FILE 002: INCIDENT REPORT // STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS

SUBJECT: ECONOMIC HAUNTING CASE FILE: MILK IS FOR GHOSTS

The letter arrived in a cheerful envelope, pale green with a cartoon owl in a mortarboard.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR LOANS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN. BALANCE: $0.00.

The paper smelled faintly of citrus, as though someone had tried to scrub it clean. She held it up like a holy relic, laughed, cried, laughed again.

That night, $317.45 still vanished from her account.

The hold music was “Eye of the Tiger,” skipping on one chorus like a scratched record trying to motivate her.

"Hi," she said when someone picked up. "There’s been a mistake. The letter says my loans are forgiven, but the payment—"

"Ma'am," the woman interrupted brightly, "our records show you don’t have any student loans."

"But the money—"

"There’s no account under your name. No history. Congratulations!"

The line went dead.

The next month, two payments vanished. One from her checking account. One from her coat pocket. She found a folded withdrawal slip where her wallet had been, stamped with her bank’s insignia.

Her diploma began to warp. The embossed seal bulged outward, softening, until it cracked open like a hinge. Inside was a bill for $317.45. When she tore it up, the pieces fluttered together on the floor and reassembled into a perfect invoice.

[ Continued in Milk Is For Ghosts ]