The smell of burnt toast and egg slowly seeped through the blankets that were currently serving

as the barrier between Haram and the real world. As its presence strengthened, the small brunette

began to groggily awaken beneath the pile of comforters. Haram aggressively rubs the sleep

from her eyes, smearing the slept-in makeup across her face even more. Her whole body aches as

she stretches her limbs and tries to rid them of the stiffness that rests often bring. She loudly

groans the headache that made its temporary home between her eyes and an uncomfortable

dryness that coated her mouth demanded her attention. Shifting her body and throwing the

bundle of blankets off of herself, Haram sat up from where she had previously been sleeping,

lazily taking in her surroundings. The only thing that makes sense to her at the moment is the

sudden realization that she had been sleeping on the floor, she can feel that in the soreness of her

muscles. The rest, now that doesn’t make sense. Haram scans the room for something of

significance, something that would elude to her what had transpired, where she was, and how she

got here. From where she sits on the floor nothing looks right, nothing looks familiar. The

assortment of comforters that cover Haram at least give her relief in the fact that wherever she is

she has been taken care of, well partially. Beside her sat a twin-sized bed pushed against the right

corner of the room, covered in even more blankets that had been noticeably thrown around. The

room was small, the size of Haram’s dorm room back on campus, and it was in shambles. A

messy pile of dirty laundry lay in the far left corner of the room, with some clothes periodically

scattered throughout the rest of the room, though Haram is unable to tell if all these clothes

belong to a single person. She doesn’t spot any articles of clothing that look familiar either,

except for her clothes, which are thankfully on her body still. She makes a point of trying to

ignore the bags of chips and cans of pop littering the floor, knowing she had slept next to all this

trash. The cheap red solo cups that surround her and the splitting headache she woke up with are
a reminder that yesterday had been the end of her first semester, the day she promised her best

friend Sua that she would finally go partying with her. She hadn’t expected a simple commitment

to a friend to turn into something like this, whatever this is. Haram sluggishly picked herself off

the disgusting floor, catching a glimpse of herself in the old vanity mirror taking up a big chunk

of the room's left wall. Her usually soft and straight hair looked matted and wild, and the

smeared makeup covered her approachable delicate features. With the curtains closed and the

light in the room still off she looked like a monster straight out of a teen horror flick. She would

normally be appalled by what she saw in the mirror but her surroundings made her feel less

insecure about her dirtiness. As she stood wobbly on her feet, twinges of fear and anxiety began

to bubble up within Haram and when she caught a whiff of frying eggs once again, that’s not all

that was bubbling up. With a sudden retching, she frantically held her palm to her mouth

stumbling forward as a wave of nausea hit, one palm down on the ground holding her weight and

the other over her mouth. Unable to hold herself up any longer she reluctantly let herself fall to

the dirty floor, laying once again near the pile of blankets that had been graciously piled on top

of her earlier this morning. Haram lay there frustrated. Frustrated because she couldn’t clear her

head, because she felt sick because she’s never been in this room before because there was a

fucking scattered bag of cool ranch Doritos at her feet. She wanted to scream, but she didn’t, she

wouldn’t. She still didn’t know where she was or whose room this was, she didn’t know what

kind of person her drunk self had made friends with. Her racing thoughts halted to a stop. Her

phone. She just needs her phone. she wobbly sets herself on her knees moving her arms in a sort

of frantic motion pushing trash and clothes around the room in an attempt to find her phone. after

what felt like ten minutes of pushing through filthy socks, busted-up beer cans, and blankets

while trying to ignore the spots of the carpet that seem to leave her hands damp, she feels her
haven. Her phone has a very chunky case attached to it. The small bear attached to her case

hangs on the back like a little friend with her at all times. This phone was undoubtedly hers.

Pulling the object from underneath the pile of stained shirts positioned towards the left corner

she beams as her phone comes into sight. To her dismay, a fine layer of gunk covers her case. It

looks like a group of Cheeto-eating rabid toddlers passed it around via slobbery germ-infested

fingers coated with the orange dust of the salty snack. She cringes a bit disgusted and a tad upset

that her trusted little bear friend has been so violated by some cruel monster. She reminds herself

she needs to focus and hesitantly turns her phone on. except it doesn't come on. It's dead. In a fit

of frustration, Haram curses aloud only aware of how loud it had been when she hears footsteps

coming from the hallway. She freezes, eyes wide and full of anxiety. She sees nowhere to hide

and she panics. One hand clutching onto her phone, as if she had forgotten of its unsanitary state,

and the other planted on the floor, she pushes herself up. quickly shuffling towards the window

hoping she reaches it in time too, well she isn’t sure what yet but her mind is foggy and she can’t

just sit here anymore. As she opens the curtains the sound of the door nob turning forces her to

quicken her pace. She has the window open now and she's only on the second floor, what a relief.

A hand grabs her shoulder and she screams falling to the ground in front of the window. “ok

sorry wait, but what were you doing Rami?” A familiar raspy voice says, trying to hold in its

laughter. Haram looks up from where she is on the floor and sees Sua, her best friend, standing in

front of her.