All I wanted was the comfort of my own room. My own place where I could be myself and not have to talk to anyone. But I knew I wouldn’t have a room to myself anytime soon so I resigned myself to having to share. At least I shared a room with Ashley and not Brianna. Ashley could keep her belongings to her side of the room. For the most part. The room Brianna shared with Kasey was a nightmare. A pit. I often wondered how much of the floor was covered with food and crumbs under all the piles of clothes. I didn’t want to think about the possibility of animals.
I had taken on a second part-time job with the hopes of saving enough for a small one room apartment somewhere along the way. I needed some time to be alone. To be quiet. To bask in the silence. What Ashley, Brianna and Kasey didn’t know, was the fact I had too many secrets to keep sharing an apartment with them. The mess and noise were annoying and sometimes time consuming, but the secrets I held could and would destroy everything I had built for myself. Everything I had built since the one night that almost ruined me. February 27 was the night I would never speak about again. The night I had disappeared and started my life over. If they knew my name wasn’t really Allison Carpenter and that I wasn’t really from Birmingham they would begin to question everything. And even with all her mess, Brianna was the one who would dig into my past. My past that would hurt her the most.
Standing Room Only 