Have you ever felt a broken heart? The dramatic drop from a high, almost Heavenly. It’s not an emotion but an in-motion robbery. The most genuine reflection of both individuals; so genuine that a picture would paint God’s tedious depiction of what actions within a heartbreak He forbid. Lies, thievery, rage, things you experience while seizing a heartbreak from your assailant.
My phone rang, startling me from my indefinite focus on a text from Mr. Bhatt. Today I am transitioning to a monthly residency. Prior, he was paid $602.22 for my 2 and half week stay.
The call was from Solid Grounds, a nonprofit organization that supports the homeless financial cost to transition into their own place. My heart galloped; finally, the process of stability begins, and the first step signifies rest. My caseworker congratulated me on my new residence place in Redmond at Mr. Manoj Bhatt’s rental house property. She informed me that the payment Mr. Bhatt requested ($880 for rent, and $440 for a refundable deposit) was submitted successfully to Solid Grounds’ finance team. Mr. Bhatt should receive payment tomorrow morning.
This was the best reassuring news so far. These past months have been overwhelmingly meager. I have experienced homelessness, sexually assaulted, and PTSD from a car accident that was underdocumented. In a short, maybe 5 minute call, my life changed. Opportunites offered are actually possibilities, not just pages with plans written by strangers. Broken & battered, I am beginning to see the leveled playing field after climbing these steps. I reached out, and a blithe cry to God leaves me raw.
Minutes later, I called Manoj Bhatt and informed him of the good news. It answered his question he bewildered me with before the call of reassured payment sent via EFT to his bank account from the county finance department.
Mr. Bhatt, who also introduces himself as Mike, picks up, and I inform him of his payment for my 30-day residency has been submitted. He thanked me, and the call was disconnected. I continued the transition, starting with my mental wellness; I set up an appointment to speak to a psychologist. “I finally am stable to heal,” I reassure myself.
Shortly after, my Solid Ground’s (SG) case manager emailed me even more reassurance. The email read payment to Mr. Bhatt, “ … EFT usually happens overnight in my experience.” I inhaled deeply, focused on enrolling in classes as soon as possible to waste no time building, healing, and contributing to the community that invested in me.
Then, confusion in the form of a power unyielding to humanity exposed itself to me in a text message.
Mr. Bhatt requested more money from me. His desire, unyielding and relatively familiar, raged in perpetual passive threats. I crumbled, muddled by the trigger he pulled, shaking me for money he knew I personally didn’t have. With his weight of passive threats on my neck, I crawled in the corner of the closet. Crying profusely, I drenched the corner in tears. The mental abusive he cast through the on-going calls and texts, I couldn’t breathe. I thought sovereignty from his agreement and cooperation from the weeks prior. Now, I see it as good intentions paving a highway to Hell. I called Linda, shattered and disoriented, and she reminded me that I am a human and that alone gives me rights. She introduced me to those rights and gave me the knowledge I needed that was more powerful than the money Mr. Bhatt was trying to pilfer from me. The agreement he signed with SG protected me from his harassment and financial jiving. Slowly as I listened to her, my spine grew tired of being hurdled in a cradled position. I am not a child. I am an adult. I sat up and wiped my face. The more my rights and resources were at my disposal, the more I could speak louder, clearer, and with the definition necessary to inform Mr. Bhatt that I am human. Finally, I was standing, face clear of tears. My mind became adequate and bright. Shortly, my case manager contacted the Tenant Union and Legal Team. After collecting all documents and analyzing their witness to Mr. Bhatt’s unprecedented behavior, Linda called me. She advised it was time for our team to confront Mr. Bhatt regarding the falsified information he sent to Solid Grounds and his harassing contact with me. Mr. Bhatt emailed my SG case manager a contract agreement between him and SG, with dates different from what he agreed to in his text messages with me. He immediately defaulted to a confused victim with language barriers. While trying to make a means to over talk, my SG case manager, Mr. Bhatt, rapidly agreed to the EFT from Solid Grounds as a contractual payment for my 30-day residency in his rental home in Redmond.
After the chaos was defied and constrained, Linda and the Tenant Union Lawyers repeated reassurance to me. However, the mental damage was done. I feel constrained to my room and a burden to the property manager. Depression is at my door, being dictated by a goblin in human skin without virtue. Mr. Bhatt lives and laughs as I do, yet raised his hand in the form of authority to destroy me in light of an authoritative figure. I would not have taken his actions so personally if I did not coordinate this transition with him weeks prior. Daily updates, text message galore explaining my shift with county support. Mr. Bhatt’s harassment would not have been deviant or manipulative amongst genuine study if we did not discuss the transition for days before he received payment.
What he did was still in my favor. I built a relationship and resilient connection with the county, county legal administration, and finance team. I was given something Mr. Bhatt or other masses of manipulations can never take from me. Finally, I will not render until I receive the peace of pursuit for happiness I am promised. My modest request for a leveled playing field is over.
