Unwanted Visitor

Oh, to share a room with a stranger; what a many fangled curiosity!

My roommates aren't a very lively bunch until midnight rolls around. Then their boys come over, different ones every night, and they stay up until all hours. I close the door and turn off the light about the time the brouhaha starts.

2:50 A.M. I'm asleep and justly so. The door opens. A boy walks in, carrying my giggling roommate. He lays her in bed with much pomp, making a show of tucking her in. My heart is pounding against my ribs; there is a boy in my room.

I can't explain why this scares me so much, not really, but my room is my safe place, where things of the outside world don't bother me. When that boy, even more of a stranger to me than my roommate, walks in I feel as if my sanctuary has been invaded. I feel half-naked under the sheets in my nightclothes and completely defenseless despite my nine years of martial arts training. He lies down in her bed and they share a whispered conversation. I grab my pillow and my cell phone and head down to the couch. My other roommates have their door open and are laughing loudly, but at least the living room is empty, if not quiet.

I can't sleep, what with the noise and the panic attack I'm caught in, so I text. First I text my roommate and tell her I'm not okay with our sleeping arrangements. Then I text my mom, who is sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night and might pick up her cell phone, and tell her my roommate decided it's okay to let a guy sleep in her bed while I'm there so looks like I'm sleeping on the couch. Then I text a friend who lives a fence climb away and has insomnia. I ask her if she's awake and if I can come over. I can't sleep with this fear in my chest like a stone.

I only get one text back. "Rachel he didn't sleep. He was in there for two seconds but no problem." The boy leaves, Paige gets into the shower, and I crawl back to bed, hiding underneath the covers. The blissful sleep that was mine ten minutes ago doesn't return quickly. It's hard feeling safe when I don't know who could walk in next.