AwAqN

Wake up to my roommate babbling aimlessly to no one in particular about her "dealer." She says she won't be safe once she leaves here - that her dealer will beat the shitt out of her with his computer - the keyboard to be exact. She continues a conversation with her two invisible friends in the echoey bathroom as I shove my head deeper into the practically nonexistent pillow. Apparently, one of her imaginary friends is trying to convince her to smoke while the other is threatening to kill her if she does. I wince and try to continue sleeping, but it's too late - I'm awake in an institution.

I get up and rub the crust out of my eyes; collect the crumpled "sheets" - now a pile of cheap plastic on the floor - from the corner of my bed against the filthy, cold concrete wall. I gather them in a ball in my arms and carry them to the soiled linens basket outside my room.