A Pain Less Ordinary by L.V. Pires

Author:L.V. Pires [Pires, L.V.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: teen and young adult homelessness, young adult realistic fiction, teen drug abuse, Stepfamilies, young adult family issues
Publisher: Pangram Publishing
Published: 2017-09-11T22:00:00+00:00

22.

THE SECOND NIGHT AT the shelter is just as hard. A cool breeze blows through the cracked windowpane, brushes my cheek, and mixes with the nasty smell of shelter funk. If only the bay area weather was more than two seasons. It’s either freezing or sweat-between-your-butt-cheeks hot, and now in April, when there should be blooming daffodils and butterflies flitting about, there’s frost forming along the edges of the window. God, I wish I got a sweater from Michelle and a gas mask.

I bury myself under the scratchy blanket, pulling my phone from my backpack and rereading the last text. He’s looking forward to seeing me tomorrow. He loves my lips. I remember the feeling of his arms, the sexy look in his blue eyes, the musky scent on his neck, and running my hand through his dirty blond hair with that perfect wave.

The thought of him warms me everywhere and if I wasn’t surrounded by half a dozen homeless kids and their moms, I’d let myself enjoy the thought of Nick a bit more, but it’s impossible to touch yourself in that way when someone’s two feet away sobbing.

Instead, I throw back the blanket and find my way through the dim hallway to the bathroom at the end of the hall using my phone to light the way.

Another yellow light buzzes from an exposed bulb, hanging overhead. There’s no toilet paper, a dirty diaper sits on the counter, and a family of cockroaches scurry beneath the sink. I want to run back to my bed and throw the blanket over my face, but my bladder’s not taking no for an answer.

I rush to the toilet and sit on a wet circle of urine covering the seat. “Oh, gross.” I jump up, but my bladder wins again, so I hover over the toilet and pee for a good thirty seconds, then wash off my butt at the sink. I’m back to my cot in three seconds flat. I gag at how awful that was and scrounge for my blanket, but feel nothing but cold, hard mattress.

“Where’s my blanket, my sheets, my pillow, my bag?” I frantically search the floor and along the cold brick wall. It suddenly dawns on me what’s happened.

“You, thieves,” I yell, waking the baby on the bed next to me.

A woman leaps down from a bunk bed on the other side of the room and screams at me in another language. Her words rumble out fast and furious. She’s got crazy eyes and waves her hands around.

I back up, but she follows me to the end of the hallway, still screaming.

“Get away from me!” I say.

She says something nasty. I’m not sure exactly what, but it’s bad enough for me to get the drift.

I rush to the dorm room door, the crazy lady close behind, but it’s locked and there’s no one in the office. My skin is crawling, and I can’t stop itching.

There’s a man with dirty hair and pockmarked skin only a few feet away, wandering around and arguing with an invisible person.

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