Mandi Mac apt. 704

Mandi Mac ran out of her apartment and slammed the door behind her, closed her eyes, and leaned against the door, letting out a deep breath. She hated being in that rundown apartment with no lights and hardly any furniture, especially if her dad was there, filling the room with a strong smell of tequila, or whatever liquor he could get his filthy hands on the night before. The sound of a whisky bottle shattering on the floor folowed by a slurred "Damnit!" from her father, snapped Mandi right back into realitiy and she took off with a brisk walk to the stairwell. She always ran down the seven flights of stairs. She hated the feeling of the cool, dark, cement stairwell that normally had a homeless guy sitting on the third floor stairs. The Washington Heights apartment building pretty much just gave her the creeps overall. But after her mom died about a year ago, she had nowhere else to go.
Mandi let out another sigh as she stepped out into the dark, chilly morning, and warmed herself with her own arms. Work didn't start for another 50 minutes, but she would rather be a the small diner next door than in that apartment building anyday.
"Mornin' Mac," smiled one of the older waitresses at from the diner.
"Morning," Mac smiled back. The two walked into the empty diner together. They had a ritual of going to work early together and grabbing coffee, Mable was an early riser, and she was aware of Mandi's circumstances so she didn't mind heading into work a little early to keep the poor girl company.
"I am gonna need more than the usual cup of coffee this morning," Mandi grunted.
"Whas the matter sugah? Long night?"
"Ya, you know how it goes. The drunk laughter and blaring TV woke me up around 2, guess he stumbled his way in around then... and then didn't sleep well after that."
"Oh Mac sweetheart, I don't know how you do it."
"Well...Guess I don't have much of an optiong. Only 3 more months and I should have saved up enough from workin here that I can get out of this hell-hole."
Mable reached over and patted Mandi's shoulder and then reached for her newspaper to read as they sipped their hot coffee. The two let out a light sigh in unison, thinking about their long work day ahead.