their shit with them and leave and they get their money back for the deposit.

I've already told the property manager that he's being far nicer than I would be in his shoes but I really appreciate his willingness to work to get the place cleared out.

So now here we are, on the edge, waiting for these two knobs to take care of their business so that the rest of the universe can continue on our course without fear of lawsuits and other lawyer induced ugliness. Its close, its so close that I can smell the freedom. So close that sometimes I can trick myself into thinking the weight's off my shoulders, so close that some moments I forget the utter hell this whole process has been. So close that I can almost forgive these idiots for behaving like such petulant little boys.

Two of the four in the house are, for all intents and purposes (see Carlene, I can be good and write it properly), free and clear of the place now. One will be getting his security deposit back later on today and the other will get it back tomorrow when he's actually gone from the house and the keys are in my hand.

They did things properly, they played by the rules and they are going to be alright.

Its the other two are the problem, they sticking point, the thorns and the main worry left on the books here. They may be gone by this Sunday when the original deal breaches but probably not. They will be gone by the end of the month though, either by their own power or by being forcibly evicted. And then the lawyers with their gnashing dogs of hell will be unleashed upon us all.

Let this be a lesson to you all. Never allow yourself to get tied to people that don't give a damn about anyone but themselves because you stand a damned good chance of getting fucked by them in the end. And if you're going to do a good deed for someone, protect yourself and get it in writing and choose who you will help carefully.

If I'd known even a hint of what I know about them now when this whole thing began then there's no way it would have gotten this bad. They wouldn't have moved in, its as simple as that. And they'd be someone else's nightmare.

But that light is getting bigger and bigger and it looks like freedom, freedom from having my future shackled to people who couldn't do anything for themselves in all of this, much less help me out of it. People who would rather bitch and moan about the unfairness of it all instead of doing something for themselves and moving on.

I can't wait to breathe the air of that pending freedom. It will be the sweetest moment in a very long time.
Just a few more days, just a few more days and I'll no longer feel like I'm trying to breathe through water.